Panettone

What is panettone? It is an Italian cake, that my family eats around Christmas time. It has different fruits in it like raisins and candied fruits. Now, it is nothing like fruit cake. It is light and fluffy and just downright yummy! Our producer of panettone is Costco! It is called Gran panettone, when we bring home the box all of us are thinking the same thing “that is not going to last long in this house” although the pastry comes very big…. it still does not last long. I love it, last year my mom made eggnog panettone bread pudding! It was so good! here is the recipe. I would love my  viewers to try this and give me your reports! It looks so yummy, you can’t tell but I did take a bite out of it.

Christmas around the world

Different places celebrate different ways. For example America celebrates Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ! Also there are fun traditions such as eggnog, Santa Claus, hanging stockings, and putting up a tree.

However in Italy things are much different,the week before Christmas is spent with children going form house to house singing carols and saying Christmas poem. But good old saint Nick is not the one to be dropping down the chimney. It is an kind, ugly, old witch named Befana. She rides around on a broomstick and fills the children’s stockings (or shoes) with gifts. It is said that when Jesus was born Befana was told by the wise men that the savoir had been born, she tried to follow the star but lost her way. Now she leaves gifts at every house in case the babe Jesus is there.  Not exactly how we Americans celebrate it.

In Holland things are also celebrated very differently, Santa Claus or as they call him Sinterklaas only has one helper! (Busy guy!) His helper is called Black Peter. Sinterklaas lives in Spain and is watching all the children for a behavior report. He delivers the presents early, in November so on Christmas day there are no presents just church, carols, and family. But when he does deliver them he and Black Peter drive around in a boat. Very different from our Santa.

 

We all celebrate differently but whether you are waiting all night for a saint or a witch to come fill your stocking. Don’t let all the silly fun things we do this Christmas season distract us from the true meaning of Christmas. A little baby came to us to save us from death.

 

Merry

Christmas, Coco

Italy

It is in Europe and is shaped like a boot, do you know what I am talking about, Italy! Mama Mia, so many great things come from Italy, Pizza, Mario, and shoes! The last poll for Italy’s population was 58,103,033 people. The Italian flag looks like this (Down Below)  green, white, and red, perfect for Christmas. Did you know that the thermometer was invented in Italy. Also it is the fourth most visited country in the world in addition to that they have the most hotel rooms than any other place in Europe .Ice cream cones come from Italy, so many useful things in a boot shaped country, I wish some day to go and see Rome.

Cheese

Now leave it up to Coco to write about cheese, if you do not know me cheese is my favorite, food, word, and idea Cheddar would have to be my ultimate favorite though, but in the U.S.A.  mozzarella is the most popular cheese, now think how much pizza have you had in your life? I love mozzarella on pasta and garlic bread, but as I said before Cheddar holds a very special place in my heart.

Mozzarella comes from Italy and oddly enough is made from buffalo milk. Although in Italy the most popular cheese is Parmesan. I also love love love parmesan on my pizza and my meatballs. I absolutely love CHEESE!

Riley’s Farms Apple pie

Coco has ventured again to visit some relatives, in Oak Glen, I love going to Oak Glen and seeing all the little shops and markets. One of my favorite places to go is Riley’s Farm, they have a petting zoo and you can pick your own fruit, also the delicious mouth watering Apple Pie . It  is 100% homemade and so tasty, it goes perfectly with a glass of their fresh pressed cider. Riley’s Farm is a great place to go if you are ever in the area, you can keep it cheap by just going for a picnic, or you can get some of their yummy honey sticks ( I got the root- beer flavored one, Yum!) or a granny smith caramel apple. Want to see this yummy pie? Click here then click on bakery.

Dreams ZZZ

Humans have control over so many things, what they eat that day, what shows they watch but one thing they don’t have control over is their dreams. John wrote revelation because of a dream form God, but some dreams are not all happy and fun with rainbows and unicorns. Last night I experienced this, my dream was far from pleasant, but I found that if you pray, while you are sitting in your twin bed scared, it really helps. God can give peace to anybody, I woke up with a fright at 4:45 am, luckily my sweet mom was awake and she stayed up with me. We watched happy movies and I felt a lot better.

Portuguese Sausage

Have you ever tried Portuguese sausage