Gingerbread Lane in Charlotte NC

Earlier this month, I tried to get in a festive mood and check out some local gingerbread creations. 

The Ballantyne Hotel hosted its annual Gingerbread Lane event which featured handmade gingerbread houses made by local children and amateur and professional adults. to view an enchanting display of gingerbread creations from Friday,  Attendees could vote on their favorite entries with $1 minimum donation per vote. All proceeds will benefit Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital (LCH).

Two of my favorites were a Dr. Seuss-looking tree house as well as a pink confection reminiscent of an old English house. Here are some photos for your enjoyment. Maybe next year I'll get motivated enough to make my own gingerbread house. 

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Celebrating 7 Fishes Christmas Dinner in London

After living in London for three years, we finally shared our Christmas Eve traditions with Turkish friends we’ve befriended here.

Since hubby and I both had to work half days on Christmas Eve, we planned to share the cooking and shopping responsibilities with our friends. I had half the groceries delivered via Farmdrop and the remainder our friend picked up for us. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we had talked about what to cook for our meal. The most important thing is to have seven different fishes per my hubby’s Italian-American traditions.

Do you remember one of our first Christmases abroad in Istanbul?

Well, once we arrived at our friends’ flat, we unpacked the groceries and opened up some wine. Of course, you need to have a glass while cooking up Christmas dinner, especially after all the holiday hours I worked this month.

Our first course contained two fishes – marinated anchovies and Scottish smoked salmon.

Our second course was fried calamari made by the other husband. Delicious! Even our friends’ two-year-old really seemed to enjoy it.

Our third course was a version of Turkish karides güveç – a prawn casserole served in a spicy, buttery sauce.

An hour later around 8 p.m., we’re on the fourth course (the fifth fish) which was my version of pan-seared scallops served with a curried butter over butternut mash and fresh fennel. I found a recipe of Chef Charlie Trotter’s in one of my old cookbooks and gave it a go. Delicious combo was the verdict!

Another hour later, slowly pacing ourselves, we rolled onto the fifth course which was English clams cooked in a white wine sauce over linguine. My mother-in-law often serves a dish like this, so hubby carries on the tradition for her.

Funny enough, our last fish course finished cooking an hour later around 10 p.m. – oven-roasted sea bream stuffed with fresh herbs. A dish all four of us have eaten many times in Istanbul.

Now, normally, I’m not a huge seafood fan, but with our Christmas meal paced out over several hours, I actually didn’t mind. I enjoyed every dish – to an extent – and we all had time to actually enjoy ourselves and chat.

After another break with washup included and a good game of Cards Against Humanity, we ended our Christmas Eve dinner with my homemade chocolate yule log filled with a raspberry mousse. Even our friends’ son enjoyed the dark chocolate cake!

Well, another Christmas is over, and I think that means we need to do some dieting in the new year. At least, it was fun!

What Christmas traditions do you have?

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How to Make Cute Holiday Cupcakes

If you're baking this holiday season, perhaps you'll enjoy making some of my cupcake designs that I've made over the years. 

In the past, after I posted a few photos via Facebook and Instagram, several readers requested directions and my cupcake recipe, so here you go! 

I'm currently travelling for the holidays, so this post will serve as a rough draft for the time being.

Happy baking!

Snowflake Cupcakes

Roll out white fondant thinly and cut out snowflake shapes using small cookie cutters. Then, make a white Royal Icing and decorate the snowflakes with various dots and lines. Let the snowflakes dry at least 24 hours before using on your cupcakes.

I thought these cupcakes looked extra cute with a pale blue buttercream!

Christmas Tree Cupcakes

Roll out yellow fondant thinly and cut out star shapes using small cookie cutters. Then, pipe your green buttercream with a large star nozzle.

Polar Bear Cupcakes

Use white icing, marshmallows and desiccated coconut to create your own polar bear. 

Snowmen Cupcakes

Use buttercream and large white marshmallows to carefully construct your own snowmen.

Easy Yellow Cake Cupcakes

Yields: 24 cupcakes

Sift together:

425      g.                     plain all-purpose flour  
400      g.                     granulated sugar
1          Tablespoon      baking powder
1          teaspoon          salt

Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, place these ingredients in mixing bowl and blend together.

230      g.                    butter, room temperature
230      g.                     sour cream
3          ea.                    large eggs at room temperature
2          ea.                    egg yolks (from large eggs)
1          T.                     vanilla extract

1.      Then, add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat all ingredients together for a 1 minute or so until smooth and satiny looking. 

2.      Line a cupcake baking tray with paper baking cups. Fill the paper cups about 2/3 full (Use a no.16 cookie scoop or a large spoon).

3.      Bake in a preheated 350 F/175 C oven with the fan on for 15 minutes until lightly golden on top and a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool on a cooling rack.

Italian Buttercream

16        oz.       (455 g.)            butter, room temp.

4.5       oz.       (125 g.)            egg whites (from approx. 4 large eggs)

pinch                                       cream of tartar

1 ¼      c.         (285 g.)            sugar

½         c.         (120 ml)           water

Prepare Italian Meringue, cooking sugar to 120 C (softball stage).

