Christmas Loot For the House

 I know it's a bit after Christmas, but I wanted to do a post about the thoughtful gifts friends and family had given that really add a lot to our home. These are just some of the lovely things we received that help make things cozy around here.

Alex's family gave us a gorgeous red Le Creuset (!!!) kettle. My mother gave us a beautiful glass kettle for my birthday last year, but I didn't know that you needed a special wire thing to use it on an electric stove. It exploded :-(

The new kettle's gotten a lot of use lately. For a year, we've been boiling water in a saucepan (our only one) and spilling it everywhere as we try to make tea. This is an upgrade.

 Mom gave us a wonderful vegetarian cookbook, with tons of exciting recipes you can cook with winter produce. Many of them come from Russian or Georgia, where winter happens all year round. The recipes are novel. I can't wait to try some.

I read food writing like other people read novels, so I'm already most of the way through.

My aunt sent another gorgeous cookbook, written by an exciting Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi (of the London restaurant.) I've already bookmarked tons of possibilities. Again, this book is great because it's a kind of cooking I'm unfamiliar with, so it will help change up our routine. We made the spicy pepper encrusted tofu yesterday (or close to it - I'm compulsive about NOT following recipes.) Delicious. I've felt in a food rut lately, so this is an excuse to try new things.

 Homemade presents are often my favorite. My younger sister took antique plates from my Nana's basement and created a tiered tea cake tray. How cute is it? I already used it for scones (the mix came from my mother) last weekend.

The other piece in the picture came from my Aunt. I assume it's meant to be used as a hot plate, but it's too pretty to get gunky food over! I might just display it, and hide it when the hot stuff comes out.

Last, but certainly not least, my older sister gave me some kitchen implements that were made in America! My whisk rusted a while back, and my laddle was inherited from my father's 1970s bachelor pad. After 30+ years of service, it too died earlier this year. Now I'm outfitted for all kinds of cooking. The laddle is huge, which is funny when I'm serving gravy, but great when I'm canning tomato sauce or the like.

Let's hear it for thoughtful family and friends!