family feasts

Christmas 2024

Advent went by so quickly, and here we are at Christmas already! Let’s take a look at this year’s celebration, starting with a Christmas lights walk Moose and I took Christmas Eve Eve…we think this should be our neighborhood’s official Christmas tree

Christmas Eve always starts with the Captain:

Chickadee finished our Lego Advent project, and Turkey and Moose played the first game of chess:

The Christmas Eve church service is my second favorite of the year…I think it’s interesting that my two favorite services both involve candlelight.

After church, we stopped by the city of St. Louis Christmas tree. It was rainy, which is unfortunate (so much for my dreams of a white Christmas), but at least that kept it from being too bright out, because it was still pretty early and should have been pretty light.

And then we drove through the Way of Lights.

When we got home, it was picture time. It’s the second year we’ve had LED lights on our Christmas tree, but I’m still not used to them…I can’t help but feel that they make the pictures look like they were taken in an aquarium!

Bunny came up with the idea for this year’s cake (carrot with a gingerbread mousse filling and cream cheese frosting), and we made it together…it was so delicious!

Of course I had to play Animal Crossing and check in with all my neighbors (especially Roald!).

We played a couple of games of Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries while watching our traditional Christmas Eve shows (the San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker and Rick Steves’ European Christmas)…I was the winner of the game I played with 152 points, and completed every route in my hand (11 in total, I believe), plus used every train car and every card I had. I think that’s the Ticket to Ride equivalent of a complete game?

I filled the stockings, tracked Santa with NORAD (I made sure he got to both St. Louis and Chicago) and set up the nativity before bed.

Christmas Day always begins with our favorite coffee cake:

Since I wasn’t entirely happy with my very blue photos from Christmas Eve, I took some more pictures at church:

Christmas morning is such a beautiful service!

We got a very nice family photo afterwards:

After we got home and opened presents, I got to work on dinner. I decided to do things a little bit different this year. Instead of making a fancy dinner, which we all enjoy, but isn’t the highlight of the holiday for us, I focused all of my energy on the best meal of the year, the Pick Out Dinner. Since that was our main Christmas dinner, I set the table with the china, folded napkins like Christmas trees, and discovered that a Stammtisch sign I’ve been wanting for a while magically appeared on the table while I was working on the dinner.

Our dinner was our usual favorites, including an extended cheese board, jalapeño popper and Rotel dips, a shrimp ring, several kinds of sandwiches, mozzarella sticks, and buffalo Chex mix.

I love making salame roses!

It’s our favorite meal of the whole year!

After dinner, we watched White Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and the Disney World Christmas parade. And then Ryan and I played Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries (using the new anniversary train cars we got for Christmas!), to determine who the house’s Ticket to Ride: Christmas champion is. Spoilers…not me! I scored almost 100 points less than I did in yesterday’s game (only 54!!!) and Ryan is the undisputed champion.

And so another Christmas has come and gone…but the 12 Days of Christmas is just beginning, and we still have some more fun planned! Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2024

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone far too quickly!

Our annual celebration started with Pie Day(s). Like I did last year, I split the work of the pie baking up over two days…we made 10 pies plus the cranberries and stuffing.

I love that our table looks a little bit different every year!

I wasn’t sure how much time I’d have later, so I checked in with Franklin to see how his dinner preparations were coming along:

Bunny wasn’t able to join us until Thanksgiving Day, and had to leave again this morning already, so we did things a little different. We ended up watching the Macy’s Parade twice on Thanksgiving Day (only one game of Parade Bingo, though), along with the dog show and a few of our favorite Thanksgiving shows (Mad About You‘s “Giblets for Murray,” Gilmore Girls‘ “A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving,” The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s “Talking Turkey,” Scrubs’ “My Day Off,” A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and M*A*S*H‘s “The Yalu Brick Road.”).

