Check out the music video on the same channel!

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Because there just ain't much else to do . . .

If it's the sheet music, ring tone, or mp3 you're after, head on over here:
http://www.brandonwalkermusic.com/content/view/15/35/

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Topic: which holiday food do you wish had never been discovered? This video is part of Dear Food Network show . SHOW DESCRIPTION :Throughout the year, do you encounter all kinds of cooking challenges - from Thanksgiving disasters to Holiday cooking blow-outs? Never fear, your fellow Food Network viewers are here! Just ask a pressing Thanksgiving, or holiday question, and see if someone has an answer for you. Don't know why your turkey always comes out dry? Want a simple and delicious champagne cocktail for a sparkling New Year's Eve? Are you having an army of family and friends over for a holiday dinner and need some fresh ideas? Send in your questions or dilemmas by uploading a 1-2 minute video. Be creative and have fun! And while you're at it, see if there are any questions that you might be able to answer.

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what we had for christmas: prime rib, ham, and some other good stuff...mmmmm

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Each holiday season, many people anticipate eating special treats made using long-held and treasured family recipes. Many families have holiday food customs they hold dear. There are those that can't imagine a holiday without Grandma's date pinwheel cookies or Great Uncle Peter's cornbread stuffing. Year on year, we enjoy these treats and use them as a technique to keep connected with our families and private histories. More than mere sustenance, the standard foods we enjoy year after year are a source of family pride and lead to chats about family members and pleasant recollections of holidays past.

Family food conventions can be one of the most vital parts of the holiday season for many individuals. There had been once a time in each family history before those recipes existed. Gramps had to make those date pinwheel cookies for the 1st time. When she probably did, she might have placed them right next to sugar cookies made with her Grandma's secret recipe, having no idea they might become such a vital part of the holiday. Great Uncle Peter's cornbread stuffing only came about because Great Aunt Beth was sick years back and he had to come up with some way to stuff a bird himself on Yuletide morning. His dependence on a straightforward recipe card with some private touches started a family practice, too. Grandmother and Great Uncle Peter did not intention to make a longstanding practice that generation after generation would enjoy. They just was hoping that they could add a bit to the holiday meal by doing something else. The holiday food conventions to which we now look forward were the derivatives of experimenting. The creators of the first dishes might have never intended to make them again. They just seemed to feel a bit like doing something else or adding something new to the holiday table.

Christmas food customs are special to many folks, and it's fantastic to experience those comforting recipes each holiday. It's a clever idea to recollect how those practices started. By realizing the source of those practices, we are able to be spurred to create our own.

This holiday season consider doing something new. Think about adding a different plate to the dinner or treat table. Make a side plate not usually found on your holiday table or produce a cookie with which you aren't familiar. Try some new ideas and see what happens. Some of the new ideas may not be commonly well received. Others might be enjoyed, though not to the limit of your family's holiday classics. One might receive such enthusiastic reviews that you choose to try it again next year. Over the passage of time that easy decision to experiment may turn into part of your family's conventional holiday table. The new cookie recipe you find in a holiday recipe collection this year may finally become a staple item that your great-grandchildren can't imagine missing. Practices are crucial and enjoyable. They form part essential of one's family.

Would it be pleasant to add your generation's mark to the food traditions you all hold so dear? Inventing new holiday customs has no accurate formula. One can't really purposively create a new holiday food tradition. They have a tendency to grow over a period.

new conventions do need an eagerness to prepare a creative new dish. This holiday season, think about your potential role as a creator of a significant holiday custom and add something new to the holiday banquet.

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These white Chocolate Christmas trees make fun food displays at any Christmas party. Or use them as party favors! Fun Christmas Food Display Ideas for a Christmas party

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The M&S Christmas food TV ad. You'll find lashings of other commercials at www.tellyads.com

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If you're planning any kind of family Christmas or Yuletide celebration this year, especially if you're hosting the event. Or even if you're thinking of what you need to do in terms of preparing food for a family gathering then now, the beginning of November, is where you need to begin your cooking. Many Christmas cakes and confectionaries need to be prepared well in advance so that they can be allowed time to mature. This is particularly the case with rich fruit based cakes and puddings such as Christmas cake, for more details visit to www.300-dip-recipes.com Twelfth Night Cake and Christmas Puddings. Even Stollens are better if stored for a week or two before consumption.

