And testing recipe ideas for our Christmas appetizer.
Are you too?
I still have to decide what we’ll eat. So I better get my act together 🙂 I am curious to know what you’ll be doing.
39 comments
Je suis moi aussi en plein préparatifs: je te donne mon menu…
Cuillères apéritives aux Pétoncles, Huitres chaudes au beurre d’algues, poulet de Bresse au Vin Jaune et aux Morilles et verrine gourmande aux poires et crème Carambar. Ca te tente?
Passe d’excellentes fêtes de fin d’annnée!
We are open for our last minute shoppers until 6pm on Christmas Eve, so it’s a nice arrangement of Charcuterie et fromages for us that evening.
On Christmas day we are going to prepare Duck a l’Orange, with all the good side dishes that go with it.
Joyeux Noël a tous!
Ohhh!! my god!! This is just so amazing!! Absolutely Gorgeous So simple arrangement and yet so elegant. This is just way too awesome.
Like the use of bokeh here and the play with depth of field.Love the light and overall photograph.
thank you for sharing.
Wonderful!
My mother will prepare herb and wine marinated pork and aromatic greens pie. I will make a fresh mashroom tart and our favorite whole wheat carrot-pineapple cake for a healthy dessert (of course there are always the traditional melomakarona around us these days)!…
Have a happy holiday!
I am visiting my parents this year. Our traditional Christmas Eve menu is champagne, cocktail de crevettes (avec avocats), red wine, fondue chinoise (beef cubes in vegetable bouillon, not oil; my mother has fish, not beef), with different homemade sauces, and freshly backed rolls, then fancy ice cream and homemade christmas cookies for dessert. My mother said she felt like making something different this year, my siblings and I were indignant, so fondue chinoise it is.
Something en croûte? I’m still planning too. I’m trading a dozen croissants aux amandes for some marinated elk steaks, another possibility. Crepes with sautéed apples and cream for breakfast is a tradition on Christmas morning. There are some wonderful suggestions here too that I’ll ponder. Love that juicy photo, Béa!
My contribution is: eggs filled with paté and mayonaise, tomatoes filled with rice and tuna, small balls of chicken and salads. For the dessert cider mousse. We are now at the beggining of summer and is too hot in our country
Merry Christmas for you and your family!
It looks yummy.. What is it, though?
Love to hear and read what you’re making. Inspiring….merci !
Here it’s different layers of finely sliced and cooked potatoes, scallops, and pears. With a flavored-oil.
What a wonderful and colorful-looking appetizer. It surely wants to jump out of the screen and onto my plate!
Merry christmas bea~~
so lovely food!
Our “abundant” family meal occurs on the 26th. On Christmas, after things have settled down and others are in bed, my future-sister-in-law and I cook. We roll scallops in bacon and spices, prep dips and spreads, seafood chowder and a plethora of Portuguese dishes she’s perfected. We sip wine. We laugh. I look forward to this interaction every year. Take care & may you celebrate lovely holidays.
We’re experimenting a little with a curry-themed Christmas dinner this year – spice-injected turkey with a pilaf-type stuffing, cranberry chutney, etc. Something fresh and new (but not TOO exotic so our granddads will still be able to eat it)! Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Love the look of the pomegranate above…it’s so festive all by itself! I’m going to have to find a place to sprinkle some in too, I think!
By the way, Bea, I saw your name on the Gingerbread cookbook in a Sonoma-Williams store this afternoon and I said, “I know her!” Well, we’ve never met, of course, but I feel like I know you anyway! Joyeux Noel, amie!
Béa, there is not much cooking for me on christmas, because I will visit my parents and parents in law. So from this point it is very relaxing for me. What I will do (as I do it every christmas) is to prepare the Feuerzangenbowle (burnt punch), which has beome very prominent in Germany by the book “Feuerzangenbowle” by Heinrich Spoerl and the film based on this story. We have Feuerzangenbowle every christmas eve after dinner and it will last several hours. Have a merry christmas and a happy new year.
Thorsten
Béa merci pour toutes tes belles photos et l’inspiration que tu nous donnes tout au long de l’année – mais aujourd’hui il semble que c’est à notre tour…..
Après un velouté de potimarron à la féve tonka, nous mangerons une pintade chaponnéé aux fruits secs et farce au boulghour et un plat de légumes anciens lentement cuits au four ….et bien sûr plein de petits amuse bouche suivant l’humeur de la chef (coquille st jacques sur une purée d’artichaut entre autre )
J’ai mon foie gras qui cuit dans le sel, aromatisé à la cardamonne, ça sera pour le 24 au soir !