Place sugar in pot with water, stirring to moisten sugar evenly. Wash sugar off sides of pot with damp pastry brush. Cook to softball stage while whipping whites to soft peaks.

Time this properly so that the whites don’t get overwhipped.

When the sugar syrup is ready, turn the whites to high and carefully pour the sugar down the side of the mixing bowl.

Continue whipping the whites until they have cooled somewhat, about 10 minutes.

Slowly, add the butter a bit at a time. Continue whipping until the buttercream is smooth and fluffy and completely cool.

Buttercream can be flavored with melted chocolate, lemon zest, lemon juice, other flavor extracts.

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Where to Find an Entire Gingerbread City in London

Prepare to be envious, smitten and perhaps a bit hungry after you see some impressively sweet gingerbread houses here in London.

We recently headed over to the V&A Museum, which is hosting the third annual Museum of Architecture’s Gingerbread City. This exhibition invites local architects, designers and engineers to create an entire city made of gingerbread, royal icing, sweets and other edible delights.

Since I work as a pastry chef, I was desperate to see this tasty exhibit, but all the weekend slots were always sold out. I work erratic hours so can’t always plan in advance to attend exhibits like this. Previously, we had missed the Winnie the Pooh and Frida Kahlo exhibitions, so we finally signed up to become V&A members. As members, we can see any exhibit for free and there’s no need to book a reservation in advance. Winning!

The V&A membership isn’t cheap, but we figured it’s something we will take advantage of and take guests with us when they visit London.

The Gingerbread City is a delight to one’s senses as the crowded room is filled with the pleasing scent of cinnamon and ginger and visually the flickering Christmas lights. I oohed and awed my way around the room admiring the use of tic tacs, liquorice ropes, marshmallows, Life Savers and other sweets for decorations as well as the crafty way of using professional gelatin sheets to create window panes. If you love to bake, then you should definitely see this exhibit, which continues through January 6^th.

If you can’t hop on a plane to see Gingerbread City, then I hope you’ll enjoy my photos in this post. Now, if only I had a computer program and laser cutter to make my gingerbread house designs. Perhaps, next year.

Merry Christmas from London!

Which gingerbread building is your favorite?

Clever use of gelatin sheets for window panes here at the Recover Bee Centre.

I really like this one as it’s designed by the Zaha Hadid Architects in London.

http://www.zaha-hadid.com/ Zaha Mohammad Hadid, an Iraqi-British architect who died in 2016, is well-known for her interesting architectural designs around the world such as the London Olympic Aquatics Centre and the Guangzhou Opera House in China. She was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 2004, and she received the UK's most prestigious architectural award, the Stirling Prize, in 2010 and 2011.

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Expat Life: Because I Deserve a Christmas Tree, Dammit

Since my dad died last month, I have very little energy or motivation to do much else besides get through my work day. Some days, I even take a nap on the couch after working 9-10 hours before my husband gets home from work.

I don’t feel like cooking either, so we’ve done quite a bit of Deliveroo and take away lately.

I certainly don’t feel like being my normal happy self most of the time, so it’s difficult to get into the Christmas spirit here in London. When I’m surrounded by people at work, it’s easier to act happier and sing along to the Christmas songs playing on the radio in our kitchen. But at home, it’s a different story.

Until I finally decided that we should get a Christmas tree – a real Christmas tree.

Our tree dons a Santa hat this year because the star won't connect to the new British lights I had to buy since the tree is bigger than previous years. Expat problems! 

Hubby tried to argue that what was the point of spending 50 some pounds if I’m just going to kill it. Well, I responded, I will try to keep the tree alive in the garden until next December (thus saving us money next Christmas); and besides, I deserve a real tree after all I’ve been through, dammit.

On Sunday, we ventured back to our local greenhouse to see if there were any potted Christmas trees left. I had stopped here one day after work but couldn’t the lift the damned tree onto my bike. Hubby decided that he could carry the tree home a couple of blocks – thus saving us the £10 delivery fee.

How to buy a Christmas tree in the Battersea neighborhood of London -make your partner carry it home for you! :)

Unlike the trendy matchy-matchy Christmas trees at the shops, our tree is filled with ornaments from our travels or from loved ones. Nearly all of the ornaments have a story to tell.

The boxes of silver and red glass balls I bought when we first moved in together in Baltimore, Maryland.

A London tube ornament that I bought in 2016 when we first moved here.

A koala, kangaroo and cockatoo ornaments from our short expat stint living in Melbourne, Australia.

A kiwi bird made from a bottlebrush plant that I bought on our trip to New Zealand.

A wooden New Orleans sign given to me from my mother-in-law.

Homemade gingerbread ornaments called pierniki that I bought from the cutest and best smelling shop in Warsaw, Poland.

A ceramic Christmas village house bought on a trip to Budapest.

A handmade kaftan and several snowflake ornaments that my expat friends made in Istanbul.

A red flower ornament from my auntie in Hawaii.

Our Christmas tree is filled with memories. That’s what I need right now. 

My grief and sadness comes and goes, but I’ll always have all these lovely memories.

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