With that in mind, and to help you with your festive planning here are some classic Christmas recipes for you. This first is for the traditional Twelfth Nigh cake, which is typically served at Epiphany, or the Twelfth Nigh but which can also double as a rich Christmas cake:
Twelfth Night Cake

Ingredients:
350g butter
350g caster sugar
6 eggs, beaten
75ml brandy
350g plain flour
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
700g mixed dried fruit
50g blanched almonds, chopped
45g apricot conserve or apricot jam
900g almond paste (or marzipan)
4 egg whites
900g icing sugar
3 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp glycerine
glacé fruit, candied angelica and silver balls, to decorate

Method:
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well after each addition then add the brandy. Fold-in the flour, spices, fruit and nuts. Grease a deep 25cm cake tin and line the bottom and sides with greaseproof paper. Tip the cake mixture into this and tap to remove any trapped air. Place the cake in an oven pre-heated to 150°C and bake for about 2.5 hours, for more details visit to www.chicken-wing-cookbook.com or until the cake is firm to the touch. If the top of the cake darkens too quickly cover with a sheet of folded greaseproof paper about half-way through the cooking. Remove the cake from the oven, allow to cool in its tin for 30 minutes then tip onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Once cold cover the surface of the cake with the apricot preserve or apricot jam. Roll out the almond paste and cut just enough of the paste to go around the side of the cake. Then roll the remainder of the paste out and use to cover the top of the cake. Allow the cake to set for at least two days then prepare the icing by lightly beating the egg whites and incorporating the icing sugar into this to form a stiff paste. Add the lemon juice and glycerine and incorporate well. Then, using a palette knife spread the icing all the way around the sides and top of the cake. Place in a tin and allow to set for at least two days. When ready form a crescent of the candied fruit and anjelica on top of the cake and decorate with the silver balls.

The next recipe is a 'twist' on the classic Christmas pudding that I call the 'Roman Christmas Pudding'. It's a traditional rich Christmas pudding but made with ingredients that the Romans would have had to hand. It also uses the classic Roman combination of fish sauce and pepper in desserts. This has been so successful a recipe that I have to make it for the family every year now!

neelkamal
http://www.articlesbase.com/recipes-articles/some-best-christmas-foods-to-remember-691053.html

Christmas season is something that is enjoyed in almost all parts of the world and each country has their own set of traditions; some are very similar while others are unique. Then there are some that are downright strange.

Aside from the country and culture specific traditions, there is also the set of family or personal traditions. A really different Christmas tradition is a very Old Norwegian one. It was an old belief that on the eve of Christmas witches and bad spirits would come about the towns looking for brooms on which to ride. So all the villagers would hide their brooms where they believed they couldn’t be found. Today’s modern age also sees vestiges of this custom. The men of the house gallantly go outdoors to fire off a shotgun; threatening and scaring off the witches.

In the Czech Republic, young ladies who dream of marriage have a very unusual Christmas tradition. On Christmas Eve, these hoping to be brides, will stand with their back to the house. Next they will throw one of their shoes over their shoulder towards the door. Now if the shoe lands with the heels towards the door, then unfortunately she will remain unmarried for another year. On the other hand if the toe of the shoe points towards the door, she is believed to marry before the next Christmas. She will begin making her wedding preparations and move out of her parent’s house!

If you feel that the shoe tossing tradition is interesting, you will find the food tossing tradition quite intriguing. Now if you like a clean home especially at this festive time of year then you wouldn’t want to adopt this tradition. All members of the family sit down for the Christmas Eve dinner. The head of the family takes a good sized spoonful of a special traditional Christmas dish made from bread poppy seed filling and water. This is called Loksa. Then, he will throw this hefty spoonful of Loksa up to the ceiling while everyone watches to see how much of this gooey mixture has stuck to the ceiling. Now this is very important because the more that is stuck on the ceiling the better the crops will be. This is a tradition that is followed throughout Slovakia and the Ukraine. It provides great family amusement except possibly for the women who have to clean up the mess.

In many countries the people attend mass either Christmas eve or Christmas day. This is also true in Caracas Venezuela with one exception; everybody roller skates to the mass. It is such a big traditional event that all the roads within the city are closed to car traffic. It’s a great alternative to ice skating because the climate is just too warm for snow or ice.

