old.year

you haven't been here in the lowland for the last two years and the fact that you're here this year, you're obliged to host the old and new year celebration. your mil takes this occasion as the chinese new year eve celebration.

 as such this year old and new year celebration is at your place, you get the champagne glasses ready for the new year toast

 opening the pannetone from vergani, and will serve this as dessert after the meal

 you make a pot of fish mew soup, just try to off load the to-cook-list in your mil's hand

 guests arrived around 7pm with drinks and snacks

some fried goodies made by your mil along with a white truffle cups that you quickly compose just before the guest arrival

 most of the food are dry finger food except the auspicious cantonese dish with sea weed, mushroom and dried oyster (发菜冬菇）

the dessert courtesy from your dutch neighbor, profiterole with chocolate ganache

 and of course the popping of the champagne at midnight

along with the dutch new year snack oliebollen (oily balls) and appleflap.  the pannetone last you from dinner to midnight snack.

now this is a vicious circle, as the old year concludes, and a new year starts again.

::steamboat::

so your end of year celebration starting a day before the new year's eve.  a dear friend called for a steamboat dinner with friends from near (in the vicinity) and afar (north or south of the lowland).

 the early birds got to enjoy some foie gras on pain l'spice, technically a leftover from christmas but they are in good condition to consume, the chai kuey that you made  and tuna puff...

 the spread for hotpot, with so much ingredients for the steamboat

 the szechuan spicy soup base and the fish head clear soup base

the dipping sauce made by the host

home made  biscotti and vin santo, a dessert true to tuscany and a hazelnut cream cake with vanilla ice cream...

and the number of bottles you all consumed, it's for about 10 people

last.of.2014

last workout session of the year!

 it's a beautiful day despite some residue of the snow that still can be seen in the neighborhood.

2014 is almost over. it's a good year for you, you feel blessed, fulfilled,thankful and accomplished in many ways!

third.day.of.christms

on the third day of christmas, my true love sent to me, a layer of snow!

 the garden is beautiful with a blanket of snow

 even the street was pristine for awhile before the snow got messed up. so technically you had a white christmas (on the third day of christmas)

 the snow was not too thick so it didn't stop you from fulfilling your lunch appointment with family and family's friends. and followed with the movie exodus.
you love the movie, it's almost 70 percent following the book of exodus in the scriptures and didn't put any emphasis on the sex scenes at all. you haven't been to cinema for a long time and this was a good family get together.

boxing.day

 you take things easy on boxing day. it was not an intention to prepare another feast but a dear friend that you didn't see for awhile decided to pay a visit, so you prepare something for the dinner. nothing elaborated just a simple french dish - confit du canard parmentier. this was easy to prepare with a can of store bought duck confit. it's tasty too!

the starter and dessert is pretty much the leftover from christmas and you know your friend won't mind that at all...
you don't mind this type of cooking and occasion especially when you can be a blessing and create an opportunity to share and care with the love and needy ones...

x'mas or christmas

x'mas isn't christmas till it happens in your heart...

 you went to the christmas celebration service to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, after all christmas is about the birth of Jesus

 and right here in the church, you celebrated christmas in the right context

 that God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believe in him will not perish but have eternal life. and that's the true meaning and message of X'mas Christmas.

 you join your friend for a christmas dinner after the service at one of the hotel in rotterdam.

it turned out to be a five course dinner with amuse bouche in between, so the dinner started at 7pm didn't finished till just about 12 midnight.  that gvie you a lot of time to catch up, chit chat and sharing with one another.
you sometime also got carried away by the festivities and the trimmings about christmas but really all you wan to say is happy birthday Jesus!

Christmas.lunch

honestly speaking you haven't spent christmas in the lowlands for at least 2 or 3 years.  you always opt for an escape to asia or somewhere warmer in europe, but this year you decided to stay put, hence you host a christmas lunch for your family and a dear couple from the church.

this year you have the take of italian and french christmas, it's the mix of the best of both world, after all you last project was based in parma, italy and you just recently been to le cordon bleau for a cooking workshop and manage to haul back some goodies from paris. so this is the italian salumi culatello, if there's a king of salumi, culatello is it! and a french foie gras served on a home baked pain d'épices, a french version of ginger bread though it is not yeasted. you baked this loaf a week in advance of christmas and let the aroma develops over time.

