(Image courtesy Gourmet)

Later today I’m going to the thrift store to see if I can pick up a punch bowl on the cheap. If I can, I will surely be making champagne punch for New Year’s tomorrow. I love champagne punch. I mean, come on, it is a combination of sangria and champagne cocktails, two things I’m a big fan of.

Obviously, there are some horrible champagne punches out there, gross neon things with marschino cherries floating in them. Here is a video that explains how to make champagne punch the right way. It’s worth watching, although the tone is a little snotty and there’s an ad in the beginning. Still, it’s informative:

Here are some recipes I’m considering:

* The recipe from the video
* Citrus Champagne Punch
* Gourmet’s Champagne Punch, pictured above.
* And another one from Gourmet

Happy 2010!

I’m digging these dragon bookends from Libastyle. Very cool. Too bad they are out of my price range at $110.

While making my traditional English-ish Christmas dinner (which turned out great, by the way), it occurred to me that I need an apron. Because I entertain a lot, I often end up cooking for people while wearing, say, a cashmere sweater or a nice dress. But I want a cool apron, something interesting and fun that I will want to wear.

The next day, I ended up in Anthropologie and was enamored by their apron selections. They cost about $30. I particularly liked this one:

And this one:

But $30… You know, how hard can that be to make? I took a look around and came up with free apron patterns, such as:

* one made from napkins
* a frilly 1950s apron
* a baker’s apron from Martha Stewart
* a quilted one for children and small adults that could be adjusted
* and 52 other free apron patterns online.

None of these are quite right, but aprons seem like something that could be adjusted pretty easily. Maybe I will make one.

Annnnnnd that’s all the posting for the Christmas season. Have a great holiday. Things will resume around here on Monday, December 28.

Quite a few people have pointed me to these cute little gingerbread houses Not Martha made. They are designed to sit on your cup of hot chocolate. There’s a very clear how-to on her site if you want to recreate them on your own.

Along with Drink of the Week, I recently discovered the delicious elegance of a banana daiquiri. It is easy to make and a lot lighter than most other tropical drinks. And you know, bananas are in season…

Banana Daiquiri

Ingredients

2 oz white rum
Juice of half a lime
1 Tbs sugar
1 c crushed ice
Half a fresh banana

Direction:

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth (probably about 30 seconds). Strain into chilled cocktail glasses. This recipe serves one, so increase accordingly to serve more.

(Image via wikipedia)

A friend gave me some chestnuts to roast. I plan to try them on Christmas, along with making the traditional English dinner. I took a look on how to roast chestnuts in the oven, and it looks easy. Here it is in 4 easy steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. With a knife, cut a small “x” in each nut for the steam to escape.

3. Put the nuts on a baking sheet, “x” sides up.

4. Roast 15-20 minutes until the nuts are tender and easy to peel.

That’s it!

You can also do the same thing over an open fire. The only difference is that instead of a baking sheet, you put them in a pan with a long handle, like a frying pan. Then you hold them over the fire. Make sure not to put the pan in the fire–suspend it above in some way. Roast for 15-20 minutes and enjoy.

I’m definitely trying this.

(Image courtesy Mennonite Girls Can Cook)

As I mentioned on my list of presents I’m making for Christmas, I am giving some herb and spice mixes this year. These are simple gifts that are especially perfect for the cook in the family. And herb/spice mixes are easy and cheap to make, especially if you have a garden. It’s just a matter of mixing the spices, putting them in decorative jars, and labeling them.

Among the mixes I’m giving this year is a poultry rub. Here is a per-serving recipe. If you want to fill a jar, you can adjust by making the measurement into parts, tablespoons instead of teaspoons or cups instead of teaspoons, depending on how much you want.

Sage and Lemon Poultry Mix

Ingredients:

1 tsp crumbled sage
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp salt, preferably kosher or sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

Remove the zest of the lemon with a grater or a zester. Spread the zest out on a plate and put under a paper towel. Let it sit a day or two in a cool dry place until the zest dries out. You don’t want to put moist zest in the mix, or the salt and powder will cling to it and it will clump.

Now, put all the seasonings, including the zest, in a bowl. Mix together.