We had our traditional dinner…turkey and gravy, stuffing and mashed potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and green beans with almonds, cranberries, and rolls:

It’s always a pretty plate!

And so many pies to choose from!

I went with pecan, Nutella, and pumpkin:

I had enough time to pop back into Animal Crossing to help Franklin procure the final ingredients for dinner on the island:

This morning started with pie for breakfast…this time, Nutella and Biscoff cookie butter:

Chickadee and I went to the town Santa parade:

I love a turkey sandwich on rye the day after Thanksgiving!

For lunch dessert, I tried the caramel apple pie:

The Lego Winter Village set was built over the course of two days…I have mixed feelings about this year’s model (I really wish it was just a post office, not Santa’s post office), but I do think the mail sorting system is really cool, and I love the hot air ballon. We got a bonus set of a delivery truck, and it’s really cool, too!

Dinner was turkey soup (of course):

And then Moose, Chickadee, and I went to the town tree lighting:

We also enjoyed checking out the gingerbread house contest…here are some of my favorites:

And one more piece of pie for dessert!

We get to have another leftovers dinner tomorrow (and more pie of course!), but that pretty much wraps up this year’s Markel Family Thanksgiving…on to Advent and Christmas!

Oktoberfest 2024

It’s time for a look back at all of the Oktoberfest fun we’ve enjoyed over the last month or so!

We started close to home toward the end of September, with Belleville Oktoberfest, which begins even before the big celebration in Munich. It’s not my favorite Oktoberfest, but it’s easy to attend, and I love any reason to wear a dirndl!

Next up was my favorite area Oktoberfest, in St. Charles, MO. This year’s event was interesting because it was super muddy, but still a lot of fun, with music, dancing, food, and shopping.

We went back to Zootoberfest at the St. Louis Zoo…they still have the best pretzels!

New to us this year was Soulard’s Oktoberfest in St. Louis. There was more good music with the added bonus of a stroll through the Soulard Market.

And finally, our family Oktoberfest, once all of the other area celebrations had wrapped up. We started with an Oktoberfest Eve meal of brats and sauerkraut, plus German tater tots inspired by the ones we tried in Soulard, and apple strudel made by Ladybug for dessert.

Of course I had to put together one more look featuring Rare Dirndl, and it was also a bit of a Disney Bound, as a nod to the Disney Princess with my favorite fashion sense, Rapunzel!

We made pretzels, and instead of fondue, I made Obatzda, a German cheese spread that’s great on the pretzels.

For dinner we had all of my German favorites…Schweineschnitzel, spaetzle, and rotkohl….all homemade, too!

Every good holiday deserves a special drink…I made an apple pie mocktail with apple cider, caramel syrup, cinnamon, and ginger beer. It tasted like fall in a glass, and I even learned how to make an apple fan for a garnish!

And for dessert, one of our family’s all-time favorites–Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte!

I’m kind of sad that Oktoberfest season is over already…it’s become something I really look forward to every year!

Tasty Tuesday–Captain Picard Day

My fellow Star Trek fans might know that Captain Picard Day is traditionally celebrated on June 16, but it’s been a busy summer, so we just got around to it last week. I made 10 new recipes from The Star Trek Cookbook, starting with Andorian Spice Bread (a sweet bread with the unexpected but delicious addition of cumin), with either Raktajino (based on the recipe for Swedish egg coffee) or Spiced Enyak’s Milk (a type of chamomile tea) for breakfast.

During the day, I worked on a Delvan Fluff Pastry, which is a type of puff pastry dough, for our dessert.

For dinner, I made a Lingta Roast (pork tenderloin with pears), which I served with Fettran Sauce (a sweet and sour sauce flavored with sage).

The side dishes I chose were Leola Rice Pilaf and Argelian Coleslaw, both of which were excellent and paired well with the pork.

Our beverage of choice was Slug-o-Cola, which had both orange and cucumber juice, and a dash of both turmeric and anise extract. It looked a little scary, but was surprisingly delicious!

