Spicy Season !
December is upon us ... the smell of Christmas is here , and it is so full of childhood memories , celebrations in school ... but for me it is the smell of all this ... that lingers in my mind , and all the Christmas Fairs in Greece .. especially the first one we organized at Aegina in the garden of our restaurant ... everybody just loved the Swedish twist on the mulled wine we made , I still remember the smell ....
December is also & has always been my busiest time of the year , my daughter is born in December , so it is a lot to prepare at home ,,, and it is the busy, busy season for " food entrepreneurs " like me, at work .. tons to prepare for all kinds of Christmas celebrations.. thanks god I am now clever enough to have tagged down a bit ... because last year I ended up at the hospital 2 nights as You might remember .. I had " burned a fuse " one might say !!!
my colleague Eva prepares sweets .....
delicious things ....
Pomegrantes they are beautiful to look at .. and very healthy , good for the heart , fights infection , anti inflammatory ... full of vitamin -C & much more .. plus they are an eye catching decoration ..
You can also make a delicious little drink :
You will need
2 big oranges
2 big pomegrantes
1-2 tsp fresh grated ginger
roll both the pomegrantes and oranges against a hard surface , the juice will be easier to press out then , strain the juice and blend with the ginger , serve in glasses with sugary edges , they can be served with or without alcohol .. add some gin or vodka if you want !
Yes we where in a frantic state at work ..lots of small things to prepare for the cute Christmas tables that we deliver all over ...
I love to work this time of the year .. guess that it is because all the years I was living in Greece and did not cook this kind of food for many years ... so it is kind of a " new " but old thing for me now ... lots of fun !!
my Jansson I also made a vegetarian one with salty capers instead of anchovies !
Of course it feels a lot easier to put in so many hours ... if you know that you will spend some time ... at my dear island Gotland in the company of old friends during the holidays ...
and be able to look at these old beauties a little closer ..
this Swedish island and Greece feels sometimes so close in many ways ... old parts of the world , windblewn trees not able to stand straight .. beaches and old houses , the nature is really very close .. sometimes you have to think hard to remember on which island you are .. love it and I am truly blessed to have had the chance to know these places so well .. beautiful places with many old tales to tell .. !!
So here I am a few days before Christmas .. just relaxing and planning our Christmas table .. it will be an English table this year , it feels kind of refreshing since I have lived among Swedish traditional dishes at work for more than a month now ......
we do not have any snow and the weather is quite mild +6c rather unusual but pleasant .
I have prepared a soup, one favourite of mine and we had it at Teatercafeet 35 years ago ... probably at Gramma too .. of course but we made mostly French Onion Soup and the Greeks loved it ... !
Vichyssoise French Potato & Leek soup
so easy and so nice !
1 sliced onion
1 sliced leek
4-5 potatoes also sliced
fry this in butter for some minutes ,
add 6 dl vegetable stock
let boil until tender some salt & pepper for taste me also put some cayenne ... of course
mash the soup , either for hand with a whisk or what you prefere ...
add some cream and chive
voila ready to serve
this soup can be served either warm or cold enjoy , this serves 4 p
we had it steaming hot yesterday evening !
these huts are waiting for the summer season ...
Well I guess thats it for this time ... be merry , dance , sing , hug a lot , be kind , be thankful ...
I have been listening to New Christmas music on Spotify , while writing this post
Chris from GrammasKitchen
at the moment on beautiful Gotland !