Claudine, Oui c'est Francais

Christmas around the house part 1: fruit & veggie garland

One of my favorite things to put up each holiday is my Fruit and Veggie garland that goes in the kitchen arch way. It isn't very easy to get a picture in all it's glory, but I thought I would share it with you all

 

 

 

Good enough to eat, but much prettier

Believing in Santa

One of my favorite events to do is the annual Breakfast with Santa, mostly because I have the best Santa to do the job. Every year he spends a few months in "Europe" I think that is code for North Pole, last year when he went I asked him to bring me back the Eiffel Tower. I was just kidding, but I was very excited and surprised when he arrived one day at work with a present wrapped up for me and inside was a few French newspapers and a Eiffel tower he picked up in Paris.

I get very excited when I see him every weekend in December and I sometimes have to remind myself that he really is named "Phil" not Santa...  So this weekend we started our first Breakfast, and I was able to give my favorite little ones a secret little meeting with Santa. It goes a long way when you can say you are "friends" with Santa, I will milk that one for at least a few more years.

 

Just look at him, he is the greatest!

Thanksgiving 2009 menu

 It's Thanksgiving Eve and the preparations are well under way, the pies are done as is the ice cream and the chocolate turkeys are in the fridge firming up for the place settings. The menu doesn't change much each year, you have to have the staple items, its not a holiday without the party potatoes and the cranberries after all. Three years ago I created a "Thanksgiving cookbook" using a notebook and some plastic sheet protectors. I can keep all the recipes in one place, some were printed from Martha Stewart.com, of course and then the ones from cookbooks were scanned and then reprinted. It keeps the cookbooks clean and everything in one place. I also use a small spiral edged notebook that has all of the day by day details and shopping lists of the last four years. It is fun to look back and see what I did. The menu doesn't change much year to year so it gets a little faster every year....

So here we have it:

Hors d'oeuvres:

the Famous Clam Dip

Gougeres (there had to be something French there)

Savory co eur a la creme

Main attraction:

Cranberry Glazed Turkey

Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing

Green bean casserole (from scratch)

Blue Cheese Potato Gratin

Party Potatoes

Pancetta Brussels Sprouts

Finale

Pumpkin Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Cream Cheese Ice Cream

 So now to glitter all the pumpkins, finish making the table cloth, polish the gold silverware, get out all the gold and glittered turkeys , and then everything will come together.....

Enter to Win-Martha Christmas Cards

 
 

Now that we have the dreary colors of orange and black behind us it is time to get ready for the holidays. This year Martha Stewart and company along with the Crane & Co created the most beautiful cards to send to your friends and family. The beautiful calligraphy line drawings on the Santa and Tree cards are my very favorite and the playfull tree and coral card is perfect for those lucky enough to live on the coast of somewhere beautiful.

With more then 10 varieties to choose from there is a card for everybody's taste. I added a little something extra to these cards, some glitter of course. Only took a few minutes and the little extra sparkle is great.

  

So now here is the fun part, thanks to my friends at MSLO I have some of these amazing cards to give away to you. Just leave me a comment and I will pick four winners to receive these great cards, with the addition of the special glitter touch from me.

I will pick four winners this Saturday, November 7th and will contact you for mailing instructions. Good luck and enjoy! 
 
 
  

Blue, white and red pom poms

If you read my blog on a regular basis there is a few, ok lets be honest, quite a few things that I am obsessed with. Anything French is at the moment at the top of the list.  Mostly because we are only a day away from the Tour de France but also because let's face it, France is pretty fantastic! So it is perfect that blue, white and red are the colors of France and the US. So I can make John happy on the 4th, since it is his favorite day. I compromise by not putting out the French flag on the 4th. I'm a giver....

So after seeing the Martha Stewart pom pom kits at Michael's I decided I needed to make them in Blue and Red to go with my Martha white ones. A quick trip to the party store I found packages of solid red and royal blue tissue, 10 sheets for 99 cents. So I took one of the Martha ones out of the package and measured and counted the amount of sheets and size of the pom poms and created them in blue and red. But wouldn't you know it, after I finished, I looked at MarthaStewart.com and low and behold there are directions to make the pom poms there.... Oh well, they turned out great and work for both the 4th and Bastille Day.

I put little white hooks in the ceiling years ago that I use to hang all sorts of holiday cheer throughout the year, they work perfect for my pom poms. And this project only cost a total of $1.98 to make and about 5 minutes to make! That is a great craft!

Some more projects around the house in honor of the big holidays (the 4th & the Tour)... A old French antique planter filled with blue, white and red flowers and looks just like a French flag:
 

and then I also made some little French flags that I turned into a garland for the French ornament branch and also for some gift tags for some French treats. That was the easiest project yet, I used a sheet of 12x12 textured paper in Blue, White and Red. I cut the red in 3 inch strips, the white in 2 inch and the blue in 1 inch, layer on top of each other and ooh la la, there is a French flag. Here are some step by step pictures:

    

 

I just love that little pile of Frenchness.....