Te souhaitant un très joyeux noël à toi et ta petite famille !
Madama Craquotte…..si tu te souviens !!
We haven’t decided our menu yet. Better hurry right? I think we will see what market has to offer today. I’m thinking prawns, a roast, fingerlings… Definitely chocolate mousse cake for dessert. Have a great gathering Bea and merry Christmas!
4h du mat et mega insomnie a cause des dents de bebe. Ca me laisse le temps de penser a mon repas de Noel: huitres en entree, petites cailles farcies au foie gras accompagnees de petits navets, carottes et chataignes, mousse au choc de Maman en dessert avec une salade d’orange du jardin et peut etre quelques mini canneles faient par mon homme.
Joeux Noel a toute ta famille!
We will be making Beef Wellington – we love it because it was the first “special” meal that me and my beloved cooked together when we were dating.
No, I won’t be making my own puff pastry this time (shame, shame on me!) because I have too much work going on at the same time.
as for dessert, creme brullee
Merry Christmas for you and your family!
Oh, so many! Brie with Caramelized Almonds, Beef Tenderloin sliders with Basil Aioli, Triple Layer Pesto Torte with Crostini, Cranberry Salsa with Blue Chips, just to name a few…
Pas tres sure encore de ce que je vais faire, oui je sais, c’est demain…Mais ce qui est sur, c’est qu’on va se regaler tous ensemble en famille. Et j’espere que ce sera la meme chose chez vous. Bonnes fetes de fin d’annee.
I am attempting Prime Rib (Ina Garten Style) and Haricot Verts. Mace bundt cake for dessert. Simple but so delicious.
Hello Bea,
Cela fait quelques temps que je viens régulièrement sur ton blog très inspirant !!! C’est un plaisir de te lire
Alors quelle joie de pouvoir t’insufler quelques modestes idées…
Pour le menu du réveillon du 24, j’ai prévu des mini crèmes brulées au foie gras et au pain d’épices, verrine de fevès au chorizo, une salade de gésiers de canard confits, roquette, vinaigrette de fruit de la passion, faisans au chou vert, parfait glacé aux marrons.
Je vous souhaite à tous les trois d’excellentes fêtes de fin d’année.
mouthwatering!
Ah! You are ALL making me hungry. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a combination of all of these beauties in a big feast?
Such a beautiful and elegant appetizer! I’ll be contributing a bit of this and that–roasted brussel sprouts with crushed fennel seed and balsamic vinegar, a cranberry chutney, and a chocolate hazlenut torte.
Hope you have a wonderful holiday!
We are celebrating the 24th with friends from Central America so the meal is all around their recipes. On the 15th, I think that we’ll have a seafood pie (ou vol-au-vent), a stuffed veal roast and I have this great recipe for cremes brulees. I also want to make a chestnuts cake…
Joyeuses Fetes de fin d’annee!
What a great idea we have to organise a big feast somewhere in the World (Why not Paris :)) ! Everyone will choose the plate he wants to taste from a list of recipes of all guests !!!
Wonderful Holidays all !
It is xmas eve here and is over 35 degrees celcius already at lunch time! We’ll not be cooking anything – but eating prawns and oysters and many salads – red quinoa and beetroot tabouli, mango and chicken salad, fennel and apple and mint salad – and lots of cold champagne and peaches… and a swim at the beach! That’s our xmas…
We have 3 big meals on Christmas Day with different family members. Breakfast will include blueberry pancakes with lots of maple syrup, eggs and bacon. Lunch will be tourtiere (a French Canadian pork pie) and salads, as well as turkey and all the trimmings. Dinner will be another turkey dinner, with ham and salads and lots of side dishes. For dessert, pumpkin pie, shortbread, fudge and something else…I haven’t decided yet. Now, I must get started on the tourtiere.
Have a wonderful Christmas!
Je ne sais même pas comment tu trouves le temps de poster sur ton site à propos des préparatifs de Noël… moi je suis débordé, et n’ai rien pu posté depuis quelques temps sur mon site de cuisine, ni les truffes au chocolat, ni les cookies au beurre de cacahuète, ni les opera creams, ni rien de plus que la bûche de Noël que j’avais faite plus tôt dans le mois.
Mes admirations, comme d’habitude. Au plaisir constant de visiter ce merveilleux site internet, même si ce n’est que pour un coup d’œil forcé par le manque de temps.
