Christmas

View of the GG Bridge from the Marin Children's Museum

Winter Solstice 2018

Here it is Winter's Eve. The days will be getting longer after tomorrow. Thank Goodness!! I have not posted since before Thanksgiving. Sim and I spent turkey day at Sim's son's house in Apex. I provided the sweet potato biscuits and apple pie. Sim brought a fruit platter and Sandy did everything else. In reciprocation, Sim hosted a family Hannukah celebration last weekend. It was postponed from the previous weekend due to a snow storm making it hard for the Charlotte contingent to get here. Sim made all the latkes and I made the green beans and assortment of cookies as well as Lulu's potato rolls. Sandy brought the chicken. Sim and I made the applesauce in the crockpot which is a staple at my house. We had 8" of snow which will count as our white Christmas. Only a few piles still exist.

We have been attending concerts, Met HD operas, and sundry cocktail parties. I finally got to see Hamilton and it was quite wonderful.  I hosted a festive dinner earlier this week with Sue & Scott and Daphne & Bob. I served multi appetizers with Old Fashions, braised leeks, salmon en croute, succotash, mashed potatoes, potato rolls, and crepes Suzette. It was all quite yummy and mostly made the day before.

Last Sunday, little Catie was Baby Jesus in Newton. Do check out her picture below.

Brother Bill turned 80 and I turned 66. My mother would have turned 99!! For Christmas I am heading to ML's and will post pics from that later. I hope you all will have a merry holiday and wish you to recall some of your favorite Christmas memories. I will share one of my favorites.  

At Kanawha School, we always spent the last day before our break gathering in the huge central hall around a large decorated pine tree. Each grade would sing a carol and then the whole school sang more carols. It was magical! Ned ordered up some Xmas lights for the school tree from Green's Drug Store and charged them to Dad -not a popular action when the bill arrived. But I digress...the holiday event at our school was very special to me because I knew that Ned and John were also there sitting on the steps that went up to the upper grades classrooms. It was a very secure feeling knowing that everyone in that building was feeling peace and joy that day. I wish we could feel that every day. Joy is a gift -we cannot make it happen by decorating trees, wrapping presents, or baking cookies. Joy to the World!

My eticket to Hamilton

My Mexican Angels

Hannukah 2018

Zelda in the snow

some of my sugar cookies

Catie as Baby Jesus

Lyle and Arlo

Justin, Emily, Ellie, Eric, Laura

Sabdy, Sim and Jonathon

Festive buffet

Goodwins and Boders at our festive dinner

Cookies by ML

Turkish TV Serials

I would be remiss not to mention my addiction to Turkish serials with English subtitles. When I was in California while the boys were in school, I found some serials on my Netflix account and watched them on my iPad. The seasons are multitudinous in number of episodes; 60-100. The first serial I watched was called Magnificent Century about the life and times of Suleiman the Magnificent in 16th C Turkey.  There's a lot of harem intrigue besides empire expansion. Most of the action takes place in Topkapi Palace.

The second was Resurrection Ertugrul about the father of the founder of the Ottoman Empire (Osman I). Ertugrul was a warrior of the Kayi tribe, one of many Turkmen tribes that migrated from the steppes through the Fertile Crescent and Syria on their way to Anatolia. The first season had him fighting against the Templars and the second season he was fighting the Mongols. This takes place in the 13th C. They are living in yurts and herding sheep and goats. I was fascinated by how they lived and migrated from place to place.  There are more seasons of both serials but not available on Netflix 😞.

The styling in the shows has inspired my home decor and dress.

Typical Turkman headdress

new canopy for my bed 

Moroccan or Turkish coffee table

The other show I watched was a 10-hour course on cake decoration. I have successfully made one buttercream and one fondant icing cake. I am prepared to make more should the need arise.

buttercream

fondant

I had other cooking triumphs for items I was never able to make such as Turnip Cake which is a dim sum item made from daikon radishes  (thanks to Lee for the recipe) and chicken & almond Moroccan Pastilla. It's a big meat pie wrapped in filo dough and decorated with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

pan fried turnip cake

Chicken and almond pastilla

Autumn

Fall began with Sim and me flying to Iowa for Simon (Sim's grandson) and Emily's wedding. It was lovely spending time with Lee and family. In mid-October, I made a quick 2-night trip to NYC. I stayed with Sim's friends Mickey and Bobbie above Lincoln Center. I got to see Courtney and Catharine. I also attended 2 shows and a concert: My Fair Lady, Bernhardt/Hamlet, and Joshua Bell with the NY Philharmonic accompanying The Red Violin. I also went to RH in the meat-packing district to see all the work ML did getting ready for the grand opening of that gallery. I dropped by V & T's restaurant up at 110th Street for a calzone and visited St. John the Divine where I used to spend my Sunday evenings when I lived at Columbia University (~1973-4). I had wonderful food while in the City but I did experience a horrible thing in the subway. I saw a man lying on the tracks as the train was coming. It ran right over the man! I thought it was a prank but it was real.

Most of October involved my getting ready for a big Day of the Dead party on November 2. I had decorations to make, food to prepare, and people to invite. I hadn't made anything with papier mache in over 55 years. About 35 folks came including the live band. Below are some pics.

Coutney, Jimmie, and me at Dim Sum

My lunch at Sakura on 43rd St.

party prep with skull cookies

Pan de Muertos

the ofrenda with pics of everyone's loved ones

Sim and me with part of the Mebanesville band

Halloween party in CA

John-Mac and family

There was lots of food and drink at the party:  apple cider, both red and white sangria, beer, water; make your own tacos al pastor and/or sweet potato, bean, and corn with lots of fixins; three salsas and chips, fruit platter, corn salad, cold shrimp served on a salt block, lumpia, 7-layer bean dip, and guacamole; assorted skeleton, skull, and Mexican Wedding cookies, and iced chocolate cherry brownies (GF). It was very yummy!  The next morning, I hosted a coffee for 35 women (with help from Sim) where all the leftover cookies and brownies as well as the pan de muertos, were devoured.

Fairfax, CA

While ML was working in NYC, I went out to help Robert take care of the boys. We had lots of fun playing games, making cookies, and picking the boys up from school. Below are some pics.