Perry P Perkins - Holiday Cooking : A Home Chefs Guide

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We are entering the age of the "Home Chef", a title that's available tonearly everyone, regardless of age, or financial standing.That's what this book is aboutbecause something amazing hasbegun to happen in the last two decades, something that has neverbefore happened in the history of cookinginstead of growingwider, the gap between the home cook and the professional chef hasactually begun to narrow, and continues to narrow exponentially witheach passing year.
The time when these specialized skills were limited to those whocould afford the cost and time required for culinary school are quicklypassing into history.
The time when the sole requirement to elevate your cooking skills tothis levelpassionis emerging.
It's an amazing time to become a Home Chefand if you have thatpassion, I'll show you how.

Filled with insider tips & tricks from the professional kitchen,hundreds of links and resources to (free) cooking education videos, and easy tofollowinstructionsfromaprofessionalcookinginstructor, The Home Chef is culinary school for the home cook.

Not like normal people are into Christmas, but more like our home,from Thanksgiving to New Years looked the Mall of AmericaChristmas Townstuffed into a two-bedroom apartment.She was really into it. Think: crazy cat lady, but with carols instead of calicos, and twinkle lights instead of tabbys (There were cats toodont even get me started)

Traditions were a big deal to Mom. From setting up the allimportant Lazy Susan with nuts and hard candies (the good stuffdidnt come out until Christmas eveits like she didnt trust meor something), to hanging everyones stocking in front of the sometimes faux - fireplace.

The same stack of records, the Christmas town on the coffee table,and of course the tree with the old-fashioned fat lights, and thickdrape of icicles that wed still be pulling out of the vacuumcleaner the next July.

Once everything was in place, the garlands were hung, and theliving-room was bathed in the soft red and green glow of the tree,then, it was Christmas.
Whether its reading The Night Before Christmas around the fireon Christmas Eve, lighting the Chanukah menorah, or leaving out cookies and milk for Santa, traditions have been a part of theholidays since, well, since there have been the holidays, and forgood reason.

Throughout history traditions have built a sense of stability andsafety. Regardless of whatever else is happening, we look forward to coming together in these familiar rituals. It tells us that ourtraditions, our families, are stronger and more important than theevents of the outside world, that they will live on, regardless ofwhat changes life brings. This understanding builds trust and security.

Ritual helps them to bond with one another, and with the rest of thefamily. Kids who feel connected with their family are less likely toseek out that connection, and the acceptance they desperately need,in other places.
In our increasingly digital world of Facebook friendships, thishuman connection is more important than ever.

Whether its Great-Great-Grandmas gravy boat, brought from theold country and saved for Christmas dinner, or re-telling the storyof Grandpa going out in a blizzard to get a tree, traditions are aphysical and spiritual link to our heritage; a way to pass along theoral traditions of US, who we are, and where we came from, asfamilies have been doing for tens of thousands of years.

How to Create and Maintain Holiday Traditions
Keep it simple. Having every member of the family over for a feastwas a lot easier when it was two families who lived on the samestreet (or building).

Give that family 3-4 generations to grow and youll find yourselfwith a logistical nightmare of flight schedules, hotel reservations,and conflicting ideologies.
If planning the perfect holiday ruins our holiday, were missingthe point.

Hanging ornaments together, and remembering the special meaningor memory of each. Trudging out, Grizwold-style, to find the family tree. Gathering in the kitchen to create that special stuffing ormashed potatoes that Grandma used to make.

Find a local neighborhood light show you can visit each year. Be sure to pack some cookies and a thermos of coca!
Pick your Family Christmas Movie and snuggle up with a big bowl of popcorn. We like White Christmas, Its a Wonderful Life, and The Santa Clause.
Call a local homeless shelter and find out what theyre running low on, then go shopping as a family, and delivery yourgift together. Fyia tradition of going out for pie afterwards will make this more appealing to the youngest members of the family.
Let each child pick out a new tree ornament, or decoration that has special meaning to that year in their lives. (This isa favorite of ours.)
At my house, growing up, it was cookies

I know this specifically because I still have the cookbook, and whilethe rest of the book is like new (Mom didnt do a lot of cooking),that page is folded, wrinkled, and spotted with forty-year-oldcookie-dough smudges.

Every year, a week or so before Christmas, Mom and I would turnthe kitchen into a bomb-zone of flour, eggs shells, and candy sprinkles. We dig out Grandmas old tin cookie cutters and cut out the same bells, trees, and stars that Mom grew up making.A simple powder-sugar frosting and some red and green foodcoloring, and wed bake up enough cookies to feed a small army (aka me) while Bing crooned on the record player (yes, Im thatold) and the house would fill with the lovely smellofChristmas.
Moms been gone for three decades, but shes still right there in thekitchen, every year, as weve helped out baby girl roll dough, andpress out shapes, and spread frosting on the cookiesand the walls,and sometimes on the dog
We hum along to the same old songs, tell the same old funny storiesas we hang the old ornaments, and reconnect with our generations,with