Posts tagged Christmas
Christmas Traditions Around the World
Jan 23rd
ENGLAND
Christmas in England began in A.D. 596. The monks who arrived with Saint Augustine wanted to bring Christianity to the Anglo Saxon shores. The day before the feast the only thing the people ate was Frumenty, which is a corn porridge. Over the years the recipe changed and it is now Plum Pudding. The traditional Christmas dinner is roast turkey with vegetables and sauces. The dessert is fruity Christmas pudding with brandy sauce, minced pies and pastry filled with chopped dried fruit. Christmas dinner is eaten at midday on December 25 during daylight. Father Christmas the gift-giver, wears a long red or green robe and fills stockings on Christmas Eve. They are usually not opened until the following afternoon.
ITALY
In Italy the Christmas season lasts for three weeks, beginning eight days before Christmas and is known as Novena. The week before Christmas the children go from house to house dresses as shepherds, playing pipes, singing and reciting Christmas poems. They are given money to buy presents. A fast is observed for twenty four hours before Christmas Eve, and then a celebration meal followed by a light Milanese cake Panettone and chocolates are served. At noon on Christmas day the Pope gives his blessings to crowds gathered in the Vatican Square.
FRANCE
Most French homes at Christmas time display a Nativity Scene or Creche. This Creche is often filled with little clay figures called Santons or Little Saints. The Christmas tree is not popular in France and though the use of the Yule Log has faded, they make a traditional Yule Log shaped cake called the Buche de Nol which means Christmas Log. Le revillon is a very late supper held after midnight mass on Christmas Eve. The menu varies according to the region. In Alsace, goose is the main course, in Burgundy it is turkey with chestnuts and in Paris, oysters and pat de gras. Le reveillon may consist of poultry, ham, salads, fruit and wine.
MEXICO
The Mexicans and the Spanish share many traditions. A religious procession called La Posads reenacts Joseph and Mary search for shelter before the birth of Jesus by going from house to house carrying images of Joseph and Mary looking for shelter. Children receive gifts and on Christmas day are blindfolded and try to break a clay piñata and once it is broken, they recover the candy that was inside. The children who have been good also receive gifts on January 6th from the” three wise men”. Mexicans attend a midnight mass called la Misa Del Gallo or “the rooster mass” where they sing lullabies to Jesus.
AFRICA
Christmas in South Africa is a summer holiday. Homes are decorated with pine branches and all have the decorated Christmas Fir in a corner with presents for the children. For some, Christmas dinner is an open air lunch. For others it is a traditional dinner of either turkey, roast beef, mince pies, or suckling pig, yellow rice with raisins, vegetables and plum pudding. On the west coast of Africa in Liberia most homes have an oil palm for a Christmas tree decorated with balls. Dinner is eaten outdoors with everyone sitting around in a circle sharing a meal of rice, beef and biscuits. Games are played in the afternoon and at night fireworks light up the sky.
UNITED STATES
Christmas traditions in the United States can vary basked on each family’s ancestry. Some families celebrate Christmas Eve by attending Midnight Mass. Christmas morning is spent opening gifts. Gifts can range from handmade items to clothing to the latest in electronics. Gift baskets that include Christmas foods such as spice cookies and ham and decorated with traditional holiday trim are popular gifts. Basket Affair is a company that has been in existence since 1986 and specializes in Christmas gift baskets. You can order online at www.basket-affair.com or call 412.366.2400.
A variety of unique gift baskets are available at Basket Affair, including Christmas Gift Baskets. Made to order Baked Good Baskets are also available. Basket Affair ships gifts nationwide and guarantees that each gift will arrive in perfect condition.
How to Use Budget Catering with Christmas Party Food
Jan 22nd
The holiday party season is here so what I thought I would do is suggest some party appetizer ideas for your Christmas party food. What you want to keep in mind to maintain a low-cost budget catering menu is to incorporate easy finger foods along with your holiday buffet.
As the party host, be creative with your presentation of your Christmas party food and make it easy for your guests to pick up and eat. Create an interactive buffet station by using skewers for your vegetables at the crudités station. Make a vegetable garden presentation using skewered vegetables “planted” in wheat grass.
At the dessert station, build your own fondue station. Again using skewers, offer strawberries, bananas, rice crispy treats, Oreos, marshmallows, to name a few easy finger foods your guests can choose from. If you are trying to watch your weight, select the fruit over the cookies and walk away from the dessert station before you dip into the chocolate!
