Have Some Decorum: Christmas

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Christmas in Provence: La Mirande Hotel

Christmas in Provence. Miraculously, so far so good.

Last weekend, my husband and I decided to take Gracie to the beautiful hotel, La Mirande, in Avignon for a hot chocolate after Christmas shopping and boy, it did not disappoint!

This little hotel is definitely in my top 10 favorite hotels in France. Situated on a narrow little cobblestone street with a view of the Palais de Pape, La Mirande left me gobsmacked.

Formerly a private mansion, as I sat in the sitting room of the hotel with its hand painted wallpaper, all I could think was, “How/who/what do I have to do to get a place like this?” Just kidding, no I’m not.

The hotel was having a Christmas luncheon that was f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s.! Absolutely fabulous. Each room had a buffet with specialty Provençal fare… And plenty of hot spiced wine.

I honestly don’t think I could justly describe the perfection of this hotel so I’m going to let the pictures do the talking…

Happy, joyful and perky little Grace.

AND THERE IS A COOKING SCHOOL ALSO!!!!!

Voila! La Mirande Hotel!

La Mirande Hotel
4 Place de L'Amirande
84000 Avignon, France
+33(0)490142020
www.la-mirande.fr

Don’t mind if I do, Gramercy Park...

In Manhattan, New York there is a very special park called Gramercy Park. This park is so special that it's private and can be only accessed by those #LuckyDucks who live on Gramercy Park. And they get a key. The golden key to Gramercy Park. Be jealous, be very jealous.

But, guess what? As part of an old New York charitable holiday tradition, the gates to Gramercy Park are open to us losers on Christmas Eve! The Gramercy Park church, Parish of Calvary St.George, will also be having carolers starting at 6 PM in the park. This is absolutely not to be missed!

You may be wondering why I am so excited about this. Well, it’s hard to even write this without crying, but Gramercy Park happens to be the last place I was before, minutes before, I was diagnosed with ALS. I thought that I would let you guys in on a chapter of my book about it. I should have my book finished by March but I thought you guys would like a preview of the Gramercy Park chapter.

Here it is…

Gramercy Park

Gramercy Park on the lower East side of Manhattan has always held a special place in my heart. The name alone just sounds cool. Then there is the Gramercy Park Hotel designed in part by one of my favorite artists, Julian Schnabel, with its amazing color scheme of rosy reds, Fire King green and sapphire blues. Then there is the architecture of the brownstones around the park. A little village within a big city. And then there is the garden. The secret private garden to which only a lucky few hold the keys.

I always feel like a little part of me is still in Gramercy Park. Like a little bit of me is still wandering around the park… The part of me that doesn’t have ALS.

As I walked out of the offices of 1^stdibs on my lunch break casually walking to the neurologist office for what I thought would be a quick appointment, I never imagined that this would be my last carefree walk. Physically it was not a carefree walk because I had a strange limp and I was worried that every crack in the sidewalk would cause me to fall flat on my face. Mentally, all I was thinking about was the beautiful park.

I walked past the church at the corner of the park and I remember saying to myself, “On my way back from the neurologist appointment, I need to stop at the church and check out their little thrift shop.” I was thinking that I needed to come back to the Gramercy Park Hotel for cocktails later that week with my girlfriends. I was thinking, “God, I wish I could afford one of these brownstones around the park.” My mind floated around thinking how beautiful and lush the little garden was and if the residents who held the coveted key to the garden could grow tomatoes in there.

What I was thinking about was just… Nothing. Now all I think about is… Everything. That five-minute walk in Gramercy Park was the last trace of who I used to be. That girl was like you… She had worries but they were just regular worries. Can I pay my rent this month? Is Gracie getting good grades in school? Does David love me more than his ex-wife? Why are my friends such bitches? Will I ever forgive my father? You know, regular worries. My days were normal...wake up, deal, go to bed. I walked around Gramercy Park that day with my head in the clouds and what I would give to go back to that day.

Sometimes I close my eyes and try to remember that moment in Gramercy Park before I walked into the doctor’s office. I can see it, feel it, smell it and almost taste it. I want to remind myself of who I was before and what it felt like to be carefree. I haven’t been carefree since that day. I want to cherish those few moments and have them emblazoned in my soul so I don’t ever forget what it was like… Before.

