Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas my dear friends!  December just flew by me with extra cooking for special events at church, my children's music concerts to attend, gatherings with friends, and the next thing I realized is that I haven't kept you updated since the first of the month!  Have you had as busy a month as I have?

Despite the commercialism of the Christmas season, December is truly my favorite part of the year.  IPC has the most beautiful Christmas program called Lessons and Carols where our 100 member choir sings beautiful hymns and carols, and the story of Jesus' birth is told.  Click here to hear our wonderful IPC Choir. 

And it was a special treat to attend my son's high school Christmas program.  

This is quite an impressive performance by a group of high school students.  And oh! My son is the handsome, black haired cellist in the second chair.  

This year marks my 5th year as the Church Cook at IPC.  My staff and I have cooked enough food to feed close to 20,000 people this year.  And our goal has been to keep our food healthy, good, and consistent.  And thanks to my super amazing staff, we have done that this year.  I feel so privileged to exercise this God-given gift of cooking for His people at church.  

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Thank you so much for reading this humble blog.   

With Love, 

Kay, The Church Cook

Holiday Wassail, Jane Austen Style

Last month, my family and I had an amazing experience joining the Regency Assembly of North Carolina, dancing at the Savannah Ships of the Sea Museum, the historic home site of William and Julia Scarbrough. 

For several months leading up to that night, we practiced our list of regency dances, and fretted over what clothes needed to be made, bought, or borrowed.  But in the end, it was Ruth Verbunt, the organizer and founder of Regency Assembly of North Carolina, who pulled us all together and made us all look and feel beautiful!  

Here is my girl all decked out in her handmade Regency-period dress with beautiful calf-skin leather gloves,  a generous gift from Ruth.  

(Group photo by Marla Gold)

Our dancing group looks quite dashing, don't we?  Except that all night, while dancing, I kept poking everyone's eyes or tickling Frans' (the tallest gentleman's) nose with my crazy-tall plumes.  

After our segment of demonstration dancing, the public joined in and we all danced "Physical Snob", a super-fun dance with lots of skipping!  

Overall, it was a night to remember!  Regency dancing is so beautiful and fun, I hope you will give it a try when you have the opportunity!  My blogger friend, Jenna, also has blogged about her Regency dancing experience here.  

Now where were we?  Ah, the wassail.  Here is fragrant wassail recipe from the Jane Austen Centre website, Bath, England.   Happy December everyone!  

Visit Savannah's beautiful Ships of the Sea Museum

Holiday Wassail, Jane Austen Style

Recipe adapted from The Jane Austen Centre site

1 gallon apple cider
1 large can pineapple juice (unsweetened)
3/4 cup tea (can use your favorite herb tea)

 Place in a cheesecloth sack:
1 Tablespoon whole cloves
1 Tablespoon whole allspice
2 sticks cinnamon

Put all ingredients in a crock pot and simmer in low heat for 4-6 hours. Add water to dilute if it becomes too concentrated. Serve warm, garnished with orange slices and cinnamon sticks.

Serves 20

Pre-Thanksgiving Panic?

This image was posted by my friend Cyndi on FB describing her pre-Thanksgiving panic.  And I had the same sinking-gut feeling, too, when I realized that Thanksgiving is NEXT week.  Bah!  It really couldn't be!  

And I had been feeling pretty smug with the whole Thanksgiving meal thing since I had already photographed this "Thanksgiving Feast with Miss Sophie" feature for our local newspaper two weeks ago.  These photographs and recipes will be printed this coming Sunday, but since you are my super special friends, you get to peek early.  But alas, pretty photos don't equal pretty food on the plates.  

 Despite the hours of planning, shopping, cooking, and cleaning the house for the big meal next week, it will be so worth it.  Because when you are surrounded by your loving family and friends, they are what matters most in life.  So let's take a big, deep breath and see how we can get through next week with smiles in our hearts and on our faces.  

We have so much to be thankful for, don't we? 

Here are some great recipes and helpful hints for your upcoming holiday feast:

Tips For Event Planning

Large Volume Cooking Tips 

How to Make Great Pie Crust 

Mashed Potato Casserole

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

Sweet Potato Casserole

Sautéed Vegetables

Make Ahead Yeast Rolls

Sweet Challah Bread 

Spiced Pumpkin Cake

Hobbes' Favorite Tuna Salad

 Bill Watterson

 My youngest loves a good tuna salad sandwich.  And he loves to read Calvin and Hobbes.  And being the youngest of four, he gets whatever he wants.  At least that's what my three older ones accuse me of.  

So when he begged for a stuffed Hobbes, I went searching online.  OK, maybe the older ones are right.  

Quickly I found out that a stuffed Hobbes can't be purchased anywhere, because Mr. Bill Watterson never liked the idea of commercializing his work.   So if you want to own a stuffed Hobbes, you gotta make it yourself.  

And here I found a great free pattern available online. Thanks to super creative Seamster, the instructions, complete with helpful step-by-step photos, were super-easy to follow, even for this novice sewer.  

The hardest part was hand sewing Hobbes' way-too-many stripes, but my youngest "hoorayed" and said things like, "Mom, you are the best sewer in the world!"  every time a stripe was sewn on.  With this kind of encouragement, I could have sewn the moon for this kid.  

Just like the real Calvin and Hobbes, these two are inseparable lately.  After only a few weeks,  Hobbes' white muzzle is already grey-brown, and his limbs are beginning to detach from being carried around so much.  And watching them share this tuna salad sandwich for lunch? Priceless.  

Print This Recipe!

Hobbes' Favorite Tuna Salad 

Makes 2 generous sandwiches

Recipe inspired from Cook's Country

2 (5 oz) cans solid white albacore tuna, packed in water

2 Tablespoon grated onion (great way to hide onion from kids)

1 Table Olive oil

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 Cup Hellmann's Mayonnaise

Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional ingredients: finely chopped celery, hard boiled eggs, fresh dill, or anything else that catches your fancy.