Christmas party food has a tendency to be very rich and abundant in calories so if you are trying to watch your weight, select the low-calorie alternatives. Party appetizer ideas to watch your weight include selecting the fresh vegetable crudités versus the macaroni cheese bites. Even though the spinach and artichoke and cheese dips are more delicious, dip your veggies into the salsas or various flavored humus dips if offered.
As a host, serving crudités, dips and small bites is an effective use of budget catering. To stretch your dollars further offer easy finger foods such as an anti-pasta station with sliced meats, cheeses and skewered tortellini.
Other party appetizer ideas to help keep your costs low include tray-passing heartier items such as beef or turkey sliders, pigs in blankets, shrimp cocktail and shot glasses filled with soups. You can serve either hot soups such as the classic favorite tomato soup or a cold gazpacho or cucumber soup. By tray-passing these items, you are able to control the portions and timing of the food.
To help maintain a low-cost budget catering menu at the bar, feature a holiday martini such as a peppermint martini. Here is an easy recipe for a peppermint martini.
Peppermint Martini
3 parts vodka 1 part white crème de menthe
Pour ingredients in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice and shake well. Pour straight up into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a mini-candy cane hanging along the rim of glass or prior to pouring the drink into glass, crush the candy cane and wet down the glass rim. Then dip the rim into the bowl filled with candy cane pieces.
I hope you found these party appetizer ideas helpful for your Christmas party food. You can keep costs at a minimum with budget catering by controlling the portions via tray-passing some easy finger foods. Until next time, remember the Budget Bash mantra: make it simple, delicious, stylish, fun & economical to all!
With over 15 years in the special event industry, Andrea has now taken her knowledge and experiences and incorporated this information into an easy-to-read book called Budget Bash – Simply Fabulous Events on a Budget. You can talk to Andrea via Twitter @awynningevent or learn more about wedding and special event management by visiting awynningevent.com.
Create your Healthy Christmas buffet
Jan 20th
Maintaining your weight loss management programme can be hard during the seasonal holidays, especially at Christmas. Faced with the prospect of having to throw a Christmas party and feed more than your immediate family – how can you possibly modify your Christmas diet without affecting everyone else?
If you too are facing this struggle, then the following tips could help. Designed with your Christmas weight loss in mind, by simply incorporating the following tips into your Christmas diet, you too can remain in firm control of your weight loss during this holiday season and ensure you, your family and your friends experience a healthy Christmas.
1. Swap salted peanuts for raw nuts and seeds – almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts, cashews, sesame seeds… all are rich in protein, essential fats and minerals
2. Replace sugar based confectionary with dried fruits – apples, apricots, raisins, banana, currant and figs… not only dried fruits deliciously sweet but they last too
3. Make open-top mince pies – this will help you to use less pastry, instantly cutting your fat and calorie content in half. Alternatively you can opt to use filo pastry which is thinner and lower in calories compared to traditional pastry. Another clever trick is to add finely chopped apples to the mincemeat. This will make it fluffier and will lower the mince pies overall calorie content.
4. Don’t do pigs in blankets – instead grill/ bake the sausages in a wire rack to let the fat drain off
5. Choose tomato-based dips – avoid any cheese dips and instead offer your guests salsa dips or a low-fat yoghurt mixed with chopped herbs
You can also make the following swaps:
• Mini pastry tartlet (45 kcal) for a mini filo tartlet (30kcal)
• Breaded chicken bite (40 kcal) for a marinated chicken bite (29 kcal)
• Mini bhaji (64 kcal) for a mini satay stick (34 kcal)
• 30g of ready salted crisps (155 kcal) for 30g of tortilla chips (147 kcal)
• 30g of salted peanuts (184 kcal) for 30g of pretzels (114 kcal)
• 175ml of pre-mixed Buck’s fizz for 175ml for a wine spritzer (2:1 wine and soda water)
The trick to maintaining your weight loss is to sit down, examine what you would normally buy for a Christmas party and swap any high fat/high calorie foods for their healthier alternatives. It may feel like a gruelling process, but it will be worth it in the end.
Similarly don’t be afraid to introduce healthier foods to the table.
Cooking treats and puddings yourself for example can instantly reduce your calorie content, plus enable you to remain in control of exactly what you are eating.
Without anyone even realising it you can offer them a healthier version of their favourite puddings, and keep your Christmas fun, exciting and most importantly delicious.
So give these tricks a try and make your Christmas weight loss completely stress free.
