Foodie Christmas

 

Christmas 2021 seemed to be mostly about food – a good place to turn when socializing had to be kept to the minimum. It started last fall, when Lee Valley’s Christmas Gift Catalogue featured an elaborately decorated “house,” surrounded by similarly decorated mini-houses, courtesy of two incredibly detailed cake pans.

The cover of the Lee Valley catalogue made me just want to bake these cakes myself. 

A whole village of little cake houses to bake and decorate! If I was six, a dream come true. Luckily, I have a six-year-old in my life with a creative bent, and I could indulge us both. On Christmas Day, my grandniece Emi, plus her mom Aya, dad Etienne and little sister Mia became the proud owners of two elaborate Christmas bundt pans plus a bag of decorating accoutrements.  

The pans make a nice little village themselves. Decorated with some greenery and lights, they'd make a good table centrepiece. Photo by John Denniston.

I had to try out one of the pans myself to see how it worked. After a few scary moments, the cake popped out virtually intact, with only a crack in the chimney. I'm sure Aya will do better. Photo by John Denniston.

The end result: Emi and the decorated cake house with a very jolly jellybean roof!

Emi and Mia and the finished cake. 

Whether they’ll be as intrigued by cakes in the shape of cute little houses as I am, I don’t know, but food was certainly on all our minds this year. Etienne and Aya sent us home with a bag full  of their delicious home cooking, as well as a cornucopia of chocolates and desserts from the unmatchable Beta 5 bakery. We’ll all be plumper in the New Year.

These Beta 5 chocolates look -- and taste -- like jewels. Photo by John Denniston.

More of our chocolate gifts; we haven't launched into this yet. Photo by John Denniston.

Ah yes, our "lump of coal," which appears to be a very large, very dark ball of excellent chocolate. To be savoured in the next while. Photo by John Denniston. 

Here's where we really had fun. "Shall we split one before dinner?" we asked when we got home from Etienne and Aya's on Christmas Day. Photo by John Denniston. 

"That was excellent. How about the white one? Shall we indulge?" Photo by John Denniston.

"Well, this looks kind of lonely. We've gone this far. Might as well polish it off." Photo by John Denniston.

"I don't think we're going to need dinner now!" Photo by John Denniston.