Which Time Zone?

The key discussion on new year's eve was which time zone to celebrate new year on?

In past years, Central or Mountain won the race. This year, Pacific was the target.

To keep eyes open, munchies spread out their appearances throughout the evening.

The 8:00 pm (PST) show included lox, beef slices, cheeses and lots of bread - bad idea to keep someone awake with lots of baguettes. 

Warmer, lighter munchies showed up by 9ish.

Good, but the promise of chicken wings did not materialize - how did I miss reading 'vegan' chicken wings on the package?

The Isreali Couscous salad freshened us up and a dose of sugar at 10:30 helped keep the lights on until two minutes after midnight - PST.

New year's resolutions - keep the blog up-to-date and cook simpler fares.

Happy New Year!

Fire and Charming Guests

A fire was lit as two charming ladies gathered around it eating, drinking and discussing life.

The evening kicked off with a humus competition. Surprisingly, the none Lebanese humus maker was tied closely behind the Lebanese one for making a perfect humus.

No one can beat my mom in making Fatayer; but with slow delivery service from Lebanon, we had to settle for store bought.

On the other hand, the Greek Salad was made with the best Lebanese olive oil found on this side of Lebanon.

German meatballs in lemon caper sauce ended up the feasting.

A very pleasant evening indeed - even snobby catsess ventured out to check out the scene.

Festive somerville kitchen Cookbook Club

somerville kitchen hosted this month's cookbook club, featuring another Saskatchewan cookbook.

Breast Wishes for Christmas by Breast Friends  is a festive book. As I understand it, Breast Friends started with ten Saskatchewan women putting a cookbook together of their family and friends' recipes to raise money for breast cancer.

Today, the group is close to a dozen and they are on their sixth book, raising millions of dollars for breast cancer across Canada.

The recipe I chose for the occasion was an eggnog cake. 

But this cake does not have eggnog. All it is is a golden yellow cake mix cake, but with ground ginger and ground nutmeg added to the mix.

It is then covered with sweetened whipping cream with a touch of rum.

And we were all ready to indulge in a decadent version of an eggnog cocktail.

The rest of the books featured all had personal stories to them and all dated over 20 years. We love our somerville kitchen cookbook club. Breast Friends, if you are in Vancouver, let me know, would love to invite you to our meeting.

Holiday PJ Party

A poll on the blog last year suggested that PJ Parties take place at least once a season.

But the last PJ Party took place a year and a half ago.

Blogger, Empress and Cake Lady were determined to have one before end of year. So today we gathered in our pyjamas in front of the fire.

Some read, some knitted, some napped and all ate well.

In addition to a spread of appetizers to go with our beverage, the PJ lunch was a fresh hot tray of home made lasagna.

And Cake Lady indulged us with a ginger bread pudding with home made custard.

Hot from the oven with custard melting on top was a perfect end to a lovely PJ Party.

Let's plan the next one soon.

Favourite Christmas Goodies

Once you put aside the regular chocolate boxes, the licorice, the cookies and the catsess fancy hors d'oeuvres, a few favourites emerged this year.

This post is a tribute and thank you for those thoughtful individuals who sifted through the Christmas clutter and gave or made something special (including Japanese Green Tea Kit Kat).

Christmas at Somerville Kitchen

somerville kitchen loves Christmas!

Each year, the same decorations are used. But they are used differently.

This year, the centre piece was this beautiful ornament that decided to float in space waiting for the right person to drop its legs on.

Until that happens, here's a selection of sites from somerville kitchen on Christmas decorations frenzy.

Enjoy and merry Christmas to all

My Christmas Dinner

On Christmas day, I was hit with a strong flu.

My body could not leave the sofa. My voice was no where to be found. All Christmas festivities were cancelled. I was weak, sleepy and .... hungry.

My dear lovely neighbour felt my pain and showed up with South Indian Penicillin - a chicken soup packed with every spice that kills a cold.

Garlic, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, chilli - all in there combined with the goodness of vegetables and chicken. 

This was my Christmas dinner.

Dessert was an overdoes of vitamin C in the form of those mini mandarins.

Sweet, no seeds, easy to peel and smelled great; the box was gone by the end of Christmas day.

As an analgesic, I resorted to Shaktea's ginger and lemon tea.

Add fresh ginger, honey and cinnamon and it becomes an extra strength analgesic.

A bit of Christmas cookies were sneaked in to make it feel like Christmas.

As a sponsor of healthy lifestyle

Toast Now^TM sent over its local rep with a healthy vitality Toast Now^TM sandwich.

Thank you all for making my Christmas day special despite my cold, with particular thanks to my special mug.

Christmas Eve

After all the festivities of the weekend, Christmas Eve at the kitchen was a model in simplicity.

A simple roasted chicken, dressed in herb de provence. 

The chicken was served with roasted potatoes, grilled brussels sprout and, for the first time attempt, baked cauliflower.

People came, people left, wishes exchanged and this was deemed the simplest Christmas eve at somerville kitchen; the way Christmas eves should be.

With all the Christmas goodies landing at the doorstep, dessert was skipped. Instead, a Christmas chicken salad was served instead.

At the end of the night, what was really enjoyed were the gift exchanges. I think next year, I will skip dinner and just open gifts, drink eggnog and eat sweet goodies on Christmas eve.

Merry Christmas!

Royal Holiday Desserts

The royal holiday desserts followed the delicious royal holiday feast (Click HERE to read).

An abundance of sugar hit all; sending our bodies and spirits into sugar frenzies.

There were, of course, the white and creamy and were those creamy.

There were also other variations that were white or black but not as creamy.

But the highlight were the home made butter tarts from an old European home recipe.

Yes, everyone tried a piece of everything and more were sent home with all, along with the ornaments.

But wait, the party is not over.

Festive crackers started exploding, prizes were fought over and more fun filled up the over four hours of a lovely, memorable Christmas dinner.

Thank you Empress; honoured to be your prince tonight.

Merry Christmas!