A Merry Hogswatch to you all!

[Tesa Tezemeda]

Hmm, I'm joining the celebration here. So, merry Hogswatch to everyone! biggrin

I actually was at church yesterday, with my mother. There was some monk choir singing old Christmas (*ahem* Hogswatch, I mean) songs, and my mother wanted to go and listen that. So she asked me to come with her. I'm not much of a church-goer for obvious reasons, but I really enjoyed the choir. Those monks were great singers! If you ever get the chance to go and listen a monk choir's singing, don't waste it. It's definitely worth it.

And the next few days I'm going to spend in the kitchen, apparently. My whole family asked me to make Karelian pies for them. I guess this is starting to become a tradition... They want the pies and I make the pies, and after that I don't want to even hear about those things for the next four months...  

[TheDisreputableDog]

I'll go in for the gift exchange. smile

I miss doing the Lessons and Carols concert/reading/gathering at my high school. We'd learn a lot of fun carols in the preceding weeks, including one of my favorites called "In Dulci Jubilo" (which I didn't know beforehand and became my favorite after singing it for the concert). Students, teachers, and local clergy would read passages from the Bible and tell heartwarming Christmas stories, interspersed with carols from the choir (with the organ!). And around that time, on a night before winter break, we would tour all the dorms and sing carols to the students, then trek out to the director's house for a party.  

[patch99329]

I'll sign up for the gift exchange. ^_^  

[TatteredAngel]

Happy Hogswatch! That's a marvelous idea, Tea. Busy busy in real life, so I don't want to commit to gift-giving at the risk of flaking out while craziness happens but I do want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday time!

We go into candy making mode at this time of year. Last year, we got really excited about this honey truffle center recipe, but it wasn't as awesome as we had hoped, so we tinkered with the recipe. This one is super-easy, since the way we do it requires only melting candy, which can be melted in a microwave and doesn't require a double boiler (though you could use tempered white chocolate too if you're into that).

1/2 C Heavy whipping cream
4 oz. Honey
1 1/4 lb. White candy melts
1/4 tsp. Honey flavor (Unnecessary if you're using a good local honey with lots of flavor.)
Indian Dessert Masala or Chai Masala to taste (Last year it was maybe a tablespoon of Chai Masala, this year we did about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of dessert masala.)

Combine cream and honey, heat in a saucepan to scalding. Whisk in melted candy and mix until consistent. Add masala and mix, then let cool in the freezer or fridge. When firm, form centers and dip in white melting candy or tempered white chocolate. If your centers don't hold their shape, just mix in more white melted candy, about a quarter of a cup at a time.

Indian Dessert Masala Blend

1 tsp Saffron threads, dry-roasted and crushed
1 C Raw shelled pistachios
1/2 C Shelled raw almonds, coarsely broken
1/4 C Cashews, coarsely broken
1 T Coarsely ground green cardamom seeds
1 t Coarsely ground black cardamom seeds

Makes about 100 pieces. THEY ARE DELICIOUS 4laugh  

[Taliah]

A Happy Hogswatch biggrin

I got this from a booklet that came with my hot drink maker... You just pour the ingredients in the container, put on the lid, flip the switch and it stirs and heats your drink for you.

Recipe: Wassail
2 cups of apple juice
1 cup orange juice
1 cup cranberry juice
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Mix well and serve hot. ^_^

Another recipe I love is for Gingersnap cookies, but I'd rather not try to put the whole thing on here.

A favorite holiday memory would be on Christmas Eve back when I was around 4... a family member dressed as Santa and came in to give us gifts, and we were given reindeer food (corn and glittery tinsel). I don't know why the reindeer feed was so wonderous since I already had the phenomenon of the cookies dissappearing on Christmas morning.... but I thought that it was wonderful to think of Santa's deer. I wanted to go outside and see his sleigh and feed his reindeer... but I was too timid to actually do it. We did, however, hear his sleigh bells fade away as he left, which was great.

A favorite tradition.... well, we don't really have one that it's already standard of the holiday really. It's been my idea to try and find The Night Before Christmas to read Christmas Eve night... but no luck in our local bookstores, so I'll probably look online next.

But anyway, great thread idea. smile Was glad to share.  

[TeaDidikai]

I'm extending the avatar contest and the secret Santa...

I've been a distracted Tea.  

[RedRoseSpiral]

I made this cheesecake for my family this year. Mine didn't come out right because I had to change some ingredients because of time and the fact Walgreens ran out of sour cream. I believe that this would be great if all ingredients were in it. It came out pretty good without them all.

Cranberry Cheesecake