Monday, December 31, 2012

A new favorite gadget

If you are a regular reader, you may have noticed the little custard desserts on Christmas Eve.  My vanilla custard, which is really my mother's recipe, has always been a favorite with our sons; click here to get the recipe and step-by-step instructions.


Imagine my excitement when I discovered this wonderful gadget that makes the task of filling the mini-dessert glasses ever so much easier!  Here it is . . . Ta da!


It's called a cupcake pen and it's designed to hold batter that can be then injected directly into the cupcake liners with minimal mess . . .

Note to my blogging buddy, Celine:  YOU NEED ONE OF THESE!  Celine bakes all the time and her specialty is cupcakes and muffins.  Celine, I'm telling you, you will love this!  I bought it at Bed, Bath and Beyond, but I've seen them in other stores as well.  And, in addition to working really well with cupcakes (especially mini-cupcakes), it's also excellent for pudding/custard shots!

Tonight I tried a quick variation:  Chocolate/chocolate chip/pistachio pudding shots.  I used instant Jell-O pudding, and, unless you are a pudding snob (er, that would be me, unfortunately . . . ) these are a fun, tasty dessert that will look pretty stunning on a dessert table.  The pudding is not as good as my home-made custard, but they are pretty good.  Let me put it to you another way . . . they did not last long in the refrigerator . . .


Start out with chocolate pudding.  Once you make the pudding, following the package directions, pour it in the cupcake pen and refrigerate for about 10 minutes . . .  The cupcake pen even has a lid . . . isn't that cool?


Fill the shot glasses about ½ full with chocolate pudding . . .


Add a layer of Nestlé's mini-chocolate chips . . .


Then add a layer of pistachio pudding . . .


Aren't they cute?  Here's another shot . . .


Imagine the possibilities . . .  And I love the concept of mini-desserts.  I've never liked large servings of dessert.  I'd rather have a just a little bit of sweetness.  If I want more, I can always go back for seconds, but this way, there's no waste, and no guilt.

I wish all my friends a peaceful, prosperous, healthy new year.  Thank you for letting me into your homes, and for teaching me so much!  See you in 2013!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Eve 2012

It wouldn't feel like Christmas unless plaid was happening somewhere in our house . . . This year, right on the Dining Room table . . .


I filled glass cylinders with pinecones and silver balls . . . Thanks for the inspiration, Alycia!  If you want to see some amazing tablescapes you HAVE to visit Alycia Nichols at Tablescapes at Table 21.  She uses those glass cylinders in so many creative ways it'll make your head spin!


I never seem to tire of white roses . . . they are so lovely . . .


I bought the green raffia ribbon on impulse, but I love how it brightens the little packages.  Sometimes, the best decisions come on the spur of the moment.  The little pinecones came from The Dollar Store.


The floral arrangement was created by my friend, Robert, who has been doing flowers for us since our wedding, 28 years ago!


I used my Lenox, Federal Platinum bone china . . . The tablecloth (Carson plaid) and the napkins (Kirkwood plaid) are both from Pottery Barn, as are the silver-plated napkin rings . . . The crystal glasses were my mother's . . .


The flatware is Woodland, by Spode . . .  Here's the detail from the knife and teaspoon . . .  I used them at Thanksgiving, too - click here for that post - but I don't think I've gotten them out of my system yet . . .


Somebody, get this camera away from me!  I can't stop shooting!


How many flower pictures are too many . . . ?


The table is set . . .  And the Christmas tree is lit . . . I love that hour before a party starts when the house looks just beautiful, and there are a few minutes to relax and enjoy it . . .


 Here's the family, in a dignified pose . . .


And here's what happened when the antlers came out . . . My son suggested that the title for this table should be “A Nutty Little Christmas.” 


After all, nuts could be found everywhere . . .


The picture of the entire dessert buffet came out blurry, unfortunately, so I'm doubly happy to at least have been able to capture some of the treats!  Here are the Snowmen cookies (from Starbucks, alas, I didn't bake them!)


Vanilla chocolate chip pudding parfaits . . . These were so delish!


Cointreau mini-cupcakes with buttercream frosting and sprinkled with sugar crystals . . .


They are looking pretty cute, considering that this is what happened a couple of hours earlier . . . What would Christmas be without a few bloopers . . . ?


 And what was inside those little red party favor boxes . . . ?


I hope your Christmas Eve was as much fun as ours!  May you have a blessed Christmas day! 

