Festive Foods Friday Five

Things are slow in the Presbyblogosphere this week, thanks to preparations for Christmas observances. So let's play today's RevGals Friday Five, brought to us by reverendmother. It's all about the Festive Foods of the season.

1. Favorite cookie/candy/baked good without which, it's just not Christmas.

One of each: Turtle Cookies are El Jefe's favorite cookie because his mother made them every Christmas. See picture on the left. I don't think it's Christmas without fudge. We always have orange rolls on Christmas Day at breakfast.

2. Do you do a fancy dinner on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, both, or neither? (Optional: with whom will you gather around the table this year?)

We used to have it on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day at my house because I have room for the whole clan. This year Portia and DK wanted to host it at their new home and decided to do it on Boxing Day (Dec. 26) because so many other family events are planned on the 24th and 25th. There will be about 20 family and friends around their festive board.

3. Evaluate one or more of the holiday beverage trifecta: hot chocolate, wassail, egg nog.

Hot chocolate is great with lots of whipped cream. Get behind me, Satan, with that Starbucks liquid chocolate thingy! No one really knows what wassail is. Spiced hot wine? Yuck. Eggnog without liquor is too rich and cloying. With liquor it's an accident (or incident!) waiting to happen.

4. Candy canes: do you like all the new-fangled flavors or are you a peppermint purist?

Last night a group of boys rang my doorbell asking for a candy cane for their scavenger hunt. I didn't have one in the house which reflects my attitude towards candy canes in general.

5. Have you ever actually had figgy pudding? And is it really so good that people will refuse to leave until they are served it?

I never had figgy pudding. But I bet if you made a good bread pudding with raisins and currants and topped it with bourbon sauce and whipped cream people would wait for it!