Bises et Joyeux Noël à tous les trois !
Baptiste
PS : je serai à Boston pour le Nouvel An, by the way, et à Martha’s Vineyard juste avant pour trois jours, et c’était vous qui m’en aviez donné l’envie (even the craving) !
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Pour nous c’est toujours quelque chose de provençal. Comme c’est l’été ici je suis en virgule parce que je ne me rends jamais compte que Noël approche. Pour apaiser le mal du pays (et s’imaginer au froid!) ce soir c’est un bon bol de soupe au pistou (recette de ma maman), et la clim’ à fond: en fermant les yeux on y est presque!
Bises et joyeux Noël xxx
Merry Christmas!
Hi Bea,
yesterday I had a nice early Christmas dinner with my boyfriend.
The menu was: oyster mushroom cream soup, followed by roasted goose liver with brussels sprouts with orange. The dessert was a lovely almond cake with vanilia and chocolate ice-cream. I cooked everything except the ice-cream! 🙂
This evening I had dinner with my family. On Christmas eve the traditional Hungarian meal usually is fish soup. The main dish is different kind of fish. The dessert is a special cake: poppy-seed roll and walnut roll. So yummie! 🙂
Merry Christmas,
Zita from Hungary
Hi Bea
I have to tell you about my Christmas dinner, especially since it included three of your recipes, even though I already modified them
I started with the leek quiches
Than we had a beet root soup (adapted from sticky gooey)
And then I continued with your Quinoa beet salad (exchanging the beets with purple carrots)
After that we had scampi pasta
And for desert the chocolate coconut creams (no merinque
Everything was really good and I got high praises, which I want now to share with you I love you recipes a lot most of them are simple to make and taste very good. Also since I am from Switzerland love the fact, that you add the French recipe with the metric measures. So I save a lot of time looking up the conversions.
Love from Switzerland and a Happy New Year to you. Keep up with the good work.
Annette
Maybe I’m late for Christmas and Lulu’s birthday, but I really want to wish you and your family a happy and joyful new year. And thank you for making my past one sweeter with your magic photos, posts and recipes! Love from Italy
Serena
yum…..what a delicious looking appetizer!
Hello, i must say that the first time i had seen your blog i fall in love with it…and realize that it´s possible..that the world can be different and magic and colorful and yumy!!i must say thanks and happy 2010…and keep going..
Je suis moi aussi en plein préparatifs: je te donne mon menu…
Cuillères apéritives aux Pétoncles, Huitres chaudes au beurre d’algues, poulet de Bresse au Vin Jaune et aux Morilles et verrine gourmande aux poires et crème Carambar. Ca te tente?
Passe d’excellentes fêtes de fin d’annnée!
We are open for our last minute shoppers until 6pm on Christmas Eve, so it’s a nice arrangement of Charcuterie et fromages for us that evening.
On Christmas day we are going to prepare Duck a l’Orange, with all the good side dishes that go with it.
Joyeux Noël a tous!
Ohhh!! my god!! This is just so amazing!! Absolutely Gorgeous So simple arrangement and yet so elegant. This is just way too awesome.
Like the use of bokeh here and the play with depth of field.Love the light and overall photograph.
thank you for sharing.
Wonderful!
My mother will prepare herb and wine marinated pork and aromatic greens pie. I will make a fresh mashroom tart and our favorite whole wheat carrot-pineapple cake for a healthy dessert (of course there are always the traditional melomakarona around us these days)!…
Have a happy holiday!
I am visiting my parents this year. Our traditional Christmas Eve menu is champagne, cocktail de crevettes (avec avocats), red wine, fondue chinoise (beef cubes in vegetable bouillon, not oil; my mother has fish, not beef), with different homemade sauces, and freshly backed rolls, then fancy ice cream and homemade christmas cookies for dessert. My mother said she felt like making something different this year, my siblings and I were indignant, so fondue chinoise it is.
Something en croûte? I’m still planning too. I’m trading a dozen croissants aux amandes for some marinated elk steaks, another possibility. Crepes with sautéed apples and cream for breakfast is a tradition on Christmas morning. There are some wonderful suggestions here too that I’ll ponder. Love that juicy photo, Béa!
My contribution is: eggs filled with paté and mayonaise, tomatoes filled with rice and tuna, small balls of chicken and salads. For the dessert cider mousse. We are now at the beggining of summer and is too hot in our country
Merry Christmas for you and your family!
It looks yummy.. What is it, though?
Love to hear and read what you’re making. Inspiring….merci !