I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday and Kathleeen at Cuisine Kathleen.  Please stop by to see too many fabulous tablescapes to count!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Christmas Tree Stories

This photo of me, standing in front of our family's Christmas tree, was taken in Havana, on December 22, 1960, on my brother, Al's, 2nd birthday (I was 3).  I don't know what kind of pine this is, it certainly looks like it had very, very long needles, much longer than those of the white pine that we bought this year.  I can just imagine how hard it must have been for my mother to hang ornaments from it.

The photo is a true treasure because, displayed on the tree, are my mother's beloved glass ornaments, given to her by my father on the first Christmas they were married.  She took care of those ornaments like they were her babies, and cried pitifully when my brother broke one of them.


Growing up, my mother did almost all the Christmas decorating.  My father was a firm believer in hiring help.  Leaky faucet?  Hire a plumber.  Crying baby?  Hire a nanny.  Christmas tree decorating?  Well . . . he grew up surrounded by a bevy of sisters . . . whoever did the decorating at home, it wasn't him . . . My father was a loving man and had many wonderful qualities, but we learned early on that he would never be a do-it-yourselfer.  Never was there a man more ill-equipped for the changing political climate . . .

As the communist regime became more established in Cuba, Christmas trees ceased being available for purchase around the holidays, but my ever-resourceful godmother, Mama Lala, found a guy, who knew a guy, who had a farm . . . a lot of Mama Lala stories start off like that . . . anyway, she bought us a "Christmas tree" - some sort of bush, without leaves, but with firm branches, was cut down, shaped like a traditional tree, afixed to a wood base and spray-painted white.  That was the Christmas tree that my mother put up for us every year until we came to the United States.  I remember hovering nearby while the tree was decorated, and later, when I was older, helping my mother hang ornaments from its branches.  I wish I had a picture of the white tree but, unfortunately, those pictures never made it across the Gulf of Mexico.

On the year in which my brother broke one of my mother's Christmas ornaments, after she finished mourning for the loss, she took the glass chards of the broken ornament and crushed them and made her own glitter, and then scattered the glitter on the white cotton that covered the base of the tree.  I was enchanted by the way the lights hit the little bits of glass.  I think, it was at that very moment, when my love affair with glass ornaments began.

We came to the United States in 1969.  My mother's ornaments, along with so many other things, were left behind in Cuba, never to be recovered.  It saddens me to have lost such a meaningful, albeit small part of my mother's heritage. 

In the U.S. my family switched back and forth between real and artificial trees; each has its good points.  But once I got married, I stuck to the real thing - it helped that my husband also preferred fresh trees.  In 28 years of marriage, we've always had a fresh tree in the house at Christmas. 

We used to go to a tree farm and cut down our own tree.  It was an attempt to give our citified children a dose of nature and to show them where Christmas trees came from.  We cut down trees in all weathers, we got stuck in mud a couple of times.  We trampled through farms on the coldest day of December (it was always the coldest day in December), until one year, when my son John said to me:  “Mommy, you and Daddy can go cut the tree, I'll wait in the car.”  Since then, we've gone back to buying our trees from local vendors.

In the last couple of years, though, smaller artificial trees have made their way into the house as well, to be displayed in other rooms.  Those are O.K., I enjoy them, too . . . but I somehow seem to make my way to where the fresh tree is - this year, the Living Room/Library.

Here's this year's tree . . .


It used to take me days to decorate the Christmas tree.  The ornaments had to be spaced just so, and the colors next to each other had to harmonize.  It was me at my OCD worst.  But I'd like to think I'm evolving.  In the last few years, I've been enjoying a more chaotic tree, just laden with lots of ornaments - mostly glass.  While I won't turn up my nose at any ornament, if you want to put a smile on my face, show me a glass ornament.


A little glitter bird that was too heavy to hang on the tree is sitting on the window sill . . . He just seems to belong right there . . .


A Fabergé egg (if only, ha!) . . .


This ornament puts me in mind of The Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker Suite . . . or perhaps an Italian princess from the Renaissance . . .

As for lights, I like white lights.  But when the boys were young, they insisted on colored lights, and we always let them have their way.  Now my oldest son, John, seems to prefer white lights, too, and easy-going David . . . well, David just goes along with whatever . . .

I wouldn't want to commit to any aspect of decorating the Christmas tree.  One of its magical qualities is its ability to change itself year after year, allowing us to fulfill so many little fantasies.  

I wish all my friends in blogland a very Merry Christmas!  God bless you all!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Enjoying our Christmas tree

A full shot of the Christmas tree is coming.  I just need to wait until Saturday when the light is better - and I've had time to dig out the tree skirt . . . Now if I could only remember in which box I put it . . .


My goodness, this is one lush tree . . .


No bald spots on this guy!  No need to camouflage holes with bigger ornaments . . .


