Our Holiday 2017-2018

 I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a truly blessed New Year!

I can’t believe it’s 2019 already. Time just flies. 

Welcome 2019 and please be good to everyone. 

Holidays are the days we can enjoy, celebrate and spending time with our family and friends rather than working in winter cold weather.

Starting this year, I will write about our holidays, what we did and about my holiday cooking along with its recipes.

As we do most years, stay home, cook, bake and watch the ball drop from the home.  Sometimes we celebrate with friends and family. Last year we went to Niagara Falls with our one of family friends. Niagara Falls is always a welcome and fun place to visit. It has so many attractions and many amazing things to do in such a short visit. The most important thing is we all had fun. 

Had a  great time with our friends. 

This year (2018 Christmas) I hosted a Christmas party at our home and it was so nice. Sharing delicious food with our loved ones and friends is a great time of our life. Especially, since we live far away from our birth country and family. Luckily we do have great friends like family here. (in Canada)

Had fun with this little cutie pie 😉

I cooked Borscht soup with bread (Ukrainian style), beef stew with rice, lamb chop, Mongolian dumplings (Buuz), grilled chicken thighs and pork ribs for kids, and salads. Cooked all day and everything seasoned and turned out great. Happy me 😉

My guests loved them all. My husband helped me a lot. Every time when we host a party he is the #1 helper. So thankful to have a husband like him. Thank you, honey 😉

I used white and red colours for decorating our table and around the dining area this year. Every year I use different colours. For our Christmas tree, I used white and blue colours this year. It looks beautiful. Even our outside lighting was white and blue xo xo xo 

My Christmas Cactus bloomed just beautifully.

 If you are buying decor, try to find a store that is already giving deep discounts on their Christmas merchandise. For example; most of the pretties that I purchased were from Homesense, Marshalls and $1 store in Canada. Also, the best time to shop is a boxing day. Boxing day sale is continuous like 4-5 days so we have enough time shop for our next year decorations.  We decorated our holiday table like this.  Pick your colour based on what you have the most of. This year ours was red and white. It’s simple and easy decor but I love it.  If you have everything done ahead of time, the party won’t be stressful at all. That is why I always set my table in the morning. So I can have time to cook freely. Of course, I made Holiday cookies with my boys. We made a Candy cane cookies and chocolate chip cookies. Each recipe is in my baking album. 

 Ok, Now food, the main menu. I’d rather have more foods at my party than drinks. Of course, we have our special drinks. That’s why I cook a lot of food for my guest. Most people can enjoy eating foods which they like.

Fresh green salad with homemade dressing… 

Deviled eggs, cheese tray, and fruit tray, dried fruits, fresh fruits for appetizing…On New Year’s Eve, I’ve made a beef roast and Lemon whole chicken with gravy. Rotisserie Chickens spruced up with rosemary, lemons, and lot of veggies. (Recipe is in my dinner and lunch album) People just cut off how much they wanted. It worked really well. I think it’s one of the best party meat. 

I appreciate every one of you and it’s been a wonderful year, sharing recipes with you. Thank you thank you.

Best Beef roast’s recipe is coming soon 😉 Happy New Year! May your year be filled with kitchen parties, meals shared with good friends and plenty of home cooking.

Cheers!

Altaa