Sometimes I beg God to just let me have those few moments of liberty back. Let me just walk around the park again without knowing my fate. Let me be ignorant, let me be blissful, let me be unafraid. If I could just have back a few moments… I would run around that park smelling every flower letting myself get pricked by a rose thorn. I would pop into the hotel and grab a cappuccino. I would peer into the bottom windows of the brownstones. I would skip over the cracks of the sidewalk. I would walk down the tiny broken steps of the church thrift store and pick things up and put them down at my leisure. Hell, I might even stretch out my arms, lift my head to the clouds, start spinning around in circles and sing a little song. At the end of my allotted time, I imagine I would try to renege on my deal with God and I would ask for more time. Don’t make me go forward to my life with ALS. Let me just stay in this park without ALS. Just give me another few minutes… This time I will cherish it, I promise.

So I encourage all of you to get over to Gramercy Park on Christmas Eve...

Holiday Traditions: Christmas Wontons

It is so nice to hear about all of your holiday traditions… traditional (Prime Rib) and nontraditional (Kentucky Fried Chicken)! So let’s keep this holiday train going…

Every year, my parents have a holiday cocktail party. Otherwise known as, “The day my mother shows off her Christmas decorations to nonfamily members.” The holiday cocktail party is the culmination of everything that embodies my mother… Decorating, Christmas and food… And a bit of screaming. Traditionally, there is always at least one person in my family either screaming, pouting, firing off a rude email, having a pity party or crying. Without fail. Does this happen in your family? There’s plenty of laughing, hugging, and loving but there’s always a side platter of hysteria. You would think were Italian with all of the drama, but we’re not, we are just overly emotional Irish folk.

However, we set all of this aside when “company” arrives like any other dysfunctional family. My parent’s holiday parties are a blast. Plenty of interesting guests, cocktails, music, appetizers and holiday cheer. It wouldn’t be a holiday party at our house if there wasn’t one thing… My mother’s appetizers! In my Christmas book, A Very Chic Christmas, there is a compilation of her best party appetizers but there is one particular appetizer that is everyone’s favorite… Her Christmas wontons!

Continuing our holiday tradition sharing, I thought I would share the Christmas Wonton Recipe with all of you here on the blog! (For the rest of her recipes, you can purchase, A Very Chic Christmas, HERE.)

Anne's Famous Wontons with Apricot Dipping Sauce

My mother, Anne, says, “This is my original recipe. I have made it so many times and it is a little different each time...which is just fine.

You can change this if you want because I do most of the time. But it always turns out great. Here it goes...

I just make as many as I have sausages.”

Ingredients:

Wonton skins in package

Italian Sausage in package as links. 2 packages. I use the hot and they are great!

Large package of cream cheese

Green onions 2 to 3 bunches

Sesame Seed Oil

Chili Garlic Sauce this is in the Asian section and it is red with a green lid.

Peanut Oil

Remove the thin skin/casing from the sausage and put the sausage in a skillet on a med high heat. You do not need any oil because the sausage has enough. I like to take a spoon and cut up the sausages into small pieces.

While this is cooking cut up the green onions. Put in a large bowl.

The cream cheese is for binding this all together. Use as much as you like but remember that you want the sausage to be the main flavor you taste and not the cream cheese.

Add the cooked sausage to the green onions in the bowl. Now while the sausage is hot add the cream cheese. Start out with half of the package and see how it goes. Then add more if needed. Then add some sesame seed oil. Just a little bit goes a long way. Like a 1/2 teaspoon. Now add the chili garlic sauce. I just like a little...like 1 teaspoon and go from there. Remember that the Italian Hot sausage has a lot of heat....so go easy with the Chili Garlic Sauce.

Taste this and see how you like it...it needs to taste good at this point.

Now get the wonton skins and get a little bowl of water.

Place one wonton skin on some parchment paper. Put a spoonful of the mixture in the middle of the wonton skin. Now take a little pastry brush or I just use my finger and put some water around all of the edges of the wonton skin. This will seal it. Now pull the 4 edges up and press them together. You want this to look like a little pouch. You can twist the top if you like...Make it look nice. Repeat.

Now in a deep sauce pan or a skillet....Heat the oil. I like to use peanut oil because it can get the hottest. Have enough to cover all of the wonton. Turn it up to high and when it is hot...drop the little wontons into the hot oil. I like to do just a few at a time because they go pretty fast. Take out and put on paper towel as soon as they become light brown...

