Once Upon a Plate: Lemon Mushroom and Mozzarella Toasts with Oregano Oil Drizzle

Once Upon a Plate: Lemon Mushroom and Mozzarella Toasts with Oregano Oil Drizzle

must check this out! Beautiful pictures---looks so yummy!

Winter Wonderland

Lucky us-we live right across the street from a winter wonderland! It is the perfect place to go sledding in the winter. My son and I just are back from a quick round of sledding--Oma could watch from our living room window! I know all the drivers out there are wishing the snow would go away-but I am loving it and hope it will stay just a little while longer

Ah, a butterball turkey

Yummy! I must confess my favorite turkey is a butterball!! For the past few years we have been lucky enough to sit down and enjoy this bird! To make life easier on myself-we grill our turkey on the gas grill. Works every time---thanks goes to my husband who keeps on eye on it while I am in the kitchen doing last minute prep work on the side dishes.--thanks also goes out to butterball.com!! A site I check every year just to make sure I am doing everything right.

This year we hosted our annual turkey feast on the 26th of December 2010(the second Christmas Day here in Germany) A good time was had by all--and we look forward to next years feast.

Christmas Day #2 Menu

Shrimp Cocktail and Pizza Dip

Holiday Prosecco

Turkey

Stuffing, Potatoes

Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Been Casserole, Corn

Cranberry Sauce

Fresh baked dinner rolls

Apple Pie, Blueberry Pie and Oreo Cookie Pie

Wishing all my fellow Foodie Friday Participants a wonderful day!

a golden Santa

Greetings Everyone!
So glad you stopped by to see my entry to this weeks tablescape thursday. In Germany we celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve. Usually we go to mass and then come home to lots of presents, that the Christchild brought us. A typical german tradition is to eat Potato Salad and Hot Dogs on Christmas Eve and then a fancy roast on the 25th. Here in Germany we are lucky in that we have two Christmas Days-the 25th and the 26th!! The following pictures are from the 25th of December. With family being so far away, we spend these two days with good friends. Kim, Paul and their son Jake joined us for Fajitas! ( not very traditional for Germans--but oh so GOOD!)

I started with a white table cloth, added some golden wrapping paper and then two beautiful runners that I bought a few years ago at Strauss Innovation(yes-I got them on SALE!)

The golden boxes were bought at IKEA

This is an unique plant-that when put in water blooms---when you take it out of water it will dry up and you can put it away for another time. I bought it last year at one of the many Christmas Markets here in Berlin.

yes--we had edible table decorations!! Both the gold coins and the chocolate balls are chocolate.

One of my latest finds---gold crown place card holders! I just could not resist to buy them--once again cashing in on a great sale!

On Christmas Eve, my girlfriend Jeanne and I got a chance to enjoy a cup of coffee and some last minute Christmas shopping together. I found my santa at a perfum store. Just could not resist bringing him home with me. This completed my tablescape plans that had been forming in my mind!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday--ready for New Years Eve? We will be spending a quiet evening at home-perhaps a good movie--of course good food and at midnight lots of fireworks!! See you all in 2011!!

Be sure to take a moment or two and stop by Betweennapsontheporch for more wonderful tables!

last days of the year

Wow, it is already the 28th of December----just a few more days and then we welcome a new year. How are you all spending your last days of 2010? I am busy with the usual: laundry, cleaning etc!!!LOL. I am hoping I will have everything in order so that I can sit back and enjoy new years eve. We do not have any special plans, just family and some good movies.

See you all later this week!

christmas thoughts

Well, it is the 26th--already 8:30pm. The kitchen/living room/dining room are all cleaned up-and I am exhausted!!! Where does the time go...... All year you think about this holiday season and then in a blink of an eye is over....and the wait for Santa begins again. As I sit here and enjoy just one more glass of vino, I can not help but think of all my friends who are far away. :(

Oh how I miss them ALL. I know I should feel blessed for having soo many good friends and family, but I right now all I want is for them all to be here with me--sharing the last drops of vino.

I hope everyone had a happy christmas and that as I you were able to share the days with friends and family.

I look forward to 2011--with the hopes that I will be able to see friends, be they near or far, often.

Good Night Everyone!

Happy Christmas

Frohe Weihnachten!

In Germany we celebrate Christmas Eve with many traditions: church services, wonderful meals, and of course the presents!!! Since my son is 15 years old, I try to find ways to make the evening last longer. So, this year we took a car ride through Berlin looking at the beautiful lights before dinner and gifts. So glad we took the time to go downtown because the lights were really pretty. I hope you all had a wonderful evening and are enjoying Christmas Day. I am going to spend my day in one of my favorite rooms-the kitchen!!! Today Kim and Family are coming over for Fajitas(not your typical christmas dinner, but oh so good-thanks to Adrianas recipe!) Then tomorrow we are going to enjoy a turkey dinner with all its trimmings!!

Be sure to stop by the other wonderful pink saturday posts!

Great Aunt-Great Niece--and a whole lot of pink

Happy pink saturday Everyone!

cookies....

For my great nieces baptism, I was the designated baker. My niece Mareike(the mom) requested a cake, some cupcakes and of course----cookies in the shape of hands and feet! In order to save time, I had my niece make the cookie batter and refrigerate till I got there that weekend. Then, in a group effort, we cut out all the cookies and the fondant. Then off I went to my sisters(has the oven had broken down) to bake! They say it takes a village to raise a child, well it took a village to get these cookies done!!

No Fail Sugar Cookies(found the recipe on Cakecentral.com!--yet another wonderful site)

Ingredients

6 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

2 cups butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp desired flavoring--I am partial to vanilla

1 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until four is completely incorporated and the dough comes together. Chill for 1-2 hours. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 350° F for 8 - 10 Minutes.

TIP 1. place the cut out cookies in the freezer for a few minutes before baking-this stops them from spreading during the baking process.

Fondant

I make my own Marshmellow Fondant( will post about this in the future!)

While one batch of cookies are baking, take those same cookie cutters and cut the shapes out of the rolled fondant. Then, once the cookies come out of the oven place the fondant on its matching cookie. The heat from the cookie will act as a glue. Then, if you want you can use royal icing to add some details.

Godfather André helps cut out the cookies. Too bad I did not get photos from everyone else who helped me. We were all soo busy preparing that there was not much time to take pictures!

http://www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

this time we celebrate Clara

Well, it seems this family can not stop celebrating!! On the 4th we celebrated my mothers 80th birthday, this past Sunday we celebrated the Baptism of my great niece Clara(the cutie that I have posted pictures of in the past!) So, off I was again-this time by train. All in all a wonderful weekend, even if the oven broke down and I had to drive the cake batter and cookie dough to my sister´s home in the neighboring village!

The gift table....

Remember these martini glasses from last week? Well, we finished all the Hershey kisses and exchanged them for pink and white mints along with a pink candle!! Love when you can recycle decorations and it still looks good.

There those cookies!!! Sugar cookies with fondant--of course in pink!

The table runner comes from IHR Napkins--how convenient that the store is just across the street!!!

So many dishes!!! The dishes with stars come from IKEA, the others come from Villeroy and Boch

Have a wonderful Thursday Everyone! So glad you stopped by for a visit.

Great Grandmother and Great Granddaughter

Happy Pink Saturday Everyone! I thought I would keep in theme with my posts this week and feature my mom--the birthday girl. She turned 80 on the 29th of November and we had a big celebration on the 04th of December



While working on my blog posts for this week I remember taking this picture of my great niece Clara--could not resist showing her off again(well showing off her backside!!!)





Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Need some more pink in your day-then stop by How Sweet the Sound!