 the stico prosciutto that you hauled back from parma in two trips.  the leg of ham is cooked and sealed in a package, so all you did was to roast them  with the carrot and potatoes with the seasoning of rosemary. the meat was really moist and tender. this dish is well received by everyone.

 and a kilo weight turkey breast wrapped with prosciutto ham with sausage meat as staffing, this is finally glazed with maple syrup. again very good dish with the balance of savory and sweet hint from the syrup, the meat is moist and juicy.

 this is a carb dish for the main, requires almost no preparation , a baked dish of potato, pasta and sprout with gruyere cheese and parmesan cheese

 dessert, amaretti from italy, mincemeat pie that you received as a gift from a friend and some maltese chocolate balls

but really the star of the dessert is this store bought (again from italy) pandoro.  verona christmas cake, some sort of yeasted cake, taste a bit like brioche but yet different.  you serve it with vanilla ice cream and top with a physalis.
have a blessed christmas everyone.

blessed.christmas

christmas.market.munster

you spent a night at munster. munster is not far but overnight make the journey more pleasant as you can enjoy and see more sights and also soak in to the christmas atmosphere slowly. it's year end season anyway.

 there're in total 5 christmas markets around the city, all within the walking distance

 it's not too busy during the day but enough people and all stalls are open, so you're just enjoying the german christmas street food aroma and people watching.

it's a shortest day (light) of the year anyway, by 4pm, the sun is set and the same christmas markets ar now merrier and charming with the light contrast.

 with your friends joining you, you went out again and paint the market red

 taking photos and wandering around the different corner of the city...

 and enjoying more street food before the dinner

munster is charming and beautiful during the festive season, it's certainly very different from dusserdolf that you visited the last two years.

and the street food you munched on as you walk around the market, you didn't take the gulhwine this year but that has no regret, the weather is not that cold that you needed one mug to warm up your body...
it's almost christmas ^^.

christmas.bake.no.5

to be honest, you didn't follow the recipe of the dough, in fact you just used half portion of the saffron bun dough and turned it into a mincemeat couroune.

you omit the marzipan so it's just mincemeat you had in the bread dough.  you learned the method of slicing and twisting the dough. it's a bit messy but manageable.  this is very similar to the mincemeat roll you made before except this time it has turned into a more magnificent  crown.
you didn't go all the way with the drizzle and coating of royal icing because that's unnecessary to your sweet life. so you're please with the final result, just thin drizzle of the royal icing and you stop.

::winter.solstice::

now the winter has arrived. you mum always whisked up dumpling (tang yuan) in white and pink color and cooked it in pandan ginger sweet soup. she always told you to eat at least one dumpling otherwise you cannot grow a year older.
many years later, mum is no longer around and you have settle down in europe, you come to appreciate this festival more as there's winter here in europe after all. it's normally just a few days before christmas and it's also denote the shortest day light or longest darkness.
you made a bowl of black sesame tang yuan and some plain ones in pink/purple-ish color infused with beetroot. the color is muted but that's alright since you're not keen with artificial coloring.
so this is a heart warming, down the memory lane and a rekindle of your childhood, cultural and values bowl of tang yuan.
happy winter solstice everyone! 冬至快乐！

christmas.bake.no.4

you have seen this a few times and wanted to have a try on the saffron buns but never have the courage until you watch the bake off master class. a recipe demonstrated by paul so effortlessly and you said to yourself you can do it. it's no other than baking a bread or bun.

so, with the saffron in hand you have a go... the result is good. you like the texture and the lightly infused saffron, so subtle but you notice its presence.

christmas.bake.no.3

you baked a small loaf of christmas fruit cake.  this is a tradition that you grew up with that your mum will bake a big square tin of fruit cake with a lot of raisins, a very dense and sweet cake that brushed with rum and can keep for months.

two years ago, a friend shared a  simpler recipe with you,  a smaller cake, with less sugar and a lighter version of christmas cake. this year you added a teaspoon of speculaas spice to the cake and that totally transformed the taste of the cake, giving the cake another dimension of complexity and aroma.
it's less booze but it's better this way and you totally enjoy your piece of cake with a cup of tea.

today is the last working day of the year, you're looking forward to the festive holiday and hopefully you can make a different to your friends and people whom you crossed your path with.