Dipping Sauce:

4 tablespoons peach preserves

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic chili sauce

1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Mix together and serve with Wontons.

Make as many as you have time for. It is best to do them just before your company comes. (Editor’s note: mother still refers to guests as “company.”) The wontons are not really good cold nor are they very good reheated. You can assemble them ahead and cover with a slightly slightly slightly damp tea towel so that they do not dry out and then fry them as the guests are arriving.

Voilà! Christmas wontons!

What is my Christmas book, A Very Chic Christmas, all about? It’s about how to have a beautiful Christmas. Simple as that.… By following a few rules. My sister likes to refer to it as, “A judgmental Christmas book with humor.” It’s all about how to decorate for Christmas, Christmas guidelines, my Christmas stories and of course, our family holiday recipes. There are over 50 recipes including menus for a Christmas Cocktail Party (Lemon spiced shrimp with horsey dipping sauce), Christmas Morning Breakfast (Biscuits with Sorghum), Casual Christmas Eve Dinner (chicken pot pie), Fancy Christmas Eve Dinner (Beef Wellington), Christmas Dinner (Crown roast with crispy roasted potatoes with goose fat and herbs), and New Year’s Eve Cocktail Party (Crispy crab stuffed mushrooms and mini roast beef sandwiches with onion confit and horseradish sauce). And desserts and cocktails!

To have a softback book delivered to your door, purchase HERE.

To have an e-book delivered to your device instantly, purchase HERE.

*Christmas in Provence is starting off nicely. We found a giant Christmas tree and will start decorating today… Stay tuned for details in the next blog.

Holiday Traditions: Fondue, Baby!

Bonjour! Welcome to the holiday season!

I thought it would be fun to spend the next few weeks blogging about holiday traditions. Yours and mine.

Today it’s all about fondue. My family never made fondue because my mother hates cheese, therefore fondue was obsolete at our house. However, when I met my French husband nine years ago, fondue became a big part of my holiday tradition. My husband, David, also known as Bunny, is the master of fondue and we always have fondue during the cold holiday months. I thought it would be fun to share his recipe with all of you! And then, I thought I would share a few other fondue variations… The Barefoot Contessa’s take on fondue, a smoky cheese fondue with garlicky croissants and a twist on the classic chocolate fondue.

Let me tell you something…Bunny can cook. He learned everything from his mother who is a marvelous cook. I have been trying to convince David’s mother for years to let me help her write a cookbook. She has refused unfortunately (probably because she hates me) and will take her recipes to the grave. However, David’s fondue recipe is at least based on his mother’s original recipe… but David took it to a whole new level. Check it out:

This is David and his little boy, David.

Bunny and Bunny Jr.

Bunny’s Fondue

Let’s start with the cheese. I think that the secret to David’s fondue is the three types of cheeses he uses. Equal parts Beaufort, Comte and Gruyere cheese. Next up, David uses a dry sparkling white wine, a Brut Sec. David gets his dry sparkling white wine, Vin d’Ayse, from a little village in the French Alps, his mother’s hometown of Bonneville, but you can use any good dry sparkling white wine. His next little secret is to throw in two girolles clou mushrooms. Cube a delicious loaf of crusty French baguette and put into a couple of different baskets to pass.

Okay, those are the ingredients, now let’s talk about how to make it. Cut up all the cheeses into equal rectangular shaped thin slices and put in a nonstick pot, add enough sparkling white wine to cover the cheese, and start cooking… Medium to high heat for 10 minutes. Do not boil the cheese! A big non, non! Just get the cheese to a liquid consistency. Lower heat to medium and continue cooking for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then, throw in the two mushrooms for a pop of earthy flavor. Add salt and pepper. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Pour all of this into your fondue pot and enjoy!

Now, here’s the special part. At the end of the fondue when you are thoroughly stuffed like a French pig and when you have about half an inch left of cheese left in your fondue pot, take an egg and crack it into the fondue pot. Use your fondue fork with a piece of the crusty baguette on it and start stirring the egg and cheese mixture, cooking the egg. At our house, this is everyone’s favorite part because it makes a little cheesy egg omelette on your piece of baguette. Divine!