Finally, for dessert, I used the Delvan Fluff Pastry to make Uttaberry Cruffins, a fancy type of croissant, which were accompanied by homemade blueberry jam.

This was the second themed meal I’ve put together using recipes from The Star Trek Cookbook, and I’ve been pretty impressed with everything we’ve tried so far!

A French Feast for the Opening Ceremonies

Mesdames et Messieurs, la Cérémonie d’ouverture de Paris 2024!

Today is the Olympics Opening Ceremony I’ve been waiting for for eight years! While I enjoyed the Tokyo 2020(1) Games, it just wasn’t the same, and we all know it. But Paris 2024 is going to be the Olympics we all remember from pre-Covid days, and I can’t wait. Of course I planned a day full of French recipes to get us in the proper spirt, beginning with homemade croissants for breakfast, served with butter, Nutella, and homemade blueberry jam:

For lunch, I made Salade Niçoise. I liked it, but the best I can say for everybody else is that they found aspects of the salad they enjoyed. We did discover that we really like seven-and-a-half minute eggs, though!

For the soup course, I made Vichyssoise, which I thought was really interesting. The flavor was excellent, but it is a different experience eating cold soup!

I made the classic French dish, Bœuf Bourgignon, for dinner. It was A LOT of work, but really delicious!

We didn’t have champagne, but we did still have a toast to Paris 2024!

For dessert, Ladybug made macarons. I tried to help, but as it turns out, macarons are above my pay grade. She kindly let me help fill them, though. They’re so delicious, and we’re looking forward to making them again!

I have a few other French recipes I want to try over the next two weeks, but mostly, I’m just ready to watch the Olympic Games!!!

Tasty Tuesday–Oktoberfest in July

It’s been quite a few years since we last had a German feast for the Fourth of July, so that’s exactly what we did last week. The menu was somewhat different…this time around, we made all of our Oktoberfest favorites, starting with pretzels:

And pretzels call for fondue for lunch, which I served with pickles and brats as well:

The main course was schnitzel:

I served it with family favorites such as spaetzle, red cabbage, pickled beets, and sauerkraut:

It’s one of my favorite dinners, no matter what time of year it is!

The real star of the feast in my opinion, though, was the dessert. I decided to deconstruct the components of my Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte recipe, and serve Black Forest sundaes. They were so delicious, and I’m pretty proud of my culinary creativity!

It’s fun to plan an unexpected meal for a holiday every now and again!

Star Wars Celebrations

Time for a look back at two days of Star Wars celebrations!

This year, I have a new cookbook, so many of the recipes are from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook…as a matter of fact, unless other noted, all of them were! We started day one of the celebration, May the Fourth, with “Kand and Zand Rolls” and “Hyperspace Brew.”

I made “Kyber Scones” for a lunchtime treat:

I baked “Lira San Crackers” to go with dinner:

Our beverage of choice was the “Cantina Crush,” which is very similar to our favorite Brazilian lemonade recipe, but served over ice cubes instead of crushed ice:

For dinner, I made “Batuuan Ronto Wraps” with smoked sausage and roast pork, spicy slaw, and a peppercorn sauce, just like we had at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, according to the recipe from Delicious Disney: Walt Disney World. I served them in “Ronto Wrappers” according to the recipe from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge cookbook.

For dessert we had “Carbonite ‘N’ Cream Pie,” which not only had chocolate and vanilla ice cream, but also Oreos!

Day two of the celebration, Revenge of the Fifth, isn’t quite as involved, but we still had a special drink, “Rim’s Edge.”

And a full dinner, featuring “Roasted Arkanian Tenderloin,” “Hynestia Spheres,” “Lammas Tree Bites,” and from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge cookbook, “Mustafarian Lava Buns.”

For dessert I made “Lha-Mi Glacier Bars.”