Nope.  This is just one beautiful tree!  It smells pretty good, too!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The White Pine Challenge

We have always gotten fresh Christmas trees, but it had been a while since the last time we brought home a white pine.  In the lot is looked so soft and feathery . . .


The tree was actually a foot taller than we could comfortably fit in our living room, so the seller offered to cut about a foot from the base, and get rid of the scraggly branches . . . and then he priced it as a shorter tree!  What can I say, it was irresistible.

But it didn't take very long to remember why we have avoided white pines in the past:  It's hard to hang ornaments from its branches!  Those soft, feathery branches are just that - soft and feathery branches with wimpy stems that don't hold the slightly heavier ornaments very well.  I've lost two of my precious glass ornaments this year when the branches just collapsed and the ornaments crashed on the floor.

This little Santa fellow is slight enough to be safe - at least for now . . . Still, it's such a pretty tree . . .

Monday, December 17, 2012

A Baby at Christmas

There's nothing better in the world than holding a baby, especially one as scrumptious as this one - my great nephew, Oliver, on the day of his baptism . . .


The Christmas tree is up, finally!  And there are a few new ornaments gracing its branches . . .


It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

Sunday, November 25, 2012

The Evolution of a Tablescape

(or a peek at Maria's tortured mind)

I have learned (the hard way - always the hard way) that when preparing a tablescape, it's really useful to photograph the design as it unfolds.  The camera captures things that are missed by the naked eye.  I have become extremely spoiled by digital photography and its instant gratification.  These images are not great, but they gave me a sense of where the setting was going so I could discard, or commit portions of the tablescape and proceed to the next step.

I wanted to showcase the design of my new love, Delamere Woodland Brown by Spode, with its myriad flowers and scroll work.  I thought, at first, to keep everthing else very simple and understated, so as not to distract from the beautiful pattern.


I also knew that I really, really liked how the check pattern on these napkins worked as a counterpoint to the floral.  Further, the brown matched the floral border on the dishes perfectly.  Color is the bane of my decorating existence.  I agonize over it constantly and doubt myself frequently.  But this time, it just clicked.


At this point, I showed what I had to my friend Patti C., but it can be confusing to show your work-in-progress to another talented tablescaper with her own unique vision.  Patti, however, did verbalize what I myself was feeling:  The table setting looked a little flat, so it was back to the drawing board.

Should I keep the napkin ring, with its wonderful scrolls and acanthus leaves that mimic the ones on the dishes . . . ?


Too much, perhaps?  Should I tuck the napkin under the salad plate and forgo the napkin ring?


Better, I think, and I like the pinecone . . .  What if I tried a gold napkin?


This is pretty!  But then I'd have to give up on the brown checked napkins . . . and I really like those napkins . . . What if I had a gold placemat instead . . . ?  I folded the gold napkin as a placemat, just for kicks . . .


Oh, wow!  I really like this!  Gold placemats are the way to go . . . but NOT this gold; it's a different shade than the goblets . . . Oh, and this wine glass is sooo wrong!  Pointy gothic arches don't seem to go with the flowery pattern on the plates . . .


I ordered the Sferra placemats online, and the color seemed like it would work, but you never know when you order things without seeing them in person . . . When I clicked on the "Checkout" button I crossed my fingers . . .  Whew! What a relief when I saw that the color was just what I hoped for! 


The placemat and goblet are playing together beautifully!  Now to press the napkins . . . Should I fold them wider . . . ?


Or narrower . . . ?


Why didn't I think to photograph the two options next to each other so I could compare them???  Go back and take more pictures . . .


Narrower, I think . . . Well, all that's left now is for the flowers to arrive . . .


Yikes!  This arrangement is NOT right!  I told the florist I wanted white roses, and I also wanted pheasant feathers . . . and I did tell him not to put in bright oranges or yellows . . . But somehow, I thought there would be some gold . . . and, although this arrangement is quite beautiful, it's a little too contemporary-looking for this particular table . . . 


I ran to the grocery store, and picked up a pre-made arrangement to take apart.  In order to tone down the yellow of the mums, the grocery store florist spray painted them with metallic gold.  I exchanged the garishly orange candle for a white one, and, after some fooling around, came up with a traditional, round arrangement, better suited to the table and the occasion . . . with some gold flowers that added a third gold element to the design . . .


As a matter of fact, it turned out even better than I could have hoped.  The soft red, dendrobium orchids added a wonderful pop of color . . . And my mother's crystal wine glasses, with their floral pattern, worked really well, too!


It's done.  Now, about the food . . .  Is ordering a pizza out of the question . . . ?