Jennifer Moore is researching the most healthiest diets and weight loss plans. Also she’s running Healthy Eating Diets website where you’ll find healthy diets, product reviews and video recipes.
Breakfasts: The Hidden Present at Christmas
Jan 19th
If there is one thing associated with Christmas nearly as much as presents; it just has to be food. From a dinner with all the trimmings, through decadent desserts, and onto all the sweet treats and fancy snacks. One area that doesn’t always get a look in is breakfasts though; but there is no reason why not.
Even if you are the one responsible for preparing the lunch, it doesn’t mean you can’t have good celebratory breakfasts either.
A traditional Christmas favorite already; it is likely you may have some fine Scottish smoked salmon in the fridge. Teaming this with just soft scrambled eggs, and perhaps a toasted bagel, is wonderful. For extra luxury, add some truffle oil to your eggs before cooking, or a grating of real truffle when serving.
Slightly more work; but still very easy is a bacon and cheese croissant. Whilst you fry up some bacon, warm two baking trays in the oven and prepare a croissant sliced n half with a spread of butter and a touch of tomato puree.
Once your bacon is done; place this on the croissant and sprinkle with some grated cheese. Place this on one of the baking trays, and place the second on top; pressing down a little. Put this back in the oven for a few minutes, or alternatively on a sandwich toaster, and serve whilst still hot.
If you have time, or are headed off somewhere else for lunch; then there really are no better breakfasts than what you get with a “Full English”. Broiled (grilled) or fried it is excellent.
Traditionally, an “English Breakfast” will comprise bacon, sausages, baked beans, mushrooms and egg; though there really are no limits to what you can add.
A common addition is a fried slice; a slice of fried white bread heavily buttered and cooked until golden brown and crisp and unctuous. Other things you may fancy adding to the meal are crispy fried onions, sauteed potatoes and chopped tomatoes. For the very brave amongst you, you may even want to try a black pudding; essentially a sausage made from pigs blood!
Cooking such breakfasts are easy; but there are a couple of tips that could make it just that little more special for the festive day.
Instead of simply warming up your beans; try adding a half cup of milk to the pan, along with a good sized chunk of butter. A squeeze of garlic puree and a grind of pepper work well too; simmered gently for fifteen to twenty minutes; they really are a treat.
A fried slice is decadent anyway of course, but if you really want to push the boat out try “eggy bread”. Rather than butter the bread, coat both sides generously in a beaten egg, and fry this until golden. Excellent at any time of the year; it can be given a Christmas twist with a touch of cinnamon or nutmeg in the egg.
If these tempting breakfasts really aren’t doing it for you; then maybe just a bowl of muesli and a smoothie would be just as satisfying on the big morning!?
Breakfasts has been claimed to be the most important meal of the day. By eating breakfast, it allows the brain to function better so one can focus more easily. For more healthy recipe ideas, visit us today!
Better Food For Christmas
Jan 19th
Maintaining your weight loss management programme can be hard during the seasonal holidays, especially at Christmas. Faced with the prospect of having to throw a Christmas party and feed more than your immediate family – how can you possibly modify your Christmas diet without affecting everyone else?
If you too are facing this struggle, then the following tips could help. Designed with your Christmas weight loss in mind, by simply incorporating the following tips into your Christmas diet, you too can remain in firm control of your weight loss during this holiday season and ensure you, your family and your friends experience a healthy Christmas.
1. Swap salted peanuts for raw nuts and seeds – almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts, cashews, sesame seeds… all are rich in protein, essential fats and minerals
2. Replace sugar based confectionary with dried fruits – apples, apricots, raisins, banana, currant and figs… not only dried fruits deliciously sweet but they last too
3. Make open-top mince pies – this will help you to use less pastry, instantly cutting your fat and calorie content in half. Alternatively you can opt to use filo pastry which is thinner and lower in calories compared to traditional pastry. Another clever trick is to add finely chopped apples to the mincemeat. This will make it fluffier and will lower the mince pies overall calorie content.
