Our theme for this year’s Christmas Eve feast was an oldie but a goodie: Mexican! We love Mexican food in my family, and this year’s meal certainly didn’t disappoint despite us being thrown off our game a little (a nine month old baby and a whole lotta snow will do that to you.) I actually missed out on some of the cooking (gasp) thanks to the snowpocalypse. Robert didn’t want to drive on the icy roads so we ended up stuffing our gifts into our backpacks and hiking through the snow to catch a bus to my parents’ house. Considering how slippery and bumpy our bus ride was, I think Robert made the right call even if it did mean me showing up late for cooking duty. It definitely added a little bit of adventure to our Christmas Eve! Here is our dinner menu:

Chips with Guacamole and Homemade Salsa
Spicy Carrot and Jalapeño Pickles
Pollo en Mole
Red Chili Pork Tamales
Sweet Potato Tamales
Hominy and Squash Stew
Anasazi Beans
Mexican Rice
Shrimp, Tomato and Olive Cocktail
Green Salad

The two highlights of the meal were the tamales (duh) and the pollo en mole (my sister spent several days making the mole from scratch!) The tamales actually gave us a bit of a scare. This was our first time using fresh masa rather than dried masa, and the fresh masa resulted in a much thinner dough than we were used to. It was almost too watery to work with. Fortunately, the tamales firmed up perfectly during cooking, and I think they were tastier than the tamales we have made in the past (fresh masa must be the key!) Although there weren’t really any lowlights, my spicy carrots and jalapeños were deemed too spicy for guests and were therefore relegated to the kitchen where only the bravest souls (like me) would have to venture in to taste them. For drinks, we served several varieties of Malbec and Cranberry and Vanilla Bean Mimosas which have nothing to do with Mexican food but were quite festive nonetheless. Merry Christmas everyone !

We’ve been getting so much snow here in Seattle this week, and I’m completely loving it! Yesterday’s snowstorm thwarted our plans for dressing up and going out for our annual holiday cocktail – hiking boots, rather than high-heeled boots, were the order of the day around here. The snow does more than any winter cocktail ever could to put me in the holiday spirit so we ended up having a really special day anyway despite our holiday date being canceled. We also unintentionally wound up visiting three restaurants that I had never been to before making the day that much more memorable.

We left the house early yesterday morning and carefully navigated down the icy sidewalks to our first stop: Kaladi Brothers Coffee. Kaladi Brothers began as an espresso cart in Anchorage, Alaska; they now have twelve locations in Alaska and one in Seattle. Robert goes to Kaladi Brothers nearly every day since it is around the corner from his work, but this was my first time. The people working there are really friendly and the space is funky and comfortable (and warm!) Their coffee is delicious and, considering that it has felt like Alaska in Seattle all week, it seemed fitting to be frequenting an Alaska-born coffee shop. An interesting side note: Kaladi Brothers coffee is also used to make Cha Dao Black Tea & Coffee Drink which you can find in grocery stores all around Seattle (and it happens to be one of Robert’s favorite beverages.) After a hot cappuccino and a hearty slice of banana bread, we slip-slided our way downtown to finish up the last of our holiday shopping.

On the way home from shopping, we decided to swing by Oddfellows Cafe, the brand new restaurant from Linda Derschang (of Linda’s Tavern and Smith fame) and Erika Burke (of Volunteer Park Cafe.) It is a beautiful space; Linda somehow always manages to make her restaurants look like they have been around forever. This big, light, airy cafeteria will be serving up simple fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Not surprisingly, the menu has a lot in common with the menus at both Smith and Volunteer Park Cafe (lots of meaty comfort foods.) Things were a little hectic and disorganized while we were there but, considering that they just opened for business this week – the snowiest week in years – we were more than willing to be patient. I had a green salad and butternut squash soup which came with a hefty chunk of seeded baguette. Robert had the grilled BLT with avocado. Both were quite tasty. Based on what I’ve seen so far, it looks like Oddfellows will be a great addition to the neighborhood.