4 slices of bread

2 pieces of lettuce leaves  

Open two cans of tuna and drain water completely.  Transfer tuna into a medium size bowl and pat dry with a few sheets of paper towels.  

In a small microwave safe bowl, combine grated onion and olive oil and heat for 45 seconds.  Cool.  

Using a fork, toss onion mixture with tuna and add lemon juice and mayo.  Add any optional ingredients if using. Season well with salt and pepper.  

Assemble the sandwiches or use it to top a bed of greens.  

Note: Here is the link to canned tuna drainer that Pateberry mentioned in her comment.  Thanks Pateberry for this tip!

Jenna's Book Launch Party Recap

Happy Monday everyone!  We had the absolutely best time at Jenna's Book Launch party last week at Miss Sophie's Marketplace in The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum!   How about some photos from the party?  

Here is Jenna flanked by two middle-aged women who adore her.  Just look at her; how could we not? 

The buffet table was filled with goodies Miss Sophie and I made: 

Crab Cakes with Remoulade

Chicken Satay with Red Chili Sauce

Beef Sliders with Pepperjack Cheese (Adam's favorite)

Mini Pimento Cheese Biscuits with Ham and Apple Butter (Yum!)

Charcuterie with Roasted Red Bell Peppers, fresh Mozzarella and imported olives

 Fruit display

And for dessert, mini cupcakes and Jenna's Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites

Miss Sophie made Jenna's gingerbread cookies from her book and filled them with chocolate buttercream.  Holy smokes, these were good! The recipe will be posted next Monday!

A wonderful classical trio played for this special event, thanks to a generous friend who hired these three teenagers. That's my son playing the cello, with his incredibly gifted friends, the Holliday boys.  

Conversations flowed and new friendships were made.  Hey there, Adam in the back!

There were over 90 guests who attended the party, and Miss Sophie and I couldn't have been happier sharing this gifted writer with our Savannah friends.

Oh yeah, she even got to speak at a podium with a microphone for the first time.  

I assure you, Jenna, a podium may become very familiar to you in the future.
Check out Jenna's schedule for remaining book tour dates and locations here!

Our author says there will be another book ahead.  It sounds like Miss Sophie and I will be planning another party.... 

Sandwich Generation

Enjoy every sandwich-Warren Zevon

It has been said that the Sandwich Generation is a generation of people who care for their aging parent(s) while supporting their own children. I never really thought much about this term until recently, when my sweet mother (and my next door neighbor) began to have some concerning health issues and I've been taking her to several doctors' appointments.


And my three teenagers have been needing me various ways. As a daughter, mother, wife, and the church cook, the hours in a day are way too short and my energy level waning. I am pressed on both sides by many needs.

I have been purposely staying quiet. No blog posts, not too many social interactions, working less; to spend more time talking with my children, even it meant staying up until the wee hours just talking, reading aloud more books to my youngest, or taking my mother out to fun restaurants in-between her medical appointments. Because they are my precious gifts from God and I won't have them too long with me. So I intend to enjoy every moment with them!

So, come and celebrate with me on my new season of the "Sandwich Generation"! Here are some previous sandwich posts to share with you.

Fried Oyster Po Boy

Shrimp Salad on Croissant

Monte Cristo Sandwich

Blackened Salmon Sandwich

For a list of all sandwich recipes on the blog, click here.

Birthday Party on Blue Horizons

"I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah."

 ~ William Tecumseh Sherman (February 08, 1820 - February 14, 1891

Did you guys have a restful holiday?  I had the most peaceful two weeks...almost to the point of  being lazy.  But now I am fully recharged and ready to face 2012!  Here is something fun I did yesterday.  I went aboard on this gorgeous 70' Hatteras, named Blue Horizons as a guest/caterer/photographer for my dear friend Charlie, for his birthday celebration.  

Look at this huge upper deck!  To truly appreciate the historic Savannah, you have to view it from the water.  This floating B and B and beautiful venue is locally owned and operated by Savannah Cruise Inn Yacht Charters 

Master State Room

The yacht's galley has the state of the art appliances and was great to work in.      

 I wanted to create a simple dinner menu...but all bite-size:  

Mini-venison burgers with pepper jack cheese, Grilled pineapples and strawberry on skewers.

Lemon Caesar Salad in Parmesan Cups.

Shrimp Cocktail in Cucumber cups, Ahi Tuna Bites and not pictured Fried Egg Rolls.  

As the sun set, the lights around the city of Savannah illuminated and sparkled as 30 guests on board mingled, conversations flowed, and hearts knitted stronger in friendship. 

The birthday cake presented by Charlie's beautiful wife, Linda. 

 

What a wonderful evening it was, spent with friends and family, filled with laughter and warm wishes.  

What a lovely way to start the new year. 

Happy 2012 to you!

Brie, The Guardian of Hens

Photo by Nate Henderson, Open Light Studio

This is our dog, Brie. She came to us six months ago and decided that she would adopt us as her family. We are not sure what type of breed she is. But with her huge ears and gentle brown eyes, she won our hearts.

She is quite good at digging up my flower garden, taking my neighbors' dog toys without asking, chewing up shoes, and treeing the cats. But recently, we found out that she is also good at guarding our free range chickens.

Each afternoon, she waits patiently by the gate until they are released in our backyard.

And greets them as they stream out the gate.

And with her big, black tail wagging, she happily strolls where ever the chickens go. If she hears a chicken squawk, she is the first one there to see what is happening.

Her work is not done until the last of our 18 hens are safely roosting in their hen house.

And we are so glad she came to us and made us her family.