4. Don’t do pigs in blankets – instead grill/ bake the sausages in a wire rack to let the fat drain off
5. Choose tomato-based dips – avoid any cheese dips and instead offer your guests salsa dips or a low-fat yoghurt mixed with chopped herbs
You can also make the following swaps:
• Mini pastry tartlet (45 kcal) for a mini filo tartlet (30kcal)
• Breaded chicken bite (40 kcal) for a marinated chicken bite (29 kcal)
• Mini bhaji (64 kcal) for a mini satay stick (34 kcal)
• 30g of ready salted crisps (155 kcal) for 30g of tortilla chips (147 kcal)
• 30g of salted peanuts (184 kcal) for 30g of pretzels (114 kcal)
• 175ml of pre-mixed Buck’s fizz for 175ml for a wine spritzer (2:1 wine and soda water)
The trick to maintaining your weight loss is to sit down, examine what you would normally buy for a Christmas party and swap any high fat/high calorie foods for their healthier alternatives. It may feel like a gruelling process, but it will be worth it in the end.
Similarly don’t be afraid to introduce healthier foods to the table.
Cooking treats and puddings yourself for example can instantly reduce your calorie content, plus enable you to remain in control of exactly what you are eating.
Without anyone even realising it you can offer them a healthier version of their favourite puddings, and keep your Christmas fun, exciting and most importantly delicious.
So give these tricks a try and make your Christmas weight loss completely stress free.
A Author That Believes that your Dreams are only a Arms length away, once you dream it. it is done
Best Christmas Games That Make You Hate Christmas
Jan 18th
For a lot of gamers, Christmas is a time for catching up. You get a few days off work to finish the games you bought months ago and receive new ones from the people you pretend to love.Yet there are oddly few Christmas-themed videogames. For a holiday that made us so excited for a Nintendo 64, there are only a handful of games that actually feature the big guy. And of those, there has only been one good one: Christmas NiGHTS on the Sega Nooneboughtthis.
The rest are awful bargain-bin trash that your grandmother thinks look cute and you’ll enjoy because you “love those videogame tapes.” Here are the worst.
1. Elf Bowling (GBA/PS1 2002)
Elf Bowling deserves the number-one spot because there are eight editions of the same awful game. Eight. That’s two more games than the “Leprechaun” series had movies, and at least two of those movies were in “Tha Hood.”*
The original free Flash version of Elf Bowling was a cute distraction for secretaries with fireman calendars on their wall and mugs that read “The Future Mrs. Bon Jovi.” You rolled a ball at small people who squealed in horror. It’s sort of like Katamari Damacy for people whose dream had long since died.But then NStorm had to start packaging it up and start selling the same product eight times. Ten if you include the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions.
Since this is exactly the type of gift your Mom finds hilarious, you could feasibly receive it as a present 10 times. And since they’ve yet to even scratch the surface of places you can bowl down elves — where’s our Elf Bowling: in tha Hood? — expect to receive a new one each year.
2. The Sims 2: Holiday Edition (PC 2005)
Imagine someone took something you already owned… say, your George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine. And then they glue a Santa hat onto it and spray it with peppermint. They wrap it up and give it to you as a Christmas gift.
“Oh,” you say, “is this my George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine?”
“No! It’s the George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine Holiday Edition!”
“But it required my original George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine to work.”
“Yes.”
“Does it do anything different than the regular George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine?”
“It has a few holiday decorations!”
“So no.”
“No.”
“How much did this cost you to decorate?”
“About 29, 30 dollars.”
3. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (GBA 2006)
Remember those “The Santa Clause” movies? Boy those were fun. Remember how they were just about Santa Claus collecting milk and cookies? He’d run through his workshop grabbing milk and cookies? Or around a winter park grabbing milk and cookies? I’m pretty sure that’s all that happened in the movies.
And what’s awesome about the Game Boy Advance version of The Santa Claus 3 is it captures that feeling of the film perfectly! As you’re running around grabbing milk and cookies, you’re like, “Am I living the movie right now? Oh man, just 15 more milk and cookies until I can grab milk and cookies in another level! Disney, you’ve done it again!”
4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (DS 2007)
It’s kind of ironic that this Nintendo DS game is about stealing Christmas because that’s exactly what it does. Although the graphics do a decent job of looking like the developers once saw “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” twenty years ago, the gameplay hits that sweet spot on the Venn diagram of frustrating and impossible.
The first part of the game has you searching through bland house after boring house for gifts to steal. The second part is you turning off your DS. The third part is you taking How the Grinch Stole Christmas to GameStop and being told it’s only worth 99 cents. The fourth part is you shrugging. The fifth part is you signing the receipt.
Did I mention that enemies in the game are impossible to dodge and force you to play the same stage again and again? I don’t think I did because I hate it so much.
Dark Sparkle-Christmas make-up
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