After stopping at home just long enough for me to make a batch of Mexican Wedding Cakes and for the next big blizzard to start up, we decided to head out for dinner. Hopvine Pub was slammed so we hiked across the street to check out Olympia Pizza & Pasta instead. Olympia is the sort of pizza place every neighborhood should have with old fashioned vinyl booths and a heavy dose of cheese. It’s also one of those places that I have walked by a millions times but, for whatever reason, never really noticed before. Its old school decor and menu full of comforting Italian-American classics made Olympia the perfect cozy retreat from the snow. Plus, we scored the best table in the house: window seat right next to the Christmas tree! I ordered a glass of sangiovese and the baked cheese manicotti which arrived at my table bubbling away. I lingered over my meal in a state of bliss, taking in all the little sentimental moments happening around me: a car driving by with a snow-dusted Christmas tree on top, a man scurrying home with the bare essentials (TP and a six pack of Jubelale,) a baby with a giant smile on its face upon seeing its very first decorated Christmas tree. It was like being in my very own holiday TV special. We wandered home in the snow full and happy – a perfect end to a perfect winter day!

Looking for a festive bread to make during this holiday season? Allow me to suggest this Red Wine Loaf with Pine Nuts and Figs. This bread is originally from Dan Lepard’s The Handmade Loaf, but I made the adapted version on Wild Yeast (a great resource for anyone interested in learning how to bake delicious bread; the recipes are all accompanied by gorgeous photos and very detailed directions.) The flavor base for this special and rather unusual bread is formed by dried figs and pine nuts that have been soaked overnight in red wine (how can you possibly go wrong with that combination of flavors?) Despite the fact that it calls for both sourdough starter and instant yeast, this bread doesn’t rise much. It is a dense bread, but the denseness is well matched by the rich, sweet flavor of the figs. I love the wacky cross-hatch pattern on top! Red Wine Loaf with Pine Nuts and Figs is delicious toasted and slathered with cream cheese or goat cheese. We’ve been having it that way for dessert all week long with the last of our farmer’s market apples. A true winter treat!

Miang kum is a popular Thai dish consisting of coconut, peanuts, ginger, lime, chilies, shallots, and dried shrimp topped off with a sweet sauce and wrapped up in a fresh betel leaf. The entire bundle is eaten in one bite creating an amazing burst of flavor in the mouth! When Robert and I were in Thailand last March, we discovered miang kum candy. Like the dish it is based on, this miang kum candy was sweet, salty, spicy, crunchy and totally addictive. We bought all of the packages we could find to take home with us even though I fully expected that I would be able to find it at Uwajimaya. Unfortunately, I was wrong! I haven’t been able to find my beloved miang kum candy anywhere!

Since I can’t find miang kum candy in Seattle, I decided to experiment with making my own. I know next to nothing about making candy so I wasn’t really sure where to begin. A search for coconut candy on the internet resulted in many recipes for soft, red and green dyed coconut squares – not even close to what I was looking for. Then I remembered those light and crispy sesame candies that you sometimes find in Mexican and Asian stores. That was exactly the type of candy base I needed. I quickly found a sesame candy recipe that couldn’t be simpler: heat brown sugar and honey in a pot, add sesame seeds (or, in my case, miang kum ingredients) and then spread out on parchment to cool. For the most part, I used fresh ingredients just as you would use for real miang kum: fresh ginger, fresh lime zest, etc. My only concessions were to replace fresh Thai bird chilies with cayenne pepper and to use caramelized shallots instead of raw shallots (nobody wants raw shallots in their candy!)

I was doubtful that these would turn out on my first try, but the flavor ended up being spot on! My candies tasted even more like real miang kum than the candy we had in Thailand (probably a result of my using fresh ingredients.) The only downside is that they never hardened up as I expected they would. I wanted something crispy, but these were more like miang kum “chews.” Maybe the fresh ingredients that I used added just enough moisture to the mix to prevent it from hardening fully. Still, they tasted great and I found myself snacking on more than I probably should. Robert went crazy for them and took the leftovers to work to share. If you are craving a mixture of spicy and sweet, take a walk on the wild side with this exotic and unique treat.

Click here for my Miang Kum Candy recipe >>