December is a busy time in my household — cooking and baking for my own holiday party, for potlucks and for our family’s Christmas dinner. This month, I’ve made four types of cookies,two Christmas wreath braided yeast breads, a double recipe of Buche de Noel with meringue mushrooms, pork pate with red onion confit, gravlax (cured salmon), two kinds of chutney to serve with Kerrygold cheeses, smoked trout spread, homemade pita chips with artichoke dip…and more.

Tonight, I’m preparing roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, followed in a few days by dainty sandwiches and sweets for a post-Christmas tea party I’m hosting for my mother and her friends. Toward the end of the week, it will be time to start prepping for the New Year, with several kinds of sushi and traditional Japanese New Year food.

I could skip all the stress by eliminating these get-togethers, hiring a caterer or buying foods already prepared. But for me, the fun and satisfaction comes from the doing. Getting out the KitchenAid and the Cuisinart is as much a part of my holiday traditions as is decorating the tree and hanging the stockings. [more…]

A little over a week ago, I facilitated a retreat in my home for the current and past board of directors of the San Francisco Professional Food Society. There were 17 people who were articulate, accomplished and just fun to be around.

The new SFPFS president, Joyce Jue, wanted to build exercises that would enable board members to get to know each other better, on the wise premise that people who have personal relationships with each other tend to work better as a team, are more likely to honor their commitments and will support each other more enthusiastically.

Through some ice breaker games, we learned fascinating stories about people’s passions, their careers and their families. And at the end of the day, everyone seemed to have walked away feeling more closely bonded to the group. [more…]

This weekend, we decorated our Christmas tree. Twice.

Four of us put in about 2.5 hours each, for a total of ten people hours, before the tree began to list dangerously. On the tree were handblown German ornaments from Gumps, Waterford balls I had bought in Ireland this fall, and a large collection of favorites spanning more than 30 years. There were even a few priceless World War II ornaments handed down from my mom. Not a good situation.

There was nothing to do but to remove all the ornaments and lights and start over at 10:30 that night. All because of some bad advice given at the plant store where we had purchased the tree. [more…]