'Tis the season... Part I

Posted by Bonita



I love December. Forget about the fact that I will soon have a nice, well-deserved three week break from school. December means all things Christmas, my favourite holiday of the year. Nothing gets me more giddy than bringing out my Christmas tunes (which I think I brought out in the second week of November this year...), decorating the tree and putting up Christmas lights. Oh yeah, let's not forget about baking!

Despite the school term winding down these past two weeks, I've still been a busy bee, either studying for midterms and finals, finishing off those last few essays or more importantly, starting my holiday baking. I always love giving cookies away as Christmas presents. It's fun for me to make them and it makes for great gifts that were made with much love.



I've been doing a lot (and I mean a LOT) of baking on my own these past two weeks, but I thought it would be a nice end to the term this year to have some friends over to bake cookies. With the Italian lit class over for good, it would be a nice way to get everyone together and celebrate having survived the term while eating good food, enjoying each other's company, singing along to christmas carols and baking cookies. It's nice for me because I get to play hostess, it's nice for them because they get to revisit their childhoods, and honestly, it's nice for everyone to just take a break from school before we all go back into hibernation-mode for finals.



I asked everyone to bring something savoury to the party, so we ended up with a pretty nice spread: cheese and crackers, an antipasti platter, these delicious fried risotto balls stuffed sausage and cheese (I think they were called polpette...but they are also known as arancini), sausage rolls, swedish meatballs, shrimp cocktail, and a Baked Brie with Roasted Pears and Thyme.

Good times were had by all. In between eating, laughing and reminiscing about the many inside jokes that involved our time in class, cookies were baked (with minimal mishaps!). Most importantly, my friends had loads of fun baking and decorating cookies, and I sent all of them home with treats that they could munch on these next few days as they bury themselves in their books and notes.



The leftover brie and the antipasti made for a lovely lunch yesterday afternoon, especially with a plate of good bread, crackers and some raspberry jam!







Stayed tuned for "Part II" to see what I've been baking lately!