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This week: Christmas Memories!

(Posting a little early again, as the next four days are my time to get Christmas preps ‘done-and-dusted’ ;-)

If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking ping-list, please send a private message.

-JT

Aww, loved reading about your Christmas memories! So special. And we love fruitcake in our family, too. : )

While this appears to be a Thanksgiving recipe, I make it several times a Winter for turkey, pork, and chicken.

Cranberry Relish

1 bag (12 oz) fresh or frozen cranberries

8 oz dried cherries

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Dissolve sugar in water over heat and bring to a boil. Toss in the cranberries, stirring until they pop. Stir in cherries and cook for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Options: I've tried this with a little orange zest, but now leave it out because I think it "fights" with the cherries. If you try something else, let us know how it turns out.

This stuff has the shelf life of granite and I "lost" some in the fridge for two months, but it was still good.

What a great telling of your childhood memories! You have an excellent talent for creating the image with your words.

I was a kid in the ‘40s-’50s, so have very similar memories.

My mom used to make this when we were kids. This recipe is very similar to hers. She used those Maria cookies in the big orange box from the grocer store.

Salame al Cioccolato (Chocolate Salami)

**Please Note - The Chocolate Salami will be firm when you first remove it from the refrigerator (you can see that in the photos). It is best to cut slices immediately but then allow the slices to come to room temperature before serving (the slices will then become soft and luscious!).

This recipe uses raw eggs; please make sure to use only the freshest of eggs.
226 g (8 ounces) good quality dark chocolate, 70%, finely chopped
100 g (7 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
150 g (2/3 cup) caster (superfine granules) sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
30 ml (2 tablespoons) dark rum
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
15 g (2 tablespoons) unsweetened cocoa, sifted
250 g (about 9 ounces) plain cookies (tea biscuits, digestive cookies), coarsely chopped
75 g (1/2 cup) almonds, toasted, finely chopped
75 g (1/2 cup)hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, finely chopped
50 g (1/3-cup) unsalted pistachios, toasted, finely chopped
Confectionersâ€™ (icing) sugar, sifted, for work surface
1.In a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of just simmering water, melt chocolate until smooth. Remove from heat, set-aside.
2.In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together butter and sugar until creamy.
3.Add the eggs; whisk until well combined.
4.Add the rum and vanilla extract; whisk to combine.
5.Add cocoa to cooled chocolate; stir until well combined.
6.Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and whisk until well combined.
7.Add the cookies, almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios to egg-chocolate mixture; stir to well combine.
8.Cover and chill chocolate-cookie mixture until firm, about one-half hour.
9.Using a fine mesh sieve, sift confectionersâ€™ sugar onto a clean work surface. Transfer chocolate-cookie mixture to work surface.
10.Using your hands, form chocolate-cookie mixture into a log (resembling a salami) about 5-cm (2-inches) in diameter.
11.Using the fine mesh sieve, sift confectionersâ€™ sugar over surface of log to well coat.
12.Place the log on a sheet of plastic wrap; wrap tightly. Twist the ends by grasping both ends of the wrap and rolling towards you several times (wrap as tightly as possible to keep the log shape). To secure, tie a knot at each end.
13.Chill in refrigerator for at least three hours, preferably overnight.
14.To serve, cut into slices or place on a wooden board and allow your guests to slice on their own.
15.Store well wrapped in aluminum foil in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or well wrapped in foil and then in a freezer bag in the freezer for up to 1 month.
16.Buon Appetito!

http://gracessweetlife.com/2011/06/salame-al-cioccolato-chocolate-salami/

Here is a pic of the cookies:
https://sp.yimg.com/xj/th?id=OIP.Md50844f7c3ea8984715c83ec6c3074b7H0&pid=15.1&P=0&w=226&h=152

So many of us have cherished, warm memories of the Christmas' of our youth. At this time of the year I listen to a CD track that evokes a great collection of my own experiences.

"The Train"
by
Geoffrey Lewis

There was hardly anyone on the train, as it moved through the countryside. The snow covered land slipped smoothly by. Way out there I could see a lonely house now and again just turning on their lights against the cold on coming night. Two thick coated horses in the almost dark, steam coming out of their nostrils, eating hay, then they were gone. The sky was quickly dark, the stars were crisp through the chill air.