Memorial day sweet treats

I have been making this lovely little Flag tart from Martha since 2002. It originally appeared on the cover of her July 2001 issue. But inside it was made for a story on Bastille Day.... C'est bonne! I must make it. It is not for the faint of heart and takes many steps. The homemade Creme Fraiche needs to be started 48 hours out and then depending on the amount of people and the number of tart pans you have, it could be even more steps. I finally got 3 of the rectangular tart pans so that I can make many at once.  I saw that the video of Martha making them was on On Demand as well as iTunes. But in the video they don't do the chocolate layer in the bottom of the tart shell that the recipe calls for or the creme fraiche. You can buy creme fraiche but it is like Lemon Curd or Salad Dressing. They are so good homemade and easy, why not make it yourself!

Homemade Creme Fraiche

1 cup Heavy Cream

2 tablespoons Buttermilk

In a bowl, combine the cream and buttermilk. Cover with a clean kitchen cloth in a warm, draft-free place and let sit until thickened, but still a pourable consistency, 12 to 16 hours.
Stir and refrigerate until ready to use. (Can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.)

I will be making it again this year for both the 4th and Bastille day, I will share lots of pictures with you then.

Check out all of the other great Memorial day desserts Martha has as well:

Red, White and Blue Parfaits 

Red, White and Blue Stars

Cinco de Mayo

Need some last minute Cinco de Mayo ideas? Here are some of my favorite courtesy of Martha:

 

Start out with a Guava Margarita, mmmmm, don't lick the screen

 

the BEST Guacamole ever, this is a hit every time I make it. Make a double batch, it is just as good the next day

 

I made these Crackling Fish Tacos last week, twice! I used Talapia and Wondra Flour instead of AP flour for a even lighter and crispier coating on the fish.

 

And don't forget the flowers. These bright colors are perfect for your Fiesta....

Easter recap

Easter is all done and I am now sitting with my feet up. Another holiday over and we sent the family home full and happy. Here are some pictures of the day

 

I picked up these cute little fake chocolate bunnies a few weeks back, pretty cute before glitter but even better with a coat of glitter

 

And this big boy I found at the local grocery store, he was just crying out for some glitter. He is about 18 inches tall and ceramic. It took days to give him all his coats of glitter, but I love how he turned out.

 

for the green at the bottom I used some of the tinsel cut glitter Martha sold at Christmas at Michael's. I loved that it made it look like grass.

 

For each place setting I had one of the Martha wire-ware tray that was used as a charger, a Martha green maidenhair fern plate and some faux bois green napkin. Along with those I used my great great Aunts French Limoges bread and butter plate with a set of her silver butter knives, blue Martha glasses and some pink Fostoria goblets. And of course the favor boxes. I loved the look of the wire trays for a lovely spring meal.

 

 

 

more on the menu later.... happy easter

The cutest place cards

Every holiday we have at our house I of course have to have a place card/favor. Last year I made the real egg shells filled with chocolate and this year I strolled the aisles of Michael's to decide what I wanted to do. I had an idea in mind so I crossed my fingers that I could find what I wanted.

My grandmother gave me a lovely sparkly ring in one of these adorable baskets a few years back and when I went to Michael's I searched them down. At only $1 a piece and with a coupon in hand I got each one for .60 cents. Then to decide what to put on it I ventured over to the floral department. I am not a big lover of the fake flowers but with it only being a day before Easter there wasn't going to be enough time to make 14 crepe paper roses, so I found some nicely opened white roses each stem for $1.19 before my 30% off coupon. That's about all I needed for the project, the rest I would need I had at home.  Glue gun, spray glue and glitter is in vast quantities at my house.

 

First I drilled a hole with my hand hell Fiskars craft drill so the end of the flower in without it sticking up to high.

 

I separated the flowers from the stems and then pulled off the leaves. They came right apart with a good tug

 

then using the same technique as the red roses from Valentine's day I sprayed the silk roses with a little glue and then sprinkled the Martha Crystal Coarse glitter for maximum sparkle. The great thing about spray glue is that it dries very fast so the total time to complete the craft is minimal. Then using the glue gun I glued a clump of leaves on each one and glued them to the top and then put glue over the drilled hole and put the flower into the hole to hold it.

 

And then using the Martha Crafts pastel flags to match my table and some blossom stickers and then cut them down a little and placed into the flower. Now I just need to fill with some grass, candy and top with a Sees chocolate truffle. I think they are adorable....

April Fools day

like most great things April fools day is said to have started in France. In the 16th century, 1564 to be exact King Charles XIV decided to change from a Julian calendar to a Gregorian calender. In a Julian calendar the new year began on April 1st, with the switch to a Gregorian calender it began on January 1st. Some people decided to stay with the April 1st, those that did were played tricks on and were then called the Poisson d'Avril or the April Fish. In France the children cut out pictures of fish and tape them on peoples back, I think if I tried that people may think I am nuts.... but maybe I can glitter it?

In the tradition of Poisson d'Avril it will be fish for dinner tonight. There are may recipes available on-line. I received this one in a on-line newsletter the other day and sounds light and simple.  Other traditions are making fish shaped chocolates and pastries. Oh if I had more time yesterday.

Other great April Fool's tricks can be found at MarthaStewart.com. I love the blue milk and the green eggs. Food coloring does wonders playing some tricks on people. Maybe I should use blue food coloring on the fish tonight?

     

 

Make sure to check out one of my favorite blogs Paris Breakfast for more great Poisson pictures from all over Paris.