Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Tuesday Topic: Holiday recipes (and answered prayer)

For this month I am using some ideas that Olive suggested as blog topics. Since most of our writers are taking a break, I'm going to let you write about these subjects each Tuesday!


First:
What are your favorite holiday dishes? Can you make them on the field? Do you have to adapt them? How?

Also, as a second topic:
It's been a month since we last asked for specific prayer requests. Do you have any special answers to share? Please go back and reread the comments from then, and then share here.

(If you have a “Tuesday Topic” question, please email it to me at fylliska@gmail.com. Provide your blog address if you would like to be linked to, or specify if you would like to remain anonymous. Thanks!)

3 comments:

  1. No comments yet? Wow. We are busy!

    My favorite holiday sweet is fudge. I use a slightly adapted and simplified recipe from a friend in Poland. I also adapt further to make it with white chocolate and mint extract. This is my family's favorite. I just have to make sure that we "import" mint extract.

    As far as prayers and praises, I am doing better overall. This apartment continues to be a trial for me, but God comforts, and I'm getting more used to it. Thank you for praying! If you think of it, you can keep praying for my attitude throughout the winter, please.

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  2. I'll keep praying, Phyllis! Glad things are getting a bit better. And so much better now that I hear you have some furry new pets (decorative mice)?! So funny! Who gave them to your kids?

    One quick and easy thing that we make all the time during the holidays is a simple spiced apple cider. We just use about 2 liters of apple juice (if you have the kind that still has the pulp in it, that is best), one cinnamon stick, about a 1.5 teaspoons of cloves, 1/4 C sugar, and 3 circular slices of orange about 1/4-1/2 inches thick. Put it all in a pot and bring almost to a boil. Yum!! Take out the cinnamon and cloves if you are going to let it sit on the stove for awhile, otherwise it can get kind of bitter.

    Also, this isn't a recipe, but my husband found pecans at the store the other day!!! We love pecan pie but had never found pecans in Russia before. They were way to expensive to buy often, but we bought enough to make one pie as a little splurge. We have made walnut pies though (just like pecan pies but with walnuts), but it is a long process to make the walnuts less bitter. You can bake them in the oven at 350 for something like 10-20 minutes, which helps reduce the bitterness, and you can also try to rub off a bit of the thin outer skin on the nut itself after you bake them (the skin is the origin of the bitter taste).

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    Replies
    1. The "decorative mice" turned out to be a special kind of hamster. So far, they're a great distraction from the uglier parts of life. Someone from church brought them over and stood outside yelling at our window until my husband went out to see what she was here for. :-)

      Oh, and I thought of another holiday favorite of mine. For some reason I was just thinking of dessert before. My grandmother always had asparagus casserole for us at every big occasion. I've recreated it once, I think? I get very excited when my husband brings me asparagus as a treat now, and I just eat it plain when he does. We can only find it in bigger cities, not right here where we are.

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