Christmas Dinner

I had Christmas dinner in Escondido with my son, Dave, his wife Anne, son, Will, Amanda from Albuquerque, and myself.  The turkey was on the grill, mashed potatoes, and side dishes 

was eggnog with Cinnamon Whiskey as a spike. Everything was delicious.  

BBrus

Christmas Cookies

It's time to make Christmas cookies.  Being in a new house I only hoped I had brought everything I would need.  Yes, I had the cookie gun and baking sheets.  The recipes I had carefully packed.  I hunted them out and chose my favorites:  Fiori di Sicilia (a type of butter cookie requiring an extract called Fiori di Sicilia).  I had always ordered the extract from a catalog.  I had not brought the extract with me.  Hoping they would have some in stock at the local Sur la Tab- I was lucky they did have it.  Baking is underway at last.

Fiori di Sicilia-  Spritz Cookies-  

1 cup unsalted butter- room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia flavoring

1 large egg yolk

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Zest of one whole orange, very finely grated

Sprinkling sugar

Mix together.  Press onto sheets and bake at 375 degrees.  Wait 4 or 5 minutes before removing from the pan.  

The Farmhouse

LThe  Farmhouse

One of my favorite holiday events is visiting Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach.  Besides being an outstanding nursery, in December, trees are decorated with the latest ornaments from Christopher Radco and other designers of note.   

This year something new has been added.  Who knew?  A restaurant in the garden area?  I heard about The Farmhouse from my niece, Cindy who was visiting from Alabama.  It was one of the highlights of her visit to Southern California in November.

My friend, Karen from Apache Junction, Arizona was visiting.  I had been to the nursery and Christmas rooms many times but never to the new restaurant.  Now the holidays were underway- when I called for a reservation, I was told reservations were suspended to accommodate holiday walk-ins.  We drove into the slow traffic entering the gardens and finally a sign appeared- "Free Valet Parking".  

The menu arrives and we look over the choices.  The market soup is recommended by our waitres- a delicious Chicken Vegetable Soup.  

L