Okay, now let’s take a look at some other fondue variations:

The Barefoot Contessa's Baked Fontina Fondue-ish

Click HERE for recipe.

Smoked 3 Cheese Fondue with Toasted Garlic Buttered Croissants

Click HERE for recipe.

Caramel Fondue

Click HERE for recipe.

What? You don’t have a fondue pot? Have no fear, I’m here to help. David’s favorite fondue pot is from a company called Emile Henry. Click HERE. My favorite fondue pot is from a company called Mauviel, it’s copper and it’s gorgeous. Click HERE.

What are some of your cooking holiday traditions? Leave your thoughts in the comment section! Stephen, we are waiting…

A toute!

Merry Almost Christmas.

ASPEN

It’s almost here! Just another day! This is my second Christmas in Paris. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand… Paris for Christmas is beautiful, subtle, elegant, refined and demure. I appreciate all of this. The decorations warm your heart and make you feel like you are living in a previous era. In Paris, no one runs around like a crazy person last-minute gift buying. Everyone is walking calmly with a bag or two in their hands… Most likely on their way to a café for a vin chaud. There is definitely a quality versus quantity school of thought here. One black high-quality cashmere sweater from Eric Bompard versus three cotton sweaters from The Gap. One bottle of Le Labo Rose perfume versus a giant basket of body products from Bed Bath & Beyond. A succulent Christmas goose versus a giant Honeybaked Ham. An afternoon Christmas walk through the Jardin des Tuileries versus a Christmas afternoon movie theater outing to see the latest blockbuster… Most likely violent. There is a calmness to Christmas in Paris and I like that… Sort of.

In full disclosure, I have to admit, I miss Christmas in America. There, I said it. I do. I miss all of it. I miss people getting trampled at Walmart on Black Friday. I miss maxing out credit cards. I miss a two hour line to sit on Santa’s lap. I miss those creepy Salvation Army Christmas volunteers dancing for donations in front of Bloomingdale’s New York. I miss the New York City Christmas windows. I miss those Christmas freaks who put Christmas wreaths on the front of their cars. I miss colored lights. I miss corny Christmas music. I miss Christmas at my mom’s house with the entire family. I miss a Christmas Beef Wellington with mashed potatoes. I miss the opulence, the decadence, the hustle and bustle, the Christmas rage, snow days at school, Gracie’s Christmas pageants, regular American Christmas music at church like O Come All Ye Faithful and Silent Night, the old-school snowman in your front yard, the good cheer, the Nesbitt’s over-the-top Christmas party, Hickory Farm salami and cheese baskets, Barnes & Noble Christmas books, American Christmas movies, American wrapping paper and especially American Christmas trees.

If I got my wish for Christmas my dream would be…to go back to Aspen for Christmas. This is where my best memories are. I have been going there since the 70s. I even lived there full-time when Gracie was little. There is nothing like Christmas in Aspen. Snow, skiing, cashmere sweaters, ski lodge sipping hot toddies, afternoon après-ski at Little Nell’s, early dinner at Mezzaluna, late sushi dinner at Matsuhisa, drinks and American hamburgers at the Jerome, shopping at Amen Wardy, hot chocolate at the cart, ogling at the Ralph Lauren windows, breakfast muffins at the Paradise bakery, stocking stuffers at the pharmacy. Driving down Valley in an old school Wagoneer to Walmart, salami sandwiches at the Butcher’s Block, my brother, sister and I skiing all day at Buttermilk and having funnel cakes in the afternoon. And who could forget Boogies! Live bears walking in the streets of Aspen. Skiing old-school Ajax, watching Seal perform at the Belly Up, sledding, horse drawn carriage rides, midnight hot tub runs, dancing until dawn at the Caribou club with Susan, Yolanda, Taren, Ursula, Diandra, Todd and Paige. Oh what fun we had! The good news is that Gracie has all of the same memories of Aspen as I do (except maybe all the bars and dancing) and for that I am grateful. The bad news is that David has never been to Aspen so he doesn’t “get it”, not that he would anyway. Maybe that will be my goal for next year… Get back to Aspen.

So, for today’s blog I thought I would go down memory lane…through pictures. I was going to add all of these Christmas photos in my Christmas book but Gracie said that no one wants to see our family photos. So, if other people’s family photos bore you… Skip the rest of this blog. Here we go…