Holiday (Food) Memories

I come from a long line of food people: my aunt is an owner-chef of a restaurant, my dad owns a bakery and both of my grandmothers are great cooks. So, it should be no surprise that when we gather for holidays food is a central theme. My favorite times are always cooking and eating with family and friends. Here are some of the many memorable "food and drink moments" from this holiday season:

learning to make kimchi (for holiday gifts) with CK's mom (who said I'd make a great Korean wife!)

making our own version of Cioppino on Christmas Day

lobster and champagne with the in-laws - what a treat!

pizza night with the family (granparents, cousins, aunts and uncles included!)

gumbo and cornbread for Sister's birthday on New Year's Eve

so many meals, so many memories...

Thank goodness for Thanksgiving

I haven't been posting a lot lately, but I sure have been cooking a lot. MO and I hosted our first Thanksgiving (with lots of help from LoPo). We had a fun and delicious celebration with family and friends complete with a late-night bonfire and stargazing. Any day centered around cooking, eating and drinking together with loved ones is my kind of day. Everything was delicious, but my personal favorite parts of the meal were Cousin S's homemade creamed spinach (made with fresh spinach and mushrooms!) and LoPo's cranberry chutney (and of course, the desserts)!

Coconut Macaroons

Since we moved to California, we've been celebrating Passover with our "West Coast family". The first time we were invited, I looked all over to find a dessert recipe that would be appropriate for Passover - no flour, no leavening - and I didn't find a lot of options. So, I called Fat Boy to ask for his Coconut Macaroon recipe. The macaroons are delicious and coconut-y and I drizzled some bittersweet chocolate on top for some extra decadence (actually, macaroons are not so bad for you compared to other desserts). Now, my macaroons are a Seder table staple and the plate is cleaned every year.

The Twelve Meals of Christmas

Since I was too busy celebrating (read: "eating and drinking") over the holidays to keep the blog up-to-date, I'm a little behind. We had so many fabulous meals over the holidays, but here some memorable edibles:

Kennedy's Irish Pub and Curry House
I've blogged about this place before, but we had to bring the fam.

Homemade English Muffins (a la Fat Boy)
Nothing beats a homemade English Muffin - believe me. Process is a little complicated - helps to have a baker for a father.

Tuesday night at Portelli

We were pleasantly surprised by this Italian spot in Novato. (the Tuesday night special of 1/2 price wine helped!)

Dungeness Crab

We introduced the fam to the delicious West Coast specialty.

and my favorite eating experience of the holidays...

Locally-grown Christmas Dinner

Homemade linguini with summer garden sauce, smashed carrots and parsnips, mixed baby greens salad, and broccoli with meyer lemon. ALL vegetables grown by MO. Pretty impressive, huh? And it was delicious.

Christmas Cookies

Baking is not my strong point, but when I'm in the mood I really do like to make cookies, especially to give away as gifts at the holidays. So, this year I decided on 3 varieties: Grandma Barb's Sesame Thumbprints (tried and true favorite), Swedish Ginger Thins (my new favorite), and Chocolate Walnut Rugelach (which I love, but have never made). Then, I ran out of Sesame Thumbprints, so I threw together some Peanut Butter Kisses (thanks for the idea, Lori!)...