Welcome to 2026! December has all been about Christmas - funny I never got into it, having grown up in Communist China, but now with a toddler and an Italian family (who are very much into it) I'm getting into it more year by year!
I'm really into this oolong tea with white peach pieces that we brought back from China - it's so floral and fruity
For our Christmas lunch at the cafeteria we had venison stew, stewed greens and the most incredible potato gems, as well as pate en croute
I've been on an orange theme this month - here is Claudia Roden's orange cake, I had a bit of batter leftover so made a mini one too for our afternoon tea - it really is the best "easy" cake to make!
Home candied orange peels that I dipped into chocolate and gifted friends, these are called orangettes in French - what a cute name!
Some of the peels I kept natural, and used these later
Such as in this sourdough stollen, my first attempt at making a stollen. This was more stodgy than I had imagined but people gobbled it up anyway (probably because of the yummy marzipan core)
The orange theme continues with mulled wine - also super easy to make as I found out. I think this might become a new Christmas tradition!
I continued my Christmas baking with gingerbread men, I've never actually made them before, and had a lot of fun drawing their expressions. I think next year I'll do a murder scene with red icing...
This matcha-misu was actually a reconversion from my failed bûche de noël. I tried to roll the matcha sponge and it cracked, so I decided to make it into a matcha-misu instead, with the cream spiked with candied orange peel and dark chocolate bark on top. It was a hit!
Christmas baking continued with chocolate and almond biscotti..
And ricciarelli - Italian gluten free biscuits with almond and cranberries
And finally this sourdough Christmas star with apricot jam and salted coconut... such a great combo!
Christmas is bûche de noël season in France - how cute are these creations?
We had one from Cyril Lignac our usual go-to fancy patisserie, flavours of clementine and almond, absolutely incredible!
We had another one from Eric Kayser our daily boulangerie where we go to buy bread often, this one was "tropical" with coconut and mango flavours. Also incredible!
I rarely buy things for myself but we were in la grande épicerie one day and I was drawn to this blue tea - who knew there was blue tea? I also misread the price label and almost had a stroke at the checkout, but hey this is my Christmas present! I haven't tried it yet, but I'm looking forward to drinking the most expensive tea of my life...
I worked on Christmas eve and the nurses put together this dinner spread - it was amazing! incredibly fleshy smoked salmon, foie gras, home made bricks (Algerian pastries), lots of charcuterie, crackers and dips, crudites, and McChicken nuggets!
And it couldn't be a party in France without a cheese platter! Kept cool by the 0 degree temps of Xmas eve...
The curveballs
Here is our little Christmas corner at home. The advent calendar was a present from S' sister a few years ago and this year we filled the pockets with our favourite memories of the year. The Christmas tree was made by the childcare, and the rest of our decorations by us (first time decorating ever!)
And here the Christmas windows are hugely popular. We live quite close to le bon marché and despite their excellent range, G decided that all he liked was the carrot window. We must have listened to that song 1000 times in December, as he just refused to leave every time we went to le lapin magique. We heard the song so much that I started playing it on the piano at home and G would dance. It's a sweet memory!
That's all folks, wishing you all a great beginning of 2026 and thanks to Sherry for hosting.
