Past Christmas - The Table

I know I put already, yesterday, one picture of the table but today is the day when I'm going to show some more about it.



Here it is the table before it was set, the piano in the bottom and a lot of books everywhere. The candles must be replaced.



And in here you can see the begining of it, the bit where the children seat.

The part for the adults, with the red glaces my husband gave me some Christmasses ago and the crackers. The towel it was my husband who gave too with matching napkins.

A detail with the poinsetia.



And here one of the baby Jesus my husband gave me. In the childrens table there's one too, we can hardly see it in the firts picture because he's laying down.

Tomorow the theme will be: Christmas Decorations.

Past Christmas - Food

As you now, I’m crazy for Christmas and I can’t wait for it, as I was a child.
I’m making lists of everything I might need to buy, to shop, to make, to do...
I keep thinking about the menu, all the cakes and desserts I want to make, if the linens are ok, if we have enough chairs – we always have but even so, every year I fell I must make sure we have.
As you can see by the picture, we put a big table on and a smaller one. Plus side boards of every kind to acomodate all the food and people.
All pictures I am posting now belong to last years Christmas and to the one before.
So, I remembered to post some for several days. It will be called Past Christmas and if you would like to join me, just give me a note.

In the picture with the tables, you can see first the smaller one which was destined for children that’s why I have paper glasses. They liked it very much because there was a 19 century kind of Santa Claus on it.
The big table, on the bottom, has proper nice red glasses, which was a present from my husband in a previous Christmas, some years ago.
It’s rather dark this picture because it was raining and the lights were off in that moment, I don’t know why.
Near the window there’s a table that, in the moment I took the picture, was still empty of food.

And now some food for you to see.
I must say that the desserts are always made and choosen by me. The main courses and etc are my husband departement. Rissols and the kind are usually brought by my brother’s wife.

My sister never comes because they go to her mother in law house at Christmas Day and have dinner with us at my brother’s at Christmas Eve because is the most important moment for families here, and always have been.

Well, it’s enough for today. More pictures tomorow.

Tomorow I will show you more about the tables.

P.S.: Maybe you are wondering about the food so I will explain.

In the first picture (with food):

Apple pie and crumble, croquetes (made with minced meat), rissols (with shrimps inside), Bolo Rei (translated King Cake, very traditional, with dried fruit and all kind of nuts inside and on top); Bolo Vicente ( Vincent Cake, a must in our Christmasses, as my grandmother always made it) and several of those dried fruits.

Picture 2:

Several of my husband specialities, seeing first brocolli, cawliflower and a special kind that looks a mixture of both; caramelized onions; roasted potatoes; goose, etc.

Picture 3:

the lovely bird; chestnuts and brussels sprouts; some sausages,...

Last picture:

Sweet rice; sausage rolls and rabanadas or golden slices as they are called (fried bread after being rolled in milk and egg).

More to see tomorow.

The Christmas bug

The weather here has been quite mild, not hot at all, not too cold. Not that I mind the cold. Here we don’t have snow, only once in several years. In the North of the country it does quite a lot. Not here. Even so I like the Winter. When I’m in the Summer, which I can’t stand, I long for the Autumn. But now, that September and October are gone, I can’t wait for Winter. Even without snow.
I want to wear scarves everyday – I wear it somedays now – gloves, everything I have the right to wear in a proper wintery season.



Another thing I’m restless now is about Christmas.
I don’t know if you realized that I put some christmas and winter blinkies and graphics in my blog. And if I could, I would put a lot of counters – yes , I have two and, with the above one, it’s three.
Only 45 days for Christmas now.
I’ve been making lists about everything Christmas related:

. presents for each of my girls, my husband, my mother and father,my brother and sister and their wife and husband, my nephew, my uncle...

. lists of everything I have to buy for meal, including desserts – several – and apetizers;

. things we will eat in the Eve, Chrstmas Day and Boxing Day;

. thigs I will take to my brother’s;

. presents to make;

. what I can make in advance;

. things I have to buy, like napkins, kitchen roll – the christmassy type;

. people to whom I have to send card;

. declutering and tidying list...

.buying wraping paper, bows, celar tape;

. tags : looking for them in the internet, print them and cut to size;

. and so on.

As you can see, my mind is pretty buzy and amuzed. I begin dreaming about driming with this things in September and in the end of October I’m in full Christmas mode. Can you imagine how I am now that November is in full strenght ?

I can’t stop singing Christmas songs. In October, in the morning of my birthday, my husband found me singing Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and he said:

- It’s your birthday, silly, not Christmas!

And you? What are you feeling now about Christmas preparations? Making lists too?

Kitchen Poetry VII

Today is the last day of Kitchen Poetry. It has been fun.
In this last post I leave you with a little rose plant my mother gave me. I have it on my windowsill.

Kitchen Poetry VI

As you can see, ther's always a lot of tea in my house. Pitty this corner doesn't show the assortement of drinking chocolate - and the non drinking kind.

P.S.: I'm posting the small version of the picture so you can see it all, because the medium sized is a bit cut on the right.

If you are wondering what is inside the almost empty boxes - usually they are full - I can tell you:

. the one in the left has rice;

. the blue one has self - raising flower;

. the one following has cuscus and

. the one with an orange lid has plain flower.

Near the teas there is another orange lid box that has several seeds inside, like sunflower seeds, etc., because I like to put them on top of pasta.

Kitchen Poetry V

A corner in my kitchen.

That old jug and mug was bought by my husband 20 years ago. The mug lost her handle already, as you can see, but I like it so much even so.

It's a nice thing to have in a monarchic house, as ours is, because it represents the portuguese coat of arms with the crown.

The flowers, which I like very much, come from a bush and are called "sempre noivas", translating "always brides", maybe because of their nice white.

Friday Show and Tell

I’ve been participating in a nice game , idea of Simple Sparrow, that invite us to post a picture about something in our kitchen. Today I’m posting a special thing that I kept for today because I wanted to enter the Show and Tell Friday from There Is No Place Like Home . But, because Kelli wants a separate post for her Show and Tell I must post, in a minute, other thing about my kitchen for the Kitchen Poetry.
I'm in kitchen mode, you see, so I needed to go to the Show with a kitchen picture too.

These preties were made by my grandmother a lot of years ago. Maybe some 25 years ago. And she gave me when I married (20 yr ago). They are pretty vintage and so nice. If you didn’t realized yet, I tell you that they are pot holders made in crochet. The long things with two buttons are napkin holders. Those buttons are even more vintage, they have more than 30 years.

Aren’t they lovely?! I like all them so much.
They are precious to me.

Kitchen poetry IV

See this magnets? It was my husband who bought, for the girls, some years ago in England.

They like it so much. They are always writing something, even the little one.

I keep picking up little pieces from the floor.

Isn't that nice?

Kitchen poetry III

How many aprons are on my kitchen door?
We all have one: my husband, me and my four girls, even the little one has one since, maybe, she was two years old.
Hanging on the door knob is my bread bag, which is a cloth bag - never a plastic one - to keep bread in.
We can also see a thing to drain the water of the pasta after it's cooked. My husband brought that from Italy, one of the many times he went there.

And you, what have you on your kitchen door?

Kitchen poetry II

Another corner of my kitchen.

You can see we have a lot of mugs, some for tea, others for milk chocolate and others for plain milk. We are not coffee drinkers. Sometimes one of my girls have a decafeinated one. That's all.