Category: My Family

Without a family, one seldom thinks long term

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revolutionary eggnog

eggnog
Nothing says Christmas or this time of the season as Eggnog and nobody made it better than George Washington! CLICK on the picture for the recipe

When my daughters returned home for the holidays, they had many things that they wanted to make… one of these was the Eggnog recipe handed to us from the days of George Washington.

Although this recipe is generally made with alcoholic beverages, one can simply leave them out for a less challenging version.

Although I leave the spices up to you here is the super secret spice blend I use for our eggnog that we made yesterday…  now, as for flavorings,  I added about a teaspoon and a half of the following mixture to the egg yolks during preparation: nutmeg (4 parts), cloves (1 part), ginger (2 parts), allspice (1 part), mace ( 1 part), cinnamon ( 1 part) and (1 part) cardamon.

The eggnog traditionally has to sit in the refrigerator for a few days to allow for the spices to fully integrate with the other ingredients... however, a short cut would be to allow the spices to soak in some of your alcoholic ingredients for a day or so to help extract the flavorings!

enjoy the season!

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enjoy the season

Every year for some time now, Karla has designed a wonderful little card for us incorporating a few real pictures and her drawings of  ‘us.’ Enjoy this wonderful time of the year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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make some truly fab bread pudding

I’ve resisted for as long as I could… actually months! The problem is that real bread pudding is one of my all time favorite desserts! When I first started the evolution of my own recipe, I studied all of the recipes from hundred plus year old cookbooks, restaurants and internet chefs and home chefs. The problem is that in virtually every case… there were unacceptable short cuts.

From the use of butter, eggs,  heavy cream, brandy, rum and rye whiskey to the various breads and cakes all topped with an exquisite sauce and various nuts… it is a wonderful holiday treat! Fortunately, I believe everyday is a holiday! 😉  If you really want to make something nice… it takes time, care, quality ingredients and a variety that makes it interesting. BREAD PUDDING

So I have my fruit ( dried blueberries, sultanas and 3 scraped vanilla beans) all soaking in their favorite alcoholic mixture… until I need them…. in a week or so.

One bite is way too much… and a million is not enough!

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holiday cookin’ and fun

Some -- but hardly -- all of the fun foods we will be cooking this holiday season! CLICK on the picture for our abridged family favorite foods!

Laura passed an article to me that I found a little sad. It had to do with the tendency of young women to lose contact with their poor ol dads. After reflecting on it a bit I realized that this is probably true of all people who lose common interests. Fortunately, all of my daughters are foodies and cooking is what we do together! It isn’t too unusual for them to give me a call and say, “Dad, you left something out of this recipe… what is it?” or “How do we make (this or that) again?” I feel fortunate.

As long as they enjoy cooking… we’ll be in contact!  😉