Here it’s different layers of finely sliced and cooked potatoes, scallops, and pears. With a flavored-oil.
What a wonderful and colorful-looking appetizer. It surely wants to jump out of the screen and onto my plate!
Merry christmas bea~~
so lovely food!
Our “abundant” family meal occurs on the 26th. On Christmas, after things have settled down and others are in bed, my future-sister-in-law and I cook. We roll scallops in bacon and spices, prep dips and spreads, seafood chowder and a plethora of Portuguese dishes she’s perfected. We sip wine. We laugh. I look forward to this interaction every year. Take care & may you celebrate lovely holidays.
We’re experimenting a little with a curry-themed Christmas dinner this year – spice-injected turkey with a pilaf-type stuffing, cranberry chutney, etc. Something fresh and new (but not TOO exotic so our granddads will still be able to eat it)! Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Love the look of the pomegranate above…it’s so festive all by itself! I’m going to have to find a place to sprinkle some in too, I think!
By the way, Bea, I saw your name on the Gingerbread cookbook in a Sonoma-Williams store this afternoon and I said, “I know her!” Well, we’ve never met, of course, but I feel like I know you anyway! Joyeux Noel, amie!
Béa, there is not much cooking for me on christmas, because I will visit my parents and parents in law. So from this point it is very relaxing for me. What I will do (as I do it every christmas) is to prepare the Feuerzangenbowle (burnt punch), which has beome very prominent in Germany by the book “Feuerzangenbowle” by Heinrich Spoerl and the film based on this story. We have Feuerzangenbowle every christmas eve after dinner and it will last several hours. Have a merry christmas and a happy new year.
Thorsten
Béa merci pour toutes tes belles photos et l’inspiration que tu nous donnes tout au long de l’année – mais aujourd’hui il semble que c’est à notre tour…..
Après un velouté de potimarron à la féve tonka, nous mangerons une pintade chaponnéé aux fruits secs et farce au boulghour et un plat de légumes anciens lentement cuits au four ….et bien sûr plein de petits amuse bouche suivant l’humeur de la chef (coquille st jacques sur une purée d’artichaut entre autre )
J’ai mon foie gras qui cuit dans le sel, aromatisé à la cardamonne, ça sera pour le 24 au soir !
Te souhaitant un très joyeux noël à toi et ta petite famille !
Madama Craquotte…..si tu te souviens !!
We haven’t decided our menu yet. Better hurry right? I think we will see what market has to offer today. I’m thinking prawns, a roast, fingerlings… Definitely chocolate mousse cake for dessert. Have a great gathering Bea and merry Christmas!
4h du mat et mega insomnie a cause des dents de bebe. Ca me laisse le temps de penser a mon repas de Noel: huitres en entree, petites cailles farcies au foie gras accompagnees de petits navets, carottes et chataignes, mousse au choc de Maman en dessert avec une salade d’orange du jardin et peut etre quelques mini canneles faient par mon homme.
Joeux Noel a toute ta famille!
We will be making Beef Wellington – we love it because it was the first “special” meal that me and my beloved cooked together when we were dating.
No, I won’t be making my own puff pastry this time (shame, shame on me!) because I have too much work going on at the same time.
as for dessert, creme brullee
Merry Christmas for you and your family!
Oh, so many! Brie with Caramelized Almonds, Beef Tenderloin sliders with Basil Aioli, Triple Layer Pesto Torte with Crostini, Cranberry Salsa with Blue Chips, just to name a few…
Pas tres sure encore de ce que je vais faire, oui je sais, c’est demain…Mais ce qui est sur, c’est qu’on va se regaler tous ensemble en famille. Et j’espere que ce sera la meme chose chez vous. Bonnes fetes de fin d’annee.
I am attempting Prime Rib (Ina Garten Style) and Haricot Verts. Mace bundt cake for dessert. Simple but so delicious.
Hello Bea,
Cela fait quelques temps que je viens régulièrement sur ton blog très inspirant !!! C’est un plaisir de te lire
Alors quelle joie de pouvoir t’insufler quelques modestes idées…
Pour le menu du réveillon du 24, j’ai prévu des mini crèmes brulées au foie gras et au pain d’épices, verrine de fevès au chorizo, une salade de gésiers de canard confits, roquette, vinaigrette de fruit de la passion, faisans au chou vert, parfait glacé aux marrons.
Je vous souhaite à tous les trois d’excellentes fêtes de fin d’année.
mouthwatering!