Wasn't very warm on the train. A man was asleep at the other end of the car, his coat rolled up for a pillow and a Christmas present had fallen on the floor. A few seats away a young woman sat with her baby. She was staring out the window. She saw me looking at her, reflected in the window, and she half smiled at my reflection and she stared beyond that out into the cold dark landscape that was slipping away. I turned and gazed back out my window and then I heard a very soft ohhhhh. I turned and looked at the woman and I saw her hug her baby to her very closely and very intently.

Suddenly, I felt very close, very close and warm and a door appeared in the back of my mind. I opened it and light flooded in and I heard my father say, "Burrrr, burrrr, it's cold outside. You can put those logs right on the fire," and as I stepped in he shut the door behind me. I was standing in my living room, the Christmas tree was all lit up over by the front windows.

I heard laughter upstairs, my mother came through the swinging kitchen door carrying a plate of red and green frosted cookies and behind her came the smell of roasting turkey like a gauze that draped around my head, like the smell of earth that hangs out in the ocean and let's you know home is just over the horizon. Someone was stamping snow off their boots on the back porch and my little sister and two of her cousins were lying on their stomachs in front of the tree, starring at the presents like sharks at a man's legs under water, hoping to see beyond the tinsel and pretty paper.

I put the logs down and took off my gloves to warm my frozen fingers. In the dining room my grandma was scolding my grandpa about the best way for him to crack the walnuts that he was already cracking. He looked at me through the doorway and shrugged his shoulders and continued shelling the walnuts. I took off my thick coat and threw it on the floor by the door and went to stand by my aunt who had just called me to come sing the tenor part at the piano. There was talk and loud laughter coming out of the kitchen where the windows were steamed. We were singing, sometimes forgetting the second verses, but sounding pretty good.

But suddenly, somewhere in all the warm and familiar sounds, I heard someone very quietly crying. I looked around trying to locate the person and then my eyes landed on the young woman in the train a few seats away holding her baby. Her eyes with tears, hardly seeing the back of the seat in front of her. I got up and walked awkwardly up the aisle of the swaying car. I put my thick coat around her shoulders, then I sat down beside her. I held her hand in both of mine and we rode like that not looking at each other...looking straight ahead and I head her whisper under her breathe,"Merry Christmas."

The train slipped away across the sleeping land into the dark winter night.

I remember when I was little, my parents went through some tough financial times.

One year, I think I was 6, it occurred to me that it was only a few days before Christmas, and we still didn’t have our tree up. It was an artificial tree, and I knew where all the pieces and the ornaments were, but for some reason I couldn’t convince anyone that we should get it out.

So, tiny skinny little me wrestled with a plastic-and-wire tree that was bigger than I was. It scratched up my arms something fierce, but I put it up and decorated it myself.

On Christmas Eve we went to a special church service. I don’t remember the service itself, although I was probably in the pageant. What I do remember is when we went out to our car, somebody had left a bag full of groceries in the back seat!

I didn’t understand at the time just how tight finances had been. But I remember turkey dinners on Christmas day :)

Ok, here’s my very simple, mild fruitcake recipe:

3/4 c red candied cherries, cut in half
3/4 c green candied cherries, cut in half
1 c red and green and gold candied pineapple, cut in half
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup flour

1 c sugar
1/2 c butter
2 eggs
1/4 c dry sherry
1 c sour cream
2 c flour
1/2 t soda
1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 9x5 loaf pan. Combine fruits and nuts with 1/2 flour. Set aside.
Cream sugar, butter; add eggs, sour cream, sherry, soda, salt, and the 2 cups flour. Blend at low speed, then beat 4 min on med speed. Gently fold in fruit mixture. Bake 90 min, or until golden and toothpick comes out clean. Cool 15 min in pan. Remove and cool on rack. You may top with thin icing, if desired.
This is also good warm, or toasted with butter.

The Stroopwafel was our Christmas treat. I will have to dig out the recipe.

There is nothing better with a hot cup of coffee.

TO ALL:

Johnny is very ill. Please pray for him.
Marcella

Johnny report:
Johnny was in the hospital but is now home. We will see him this Sunday and have a “special” Christmas Party. Our family will not be here this Christmas, so I told Johnny we would have our Christmas with him. He needs your continued prayers. Will report on “special” party afterward.
Marcella