A New Year~

During the holidays..

I read ..a lot..

Cookbooks:)  and fiction..

Baking Chez Moi... Dorie Greenspan...   My French Kitchen ... Mimi Thorisson

China Dolls..Lisa See..Still Life  With Bread Crumbs..Anna Quindlen~

I love perusing cookbooks and thinking what I would like to try next..and I love getting lost in books..fiction..non fiction..thrillers..biographies..poetry etc..

Reading How The Light Gets In..Louise Penny..

Penny at Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen recommended Louise Penny..I have read one..and will figure out which one..but Gamache is unforgettable..as her style of writing..this one is in QC..Montréal is featured and I was hooked at the first few pages..

Her prologue is so sincere.. that the prologue itself is worth the read.

How The Light Gets In are lyrics from a Leonard Cohen song..she approached him to be able to use these words and asked about the fee..

He said FREE.

A Free Fee from a great artist/composer/person.

Imagine that..and not at his most financially rich moments.

J'aime beaucoup beaucoup ce genre d'histoire.

During the holidays..

someone did something a little similar for me.

No relation..nothing.

A Free Fee out of caring  .

♥

We had unusually mild wet weather..which caused most of the snow to quite literally disappear ,which is rare for Québec.my postal service lady told me it was the first time in 74 years here...so it left no snow for snowshoeing or xcountry skiing..

It did start to chill up around the 29th..frigid.

But still no snow~

So reading took centre stage..

And baking bread of course..

and I have no idea what happens to me in between Christmas and New Years...I always feel like organizing..and with this weather? I positively felt like Spring cleaning..Our bedroom got a top to bottom everything..mattress..sheets ..pillow covers..cases..pillows..floors..curtains..were dusted washed pressed  ironed..to within an inch of their lives..

I still hang on to those pillowcases..I must have cross stitched them 20 years ago..

They have stayed so nice!

It looks and smells and feels so good.April in December.

A new desktop calendar is out..the same one I get every year.One year I did not have one..and the year was not the same..it's so handy beside the phone..and I love the quotes.

Looking forward to the new Season Of Downton...

Nevertheless.. during the holidays..everything felt Christmasey at our daughter's for Christmas eve..

We had quite a little feast..We were all there..Caroline..Frédérick,Mylène..Alain ..Jacques and I..the 4 Alphabet boys and Giulianna and Adamo.

I brought an appetizer and a salad..

My appetizer was lovely and disappeared..

I made a beautiful Pomegranate cheeseball..

You can find the keeper recipe here..

Chris and Scott shared it at their CafeSucreFarineBlog:)

I knew it would be delicious on it's own..but I had just just made their Sriracha pepper jelly:)

So I brought some along and served it w/ the crackers and cheeseball..

Bon..bon..bon!

I also was in charge of the salad..and brought this magnificence..

So so pretty and delicious..pomegranates..and cranberries and pistachios just sing We wish you a merryChristmas to me..

Keeper too.

Thank you so much ..for these wonderful ..festive..beautiful dishes..

My daughters had made great desserts..and Mylène an app we love .little curry olive bites,,good....and my son-in-law had once again outdone  himself w/ melt in yout mouth lamb..Jerusalem artichoke chips served on the smoothest mashed potatoes..caramelized tri color roasted carrots and gorgeous asparagus.

Christmas morning was carb fare I would say..with Bagels and smoked salmon and cream cheese..and these fantastic scones..

You know what I did?

I made them..and before adding the egg wash/sugar..I FROZE them.Baked them frozen after adding the wash..and then added the OJ sugar glaze.

They rose high and flaky and between you and I..looked even better than the ones in Ina's recipe:)

Just remember when baking frozen scones you will have to adjust the time and check..don't be dismayed it they seem unsightly at one point..keep baking until they look puffy..flakey..and gorgeous.

The oj glaze on top..yum.

Jacques made his pecan praline bacon..from Epicurious.. we had maple syrup muffins.. croissants..cretons..mimosas..etc..

The boys opened their gifts..the adults too.

I would say the hits of breakfast was the bacon and the scones:)

New Year's Eve was my kind of party..

We had the boys for a sleepover.

♥

And in a heartbeat..Christmas and New Year's  came and went~

May 2015 comfort you.

And..

Did I mention Downton?:)

I love that Mr. Bates.