Taste the seasoning. If it doesn’t seem balanced, adjust with more salt/garlic powder/pepper.

Put the seasoning in an air-tight jar and label accordingly.

A note on salt: Some people don’t put salt in herb mixes. I do because I feel that you should be able to shake it right out onto the meat and cook it. You can always skip the salt if you want.

The cost of this present is easily under $1. Salt, pepper, and garlic powder are among the cheapest things in the grocery store, especially if you buy in bulk. The sage and lemon are free from my garden. I am either re-using jars or using ones I picked up from thrift stores. All in all, a great gift for almost nothing, and something the recipients will enjoy.

Here are some other seasoning mixes that look good:

* Herb spice rub
* My own Taco Seasoning
* Recreate Emeril’s Bayou Blast Seasoning Mix
* Garden Herb Mix and Cajun Spice Mix, pictured above.
* This Italian Herb Mix looks good, although I would add salt.
* Herbs de Provence, for a French touch. Some people also add dried lavender to the mix. I haven’t tried it that way, but it sounds intriguing.

(Image courtesy Gourmet)

For Christmas this year, I’m making a goose. I have never made a goose before, or even eaten a goose for that matter, but I’m not a stranger to making strange meat for a major holiday, so I’m not scared.

Since I’m doing the goose, I decided to have an traditional English Christmas theme this year. You know, weird puddings and crab apples and brandy butter and God bless us everyone and and next thing you know, we’re spending the evening in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” That’s the plan, anyway.

Obviously I’m not English and I’m no expert as to what makes up a classic British Christmas dinner. But I did a little research and came up with a partial menu of dishes that I’m probably making. I still need one or two more sides, but here’s the rundown so far:

* Spice Roast Goose with Dried-Fruit Pan Sauce–Pictured above.

* Roasted Potatoes

* Yorkshire Pudding–This is a kind of roll made out of pan drippings. Usually it’s made with roast beef drippings and served with the same, but whatever.

* Brussels Sprouts–I will probably cook them in a cream sauce since that’s my dad’s favorite.

* English Trifle–This is an impossible-to-mess-up dessert–layers of whip cream, lady fingers, and fruit. I got a trifle bowl for my birthday that I’m itching to use.

* Flaming Plum Pudding–I admit I’m confused by this dessert, which isn’t a pudding and contains no plums. It has dried fruit and looks like this:

But! You pour alcohol on it and light the pan on fire, which sounds fun.

* A Nonalcoholic version of Wassail punch–Pretty much hot apple cider.

That’s all I have so far. As I mentioned, I still need another side and some little touches that will cement the theme, but it’s a good start.

What am I missing?

Here’s a money-saving tip for gardeners who use PG&E as their utility: As I talked about on here before, I was determined to find cheap mulch for the garden. I followed up on the rumor that your electric company will give you free or cheap mulch. The idea is that since the electric company is trimming branches and running them through wood chippers, they will deliver some of it to your house for you to use in your garden as mulch.

I called PG&E, who does the service in my area, and the girl on the other end of the phone didn’t know what mulch was. I had a long conversation with her and neither she nor her supervisor really knew what to do with me. She put in a work order with the tree trimming department and said they would get back to me in three weeks.

So I hung up and did a Google search and found the following from a FAQ on the PG&E website:

Can I get wood chips?

Yes. Our contractors are always looking for customers to accept wood chips. This is an environmentally friendly way to dispose of the wood chips. Wood chips make great mulch, keep weeds down and keep trees moist. Please call 1-800-743-5000 if you are interested in this service. A load of chips is about 10 cubic yards of mixed tree material.

I called again, used the phrase “wood chips” instead of mulch in explaining what I wanted and was given the numbers to companies that do tree trimming for PG&E. I called the one that does my area, and a man told me that I could have as much mulch as I wanted, for free. The problem was that they only came through my area once a year, in July. I had missed the window for this year.

However, he was willing to sign me up for next year. Next July, PG&E will bring two truck loads of mulch to my yard. For free. I plan to use it liberally in the garden beds and store whatever is left in plastic garbage cans.

So there you have it–my future mulch needs are covered. No more buying $5 bags of wood chips. This will save me at least $150 a year and cut down on the cost of gardening considerably.