On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, the conclusion that we have had an amazingly simple, peaceful and joyful holiday! Lucky for us, the holiday continues until Epiphany, at which time, we will eat Gâteau des Rois and possibly a Gallette des Rois too. So let them eat cake!!! (Poor Marie Antoinette was not the famous princess who said: "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche". So whatever famous princess did, as described in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, we will toast to her!)
Maybe I will buy another houseplant too to mark the occasion! Let me know if you have any ideas for any great ones! I am sure that I could always use a few more...
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| Colored poinsettia at Al's Garden Center, Sherwood, OR. These are painted and not dyed. |
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| The Virgin Mary looking over our holiday poinsettias purchased during our trip to Al's Garden Center, Sherwood, OR. Our blue one is painted, not dyed. You simply use floral spray paint. |
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| Tillandsia cyanea for Christmas that matches our Advent candles. |
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| What our family calls Mom's Christmas Cactus. This was given to her during Christmas of 2002 when she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer for the second time. She has been cancer free ever since then and is strong and healthy just like the plant. |
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| Columnea "Lava Flow". This isn't exactly the best bloom from this little tike but I have a lot of hope for its continual growth. |
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| Christmas cactus that has not yet bloomed. |
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| The Thirteen Desserts. It is a great Catholic tradition from the French region of Provence. We had a lot of fun with it since there was a degree of flexibility. The nougat was too expensive so we replaced it with white/dark chocolate for good/evil. It was so funny and our guests loved having the tidbits around to nibble on all night. We sat around the table for seven hours and the food, wine and conversation was outstanding. |
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| Bûche de Nöel from our most amazing local French inspired bakery Pix Patisserie. If you are ever in Portland, OR, you MUST visit one of their 2 locations on the East Side. Note to all of you gardeners: rosemary, ladybug, and small bug crawling up the leg of the green pixie only made me more happy to be in love with gardening. |
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| A recent fortune from a Chinese restaurant fortune cookie that I loved. |
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| This is a REAL Christmas cactus. We had no idea where to put it, then I found a place, and it just begged for some Christmas cheer. |
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| Last but not least, this is our Christmas Eve Bouillabaisse. The rouille is key to its success as are the vegetables at its base. Chef Pietro had to adapt the seafood additions to our West Coast North American version, but it was by far the most amazing soup I have ever had in my life. |
Thank you for sharing some of your holdiay with me. Love the 13 dessert tradition. Your advent wreath is beautiful. Very lovely. Enjoy your continued celebration!
ReplyDeleteMerci! This holiday season has been—by far—the most simple and wonderful one we have ever had. In some significant way, foster parenting has had something to do with this, but I am not sure how. Take care!
ReplyDeleteI want to eat at your house, especially the bouillabaisse, and the take home the orange poinsettia as my gift (my husband wants the blue one). Happy New Year, Carolyn
ReplyDeleteHi Ficurinia, that white Christmas cactus with pink anthers and filament is very beautiful, i love it. The blue poinsettia seems like artificial, is it really blue or let to absorb some dye? Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteAndrea,
ReplyDeleteThe blue one is painted. On the underside of its leaves it is creme colored. I should have added that but I forgot. Thanks for asking!
My husband simply adores it so I let him pick it this year. I am pretty happy with the peach ones.
I've never seen those colors in poinsettias before! Interesting and I must keep my eye open next year. It always takes a new fashion time to make it to the wilds of Texas. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen colored poinsettias like that... I suppose the dye is in the soil, like those science experiments kids do with celery and food coloring? Very beautiful post, it's nice to read about your family's traditions.
ReplyDeleteThe colour of the poinsettias was a little worrying - are they dyed? Your desserts look lovely as does the christmas cactus and I am glad your mother is well. Happy Christmas
ReplyDeleteThe poinsettias are spray painted by florists at Al's Garden Center. I have no idea how easy the product is to find, but it is usually found at craft stores. My mom uses it. Though the color is a bit shocking, it certainly adds a little bit of flair. (They are already showing their true colors as they grow. Now we can see the creme as the new parts grow in. It still looks great.)
ReplyDeleteGlad you have enjoyed the festivities. We spent our time in Bordeaux with my french wife's family...looking forward to the 'kings cake'...happy new year to you all!
ReplyDeleteQuite the felicitous fortune cookie!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the images of your holiday. I truly hope you fortune cookie comes true for you.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blooms and fabulous food! - The perfect combination for a wondrous holiday! Wishing you a blessed new gardening year! P x
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