Ah! You are ALL making me hungry. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a combination of all of these beauties in a big feast?
Such a beautiful and elegant appetizer! I’ll be contributing a bit of this and that–roasted brussel sprouts with crushed fennel seed and balsamic vinegar, a cranberry chutney, and a chocolate hazlenut torte.
Hope you have a wonderful holiday!
We are celebrating the 24th with friends from Central America so the meal is all around their recipes. On the 15th, I think that we’ll have a seafood pie (ou vol-au-vent), a stuffed veal roast and I have this great recipe for cremes brulees. I also want to make a chestnuts cake…
Joyeuses Fetes de fin d’annee!
What a great idea we have to organise a big feast somewhere in the World (Why not Paris :)) ! Everyone will choose the plate he wants to taste from a list of recipes of all guests !!!
Wonderful Holidays all !
It is xmas eve here and is over 35 degrees celcius already at lunch time! We’ll not be cooking anything – but eating prawns and oysters and many salads – red quinoa and beetroot tabouli, mango and chicken salad, fennel and apple and mint salad – and lots of cold champagne and peaches… and a swim at the beach! That’s our xmas…
We have 3 big meals on Christmas Day with different family members. Breakfast will include blueberry pancakes with lots of maple syrup, eggs and bacon. Lunch will be tourtiere (a French Canadian pork pie) and salads, as well as turkey and all the trimmings. Dinner will be another turkey dinner, with ham and salads and lots of side dishes. For dessert, pumpkin pie, shortbread, fudge and something else…I haven’t decided yet. Now, I must get started on the tourtiere.
Have a wonderful Christmas!
Je ne sais même pas comment tu trouves le temps de poster sur ton site à propos des préparatifs de Noël… moi je suis débordé, et n’ai rien pu posté depuis quelques temps sur mon site de cuisine, ni les truffes au chocolat, ni les cookies au beurre de cacahuète, ni les opera creams, ni rien de plus que la bûche de Noël que j’avais faite plus tôt dans le mois.
Mes admirations, comme d’habitude. Au plaisir constant de visiter ce merveilleux site internet, même si ce n’est que pour un coup d’œil forcé par le manque de temps.
Bises et Joyeux Noël à tous les trois !
Baptiste
PS : je serai à Boston pour le Nouvel An, by the way, et à Martha’s Vineyard juste avant pour trois jours, et c’était vous qui m’en aviez donné l’envie (even the craving) !
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Pour nous c’est toujours quelque chose de provençal. Comme c’est l’été ici je suis en virgule parce que je ne me rends jamais compte que Noël approche. Pour apaiser le mal du pays (et s’imaginer au froid!) ce soir c’est un bon bol de soupe au pistou (recette de ma maman), et la clim’ à fond: en fermant les yeux on y est presque!
Bises et joyeux Noël xxx
Merry Christmas!
Hi Bea,
yesterday I had a nice early Christmas dinner with my boyfriend.
The menu was: oyster mushroom cream soup, followed by roasted goose liver with brussels sprouts with orange. The dessert was a lovely almond cake with vanilia and chocolate ice-cream. I cooked everything except the ice-cream! 🙂
This evening I had dinner with my family. On Christmas eve the traditional Hungarian meal usually is fish soup. The main dish is different kind of fish. The dessert is a special cake: poppy-seed roll and walnut roll. So yummie! 🙂
Merry Christmas,
Zita from Hungary
Hi Bea
I have to tell you about my Christmas dinner, especially since it included three of your recipes, even though I already modified them
I started with the leek quiches
Than we had a beet root soup (adapted from sticky gooey)
And then I continued with your Quinoa beet salad (exchanging the beets with purple carrots)
After that we had scampi pasta
And for desert the chocolate coconut creams (no merinque
Everything was really good and I got high praises, which I want now to share with you I love you recipes a lot most of them are simple to make and taste very good. Also since I am from Switzerland love the fact, that you add the French recipe with the metric measures. So I save a lot of time looking up the conversions.
Love from Switzerland and a Happy New Year to you. Keep up with the good work.
Annette
Maybe I’m late for Christmas and Lulu’s birthday, but I really want to wish you and your family a happy and joyful new year. And thank you for making my past one sweeter with your magic photos, posts and recipes! Love from Italy
Serena
yum…..what a delicious looking appetizer!
Hello, i must say that the first time i had seen your blog i fall in love with it…and realize that it´s possible..that the world can be different and magic and colorful and yumy!!i must say thanks and happy 2010…and keep going..