12/24/2024 - Donuts and Christmas Eve

Muzzaman

Muzzaman

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Good morning, all. I'm sure you're all busy preparing for family, church, visitors, baking, cooking, wrapping, having some drinks (well, maybe not this early int he morning), relaxing, working etc. Our snow is melting and supposed to be 8*C (46.9*F).

Nice to hear family have arrived at your homes, towns, cities, and hope for a nice holiday season doing whatever you want to do to celebrate or not. I have a short work day today but a busy day getting dinner ready for tonight and a dessert to bring over for christmas dinner tomorrow. I think I shared this already but we'll be doing Chicken Schnitzel, a warm red cabbage and apple dish, spatzli (potato noodles) and honey mustard tarragon buns. For dessert tomorrow I'm going to attempt a layered sour cream chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache. I'm just not sure what to put in the middle. Any suggestions?

The rest of the week is pretty chilled and will be in a beach vball tournament on Friday and hosting a poker game on Saturday night.

Have a good day everyone.
 
Wow Muzz, I'm exhausted just reading your to-do list! I did get my Figgy pudding made yesterday, as well as a batch of cookies and some cranberry sauce. I'll make the "mice" today and maybe one more type of cookie. I'm not hosting, so I don't need to worry about house cleaning and table prep.

Wishing you all a lovely Christmas Eve.
 
Oh, my gosh, forgot the cranberry sauce.....you reminded me lil0. hopefully I will be able to to get out for some. But heck, I have no company coming, nor am going anywhere, so really doesn't matter. My son will be coming next week, so that will be great!
Hope all goes well for those traveling and those expecting travelers, especially that the weather behaves for all. Mostly........enjoy, make those wonderful memories, take pics. God Bless you all, and Merry, Merry Christmas!
 
Muzz a light chocolate mousse? or a chocolate pudding.... OR go with a rich vanilla pudding/mousse.....

Vinnie is driving everyone nuts with his constant need for balls to be thrown..... we did go out for a walk last night and saw some of the neighbors light displays..... and as a way to calm him down a bit.....

Tonight we have a crowd for dinner.... tomorrow just us....

I Hope everyone has a fantastic day....
 
It's cloudy with rain today. We had a lot of rain during the night.

My visitors just left. We had a nice dinner with a pork roast. They brought some pictures
with my them with my grandson. They are really nice. I picked one out.

Muzzaman, my mom made spätzle with flour. It's been awhile since I made it. Enjoy time
with your family.

Poirot, I hope you found cranberry sauce. I keep a supply in my pantry. I'm glad your son
is coming by for a visit.

Lil0, I hope everyone enjoys the goodies you made.

robin, I hope Vinnie sleeps well tonight.

I hope everyone has nice Christmas Eve.
 
Muzz, that chicken dish sounds very good to me. I've gotten so I almost can't stand chicken and end up throwing out most of it when I cook it. The ingredients you mentioned are all appealing to me but I'm pretty sure I would never invest what it takes to put together such a dish. Maybe I'll throw some of the ingredients into a pan and do a quick and easy variation of it sometime though.

Poirot, I have to commend you for cooking up some tradition for yourself. I don't even bother. I have been longing for a couple of things from the past though: my mother's spiced "tea" but I don't even have her recipe and when I looked at the price of a jug of cranberry juice at the grocery store at 6-7 dollars, I decided it wasn't worth it, when I'd probably drink only one cup anyway. For sure not the same without her. Most recipes use apple juice and my head doesn't tolerate that. The other thing I kept thinking I'd make is homemade Cocoa Box recipe for fudge candy. Probably the first thing I ever learned to cook but haven't had it in years. There are other things too but I just don't have the motivation to do it.

Lil0, I didn't know anybody actually eats figgy pudding, at least in this day and time. I hadn't even heard of it until I married my Yankee husband. The only kind of puddings I knew about were plain chocolate or vanilla stove-top puddings, and those weren't a very frequent thing. My husband's family had a tradition of steamed plum pudding, which he made a few times in our early years together. I liked it.

Robin, I hope Vinnie will be worn out enough to let you enjoy your dinners.

Wilde Woman, what a sparkly beautiful tree!

Merry Christmas to you, Mrs. Clean!

Kat, I'm glad you had a nice dinner and YEA for the picture! Is your grandson a teenager yet?

I used to keep cranberry sauce on hand. I like it in just about any form. But my mother always made her own and it was very good. I did it a few times, long time ago. I really like those dishes that some people make with cranberry sauce, orange peel, pecans, and I don't know what else.

The weather is very dreary here today, overcast, north breeze and everything outside has turned brown and bare except for some odd reason a few of the mesquite trees still have leaves, and at least one (which my nephew had cut down a few months ago) behind my yard has resprouted and is now a big, full, green bush. :eek: Mesquites are the last trees to come out in the spring and the last to lose leaves in the fall, but this is ridiculous! I'd never seen anything like it all my years--mesquites with leaves at Christmas . I saw some other people on Facebook, further east in Texas, talking about some of their plants putting out new sprouts. So I guess it's a thing this year.

My niece has gone for the day to meet with her family about an hour's drive from here. It does seem a little strange to be here all alone on Christmas Eve, and especially knowing she is not nearby. (Even though we wouldn't be spending the day together anyway, it's still different knowing she's not around). But I'm still having a good day. Counting my blessings and reflecting on them.

Good wishes to all of you!
 
OC, my grandson is 13. They took another picture and put it on a pillow.
 
Old Cowgirl said:
Lil0, I didn't know anybody actually eats figgy pudding,
Click to expand...
OC, my recipe is well over 100 years old. It was passed on by my paternal grandmother, and I'm not sure how long it might have been in the family before her. I grew up with it, and my children have grown up with it. I guess, technically, it isn't "figgy", since I use raisins and currants rather than figs, but it is a traditional steamed Christmas Pudding. I seems that "Christmas", "figgy", and "plum" pudding are terms that are used interchangeably.
 
Sexton, I'm glad you get to see the kids open their presents. My youngest son is going to do face time with me in the morning so I can see their kids open theirs. I told him he'll probably have to wake me up but that's okay. I've never had the chance to be with them at Christmastime.

Lil0, how fun, to have a family recipe that old! What you said about the terms for steamed pudding makes sense. I bet there aren't many of the younger generations who would know anything about steamed pudding, and most wouldn't care for it if they did. I hope your family will carry on your tradition. Everybody I know turns up their nose when I say I like things like mincemeat pie and even fruitcake, although I'm particular about the fruitcake. Most of them I wouldn't want to eat. Hey, I even like molasses and licorice!

Kat, your grandson is growing up fast! The pillow is a nice idea. One year our son gave his dad a t-shirt with a grandson's picture on it. I still have it.
 
O C, I have one favorite fruitcake recipe -- the only one I like. But I haven't made it for several years as it is very labor intensive and I don't think anyone else in the family likes it. I'm hopeful that the pudding tradition will hold as we make quite a ceremony of it. I think the grandkids would miss it if it wasn't continued. We turn out all the lights except the tree lights. I light the pudding, and we sing "We wish you a Merry Christmas".
 
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