The Star Wars days have really taken on a life of their own, and I tend to do as much food prep for them as I do a more commonly-observed holiday. I love that we’ve really made this celebration a big deal, and something we all look forward to!

Solar Eclipse Day

Today was a much-anticipated day…the 2024 Solar Eclipse finally arrived!

We’ve been looking forward to the eclipse for a long time, and we’ve been enjoying themed treats for a couple of weeks now, including the Solar Eclipse Sundae from Lic’s Deli and Ice Cream, the Blackout Slush Float from Sonic, and Solar Eclipse Doughnuts from Krispy Kreme:

I had a whole themed out for today, including this cute grouping of space-themed Erstwilder brooches:

Our area was over 99% eclipsed. I’m not going to lie…it wasn’t as cool as the Great American Eclipse of 2017 when we were in the full totality zone, but it was still really awesome. The darkness gradually fell, the street lights came on, the temperature dropped, and the crickets started chirping. Pictures don’t do it justice, because it really did get quite dark (we needed lights inside the house, too), and we watched the light waves move across the ground just like we did in 2017:

I repeated one of the meals we had for the last eclipse, too…eggs sunny side up, eclipsed by “moon muffins.”

And we also had Excel Brewing’s Darkest Hour black cherry soda and Moon Pies, of course!

We are so lucky to have witnessed two eclipses in less than 10 years…I know they’re experiences I won’t forget!

M*A*S*H Day

“I didn’t hear you say that. Because it isn’t possible. It’s inhuman to serve the same food, day after day. The Geneva Convention prohibits the killing of our taste buds!” Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H

Happy M*A*S*H Day!

Ok, I made that up. But today is 4/07…and that’s as close as I could get to the 4077th date-wise, but that’s good enough for me! Really, I was just looking for an excuse to make a themed meal from Secrets of the M*A*S*H Mess by Private Igor, I mean, Jeff Maxwell. We started the day with “Klinger’s Section 8 Omelet,” which included spinach, mushrooms, and salami, and was crazy delicious!

For dinner, I made “Fractured Fusilli with Balsamic-Pepper Sauce” which was a nice departure from tomato-based pasta sauces. I think it will make an especially nice, light summer dinner!

For dessert, I made “Charles’ Blueblood Berry Cake with Lemon Frosting.” It’s a classic flavor combination, and it was so delicious!

Secrets of the M*A*S*H Mess is a really fun book. I was super excited when they released a new, updated 50th anniversary edition last year, because I hadn’t been able to find it anywhere. The recipes are fun (and occasionally frightening, like the “River of Liver” and “Creamed Weenies,” both dishes actually mentioned in the show), but the real draw of the book is the letters home from Igor, behind-the-scenes tales, and cast photographs. It’s perfect for a M*A*S*H fan like me!

First Contact Day

Happy First Contact Day!

On this date in 2063, in Bozeman, MT, Humans will meet the Vulcans for the first time…only 39 years to go! To celebrate, today I made recipes from The Star Trek Cookbook. For dinner, we had Gagh (udon noodles mixed with paprika-seasoned beef “noodles”), with homemade Grapok sauce. I’m not well-versed enough in Klingon cuisine to know exactly what kind of gagh it was, but hopefully it was none of the types mentioned here: “Torgud gagh wiggles. Filden gagh squirms. Meshta gagh jumps…Bithool gagh has feet.”–Ezri Dax

Here’s a closer look at the Grapok sauce. It featured beet juice, with a bit of soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. It was very thick and surprisingly delicious!

I also made an Icoberry Spritzer made with a blueberry-blackberry syrup…fortunately no one here suffers from adverse effects from icoberry juice like itchy spots! 

For dessert I made Kalavian Biscuits, which are kind of matcha crinkle cookies. I had to make some substitutions, so the texture was all wrong, but they still tasted good!

I really enjoyed trying some new recipes from this cookbook, and I’m already thinking about a Captain Picard Day celebration this summer!