A Feast Fit For a King!

On Thursday we had the first big gathering at our humble abode: an early Christmas dinner! Isn't that a glorious spread? We provided the turkey (my husband would like me to draw attention to his expert carving job), gravy, stuffing, and the famous Ross family ginger yams, and our guests came through with the rest! It was truly a magnificent feast, and the very first time we have ever cooked a turkey.

 

Here's the beast beforehand...

...and here's the beautiful bird after!!! I have to say, I think we did a dang good job, even if we both burned ourselves in the process. It was worth it. 

 

Unfortunately I didn't really take pictures of anything other than food, but let me just say that it was a wonderful evening, and I'm so glad everyone was able to come! We had a blast. 

As evidenced here. 

We had this dinner for a few reasons. One is that we simply enjoy good food and good friends and love to take every opportunity to combine them. Another is that the majority of our friends here are students and out-of-towners and we wanted everyone together for one last shebang before we all fly off to the four corners of the earth. And, as many of you know, Shaun and I will be doing our own adventuring this year...we'll be spending Christmas in Africa. 

We'll be gone for a few weeks, and as such, for the past few days I've been trying frantically to use up all of the food in our house. Last night I made a fantastic dessert that I've been wanting to try for awhile, which also allowed me to use up some very, very mushy persimmons that had been sitting in my refrigerator for over a week. Win win!

Home Sweet Home!

Alright, so I know I've now been living in Montreal for about three and a half months and still have not shown anyone any pictures of our new abode. This is mostly due to the fact that I wanted each room to look complete before showing it to the world, and most of our finishing touches (ie: pictures and various knick knacks) have been forlornly sitting on our dining room table waiting for a home. As we haven't had all that many guests over for dinner (not having any dining room chairs), it seemed like a perfectly sensible spot to leave them. However, we have recently received a dinner guest and hosted an early Christmas party, and I thought it might be a good idea to make the house look a little more presentable.

So! Being the very handy woman that I am, I hung our pictures crookedly and then asked my husband to finish the job (don't judge me) and otherwise tied up all the loose household ends, finally bringing our home into a state fit to be seen by outsiders.

Stock Up!

It's raining buckets right now, and I feel oddly at home. The rainy weather is comfortably familiar...even though I had to walk home with a heavy bag of groceries and no umbrella in it. (Who knew there were so many puddles down memory lane?)

The weather here generally tends to be more drastic than I'm used to. We've had a few wind storms that nearly blew the house down. 

 Exibit A: a garbage bin in the metro station on a windy day. Perfectly coiffed hairstyles beware.

So far I'm a fan of the drastic weather situation, though I do feel badly for the squirrels. They sit shivering on branches outside my kitchen window, imploring me with their beady little eyes to leave large bowls of pumpkin seeds out on the deck. I feel my resolve weakening every day.

The squirrel population around here has reached epic proportions. I generally pass about fifteen squirrels on my way to the bus stop. I once saw a squirrel fall out of a tree and land on top of a truck driving down the road.

It's a hard life for a squirrel these days.

It's things like this that make me glad to have a cozy yellow kitchen to sit in and a nice cup of tea in hand. It's also things like this that remind me of the importance of stocking up on provisions for the winter. Naturally, that means making stock!!

Soup for the Snow

It's snowing, it's snowing, it's snowing!! *jumping for joy*

In case you couldn't tell, I'm a bit excited. Is that weird? In Montreal it might be, especially when nearly every Montrealer I've met so far, on hearing that I'm new in town, has treated me to an ominous "*GASP!* It's your first winter here??!" Not exactly something to inspire confidence in someone from the wet and mild west coast.

These look a bit ominous as well. They've been popping up all over the place, which I guess should give me a hint as to the amount of snow that's normally expected here. Lots!

It's an awning for your driveway, in case you couldn't tell. No need to break your back shoveling every morning! Clever.

In an ironic twist, it's been snowing back home for several days now and we had yet to see a single flake here before today. However, that's not to say it hasn't been nose chillingly, ear achingly, finger numbingly cold anyway. Normally under such circumstances I'd make a nest of blankets and empty muffin wrappers (muffins ingested, of course....no muffin left behind!!) and hole myself up until it's all over... but I had to venture out into the cold to buy the ingredients for this soup so I could warm up.

That makes sense, doesn't it?

Who Gives a Fig?!

Some of you may have noticed (as I certainly have, judging by the sudden appearance of twinkle lights and dancing polar bears popping up in store windows downtown), that the holidays are drawing near.

"What do you mean!?" you may say. "We just had Christmas not 12 months ago! It's still the middle of November! What are you trying to do to me???"

To that I say, Good people! I know it's early! I understand that Christmas can be overdone. I, for instance, would rather shove cauliflower in my ears than be forced to listen yet again to Boney M.'s Christmas album in the middle of July. (That's right, you know who you are!)

However, I must admit that I am a very traditional, down-home kind of girl at heart, and the Christmas season allows me to indulge in all the wonderfully cozy and creative things that are simply not sanctioned at other times of the year.

For example, when else can you take down all the pictures in your living room and wrap them up like Christmas gifts (complete with elaborate bows) without being hauled off to the loony bin? Never, that's when!

These are the simple pleasures and mild eccentricities that Christmas allows us.

You may well wonder what the heck figs have to do with Christmas. Well, basically nothing, aside from a few references in song to something called "Figgy Pudding" (which sounds made up, but actually isn't.)

However, one of my west coast friends mentioned that she and a group of people were doing a canning exchange this Christmas! (Genius! Why didn't I think of that??) and although I no longer live on the west coast, I felt could not sit idly by and let the opportunity for greatness pass me by.

Chocolate + Peanut Butter = Happiness!

I had a birthday recently, as I am wont to do every year or so. Usually I find birthdays agree with me quite well, but this one was a bit obnoxious. As I lay snoozing in my idle, comfortable youth, a birthday marched in, picked me up and dumped me unceremoniously into my late twenties.

I should have seen it coming.

Now, I've got nothing against the late twenties per se. Generally speaking, they seem very well behaved, and I'm sure that once I get to know them a little better we'll be good friends. It's just that they seem so...so... grown up!


To combat this impending sense of responsibility, there was nothing for it but to bake myself a big, chocolatey, drowning in icing birthday cake.

This is not my kitchen...

Although I did stand out in the street drooling over it while my husband mumbled something about being late for dinner. Dinner, you say?? I began to daydream about the fabulous dinners I could create in this kitchen that is large enough to fit TWO cutting boards on ONE counter!! 

These kinds of luxuries are unheard of in my life. 

As my carnivorous companion finally hauled me down the street to Schwartz's for one of their renowned smoked meat sandwiches, I heaved a melodramatic sigh and lamented my lot of culinary deprivation.

Then I looked down and saw an entire cow on my plate, and my troubles miraculously disappeared.

A good sandwich will do that to a person.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I may not have chandeliers in my kitchen, or a place to put my Kitchenaid mixer (in case I ever get one), or more than one rack in my oven...but gosh darn it, I love to eat! And shouldn't we all spend more time doing what we love? 

Yes. Yes we should.

That's really what this blog is all about -- enjoying life and sharing it with people. Here, I will convey my culinary creations, divulge new discoveries (and disasters), and parcel out pearls of wisdom pertaining to food, finery, and the splendor of city living.

I hope you enjoy.