ONWARDS AND UPWARDS WITH THE HOLIDAYS . . . !

THERE WAS SOMETHING bordering on dread when Thanksgiving reared its warbling neck. I'm sure you've all felt the same way when contemplating how differently you can present the perennial gobbler and cranberry sauce plus all the other trimmings that happily parade their way across the dinner table. It is also fitting that this entry, late as it is, should appear on the 12th day of Christmas. A true ending to a glorious season!

Grapefruit Ice with Gin

Last Thanksgiving, I really wanted to entertain in my tiny apartment - my first big dinner party of import, but the projected 8 or 9 people (which included the usual stray or two or three) seemed completely unrealistic, so it ended up being a small affair for the immediate family as it were. Did that mean I had to dispense with ambition, forego imagination, allow the withering knee to dictate form and function? Hardly! 

With visions of Turkey Pot Pie for the Saturday after Thanksgiving (which never really materialized) the Thanksgiving menu began to take shape! Let's start from the end and work our way to the front of the meal, shall we? I always bake the sweets and make the desserts first before any dinner party so it's always a good idea to make a list of items that you want to present to your guests (there should be many). I should interject here that after entertaining on Thanksgiving, the day after and the day after that, I vowed not to cook for Christmas and I held true to my word. However, that did not prevent me from baking up a storm so there will be plenty of pictures here to testify to my efforts. 

Beginning as I said from the end we did indeed have quite a feast. I have written about most of these things in the past so the recipes are in the blog - all you need do is search!

Brownies

Pecan Fingers

Apple Tart

Bread and Butter Pudding

Torta di Ricotta with Pistachios and Candied Orange Peal
A Sicilian Christmas Buccelatto (Pastry Ring)
Sesame Seed Cookies flavored with Anise
Potato Chip Cookies
and
Sicilian Tetú

Clockwise: Ricotta Torte with the Cross of Saint James, Apple Tart and
James Beard's Bread and Butter Pudding made with home made pound cake and Apricot Jam

Turkey with Stuffing and Cranberry Sauce

Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Vegetables: 
Carrots, Mushrooms, Onions, and  

Brussels Sprouts

Turkey with all the trimmings!

A grapefruit ice (granita) pictured above.

Acorn Squash Soup with Smoked Trout (no pictures, but let me tell you, it was delicious!)

But looking on to Christmas, the time for baking was at hand and for the week before Christmas I did several marathon-like sessions focusing on the Sicilian kitchen, thus producing something like 600 cookies.

Scimino cookies (anise dough with encrusted sesame seeds. chocolate cookies called Tetús, Pecan Fingers, Brownies, and my mother's own Potato Chip cookies. Once I complete the chocolate cookies this morning, I said: "that's it! I'm done!"

BROWNIES

PECAN FINGERS

ANISE AND SESAME SEED COOKIES (PERFECT FOR DUNKING!)

POTATO CHIP COOKIES

But am I? There was eventually a couple of Buccelatti down the path somewhere for Christmas Day. 

BUCCELATTO

Rather than keep you all waiting for the recipes, which I will definitely provide, I'm going to publish this today if only for the pleasure of giving you many visuals to savor!

Now that we are in 2016, I'm detoxing from carbs and sugar and have started a massive diet to shed at least the 20+ pounds I gained since last October! Wish me luck and buon appetito!