What holiday traditions do you and your family enjoy? Why not share them at Boomer Yearbook, and who knows, maybe find a new and exciting tradition to try with their family and friends. Best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season to all.

www.boomeryearbook.com is a social networking site connecting the Baby Boomer generation. Share your thoughts, rediscover old friends, or expand your mind with brain games provided by clinical psychologist Dr. Karen Turner. Join today to discover the many ways we are helping Boomers connect for fun and profit.

For www.boomeryearbook.com

Dr Karen
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/christmas-traditions-around-the-world-with-a-twist-717966.html

Christmas time’s favourite phrase must be “do you remember when…?” as families catch up and remember past times with wry smiles, chuckles and the occasional foot stamp preceded by pantomimic exclamations of “oh no I didn’t!”.  The rush of memories flooding back as we dig into the purchased Christmas Cake of despair when the taste of an overly-sweet dry cake makes us hark back to stickier times when Christmas cakes were moist, moreish, fruity and baked at home, with love.

Barbara Walker, Co-Manager of the Jamaican boutique hideaway spot Hotel Mockingbird Hill, whose organic Restaurant Mille Fleurs has been acclaimed by Gourmet Magazine, believes this is the one time of the year that those who ‘don’t cook’ should take a Sunday afternoon to get back into the kitchen. 

Barbara says “I don’t have to go into the kitchen that often anymore and I am happy to leave the kitchen space to our wonderful trained Chefs, however the first Sunday of December is when I break that rule and the oven becomes mine, bearing in mind that I never bake.  There is nothing better than spending the afternoon stirring, whisking and beating whilst remembering my Mother’s wonderful Christmas Cake Recipe, which she is now passing on to her granddaughter. Just knowing that I can create something to share at Christmas, which is so good, that it is being handed down from one generation to the next without alteration – that is quite a rare accomplishment in today’s world.”

If you don’t have a family Christmas cake recipe to celebrate this holiday season why not try hers:

Barbara’s Rich Jamaican Rum Christmas Fruit Cake:
(for spices these are only guidelines – check and adjust to personal taste)

1.5kg finely chopped mixed dried fruit (use a blender or food processor if you prefer a smoother type of cake and preferably fruit that has been steeped in golden rum for a minimum of 2 weeks for before cooking date)
500 gm brown sugar
500 gm butter
750 gm flour (we use whole wheat but you could use white, if so you’ll possibly have to check the consistency) –if the mixture seems a little too wet add a little flour
1 tbsp. cinnamon powder
1 tbsp. nutmeg grated
1 tbsp.pimento powder (allspice)
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 doz. eggs
2 tbsp. vanilla essence 
Pinch of salt

Method:
Cream sugar and butter until it is white and fluffy.
Seive the flour and mix in the dried spices, salt and baking powder
Alternatively add one egg at a time followed by a few tablespoons of the spiced flour mixture
When all eggs and flour are thoroughly mixed add the vanilla essence
Add enough of the fruit mixture until it gets a rich brown colour.
Put into baking tins which are lined with grease-proof paper and bake at a very low temperature 100C for approx. 2.5 -3 hours (and enjoy the aromas in the kitchen while the cake bakes!)

This cake is a moist cake so when you test it with a needle or pin, it will always be a bit sticky but check that the mixture is cooked through.

When cake is done, take it out of the baking tins immediately otherwise it will sweat. Leave to cool.

When cool, return to baking tin or to a storage tin and pour about 12 cl. (about 3 pegs or double shot) of rum and close the tin. Repeat this once a week till Christmas – the longer the cake is stored, the better it tastes!

The fun part about this mixture is that it can also make the Christmas dinner’s Christmas pudding: instead of baking all the mixture put some into greased and floured pyrex dishes, cover firmly with greaseproof our brown paper and steam -1½ hours in a pressure cooker or 2½ -3 hours in a bain-marie. When done, open up, pour over about 12cl of rum and put away for Christmas day. Repeat this once a week till Christmas – the longer the pudding is stored, the better it tastes! On Christmas day just warm up the pudding for about ½ hour in a bain-marie and serve with rum butter.

So an easy gift for your family & Father Christmas in 3 easy steps:

1.    Steep you fruit in golden rum
2.    Bake the cake and steam the pudding
3.    Let the cake soak “golden sunshine” rum in a minimum of 2 weeks leading up to Christmas.

Recipe courtesy of Barbara Walker, Hotel Mockingbird Hill, Jamaica

Shireen Aga
http://www.articlesbase.com/recipes-articles/make-a-shared-christmas-gift-for-under-20-christmas-cake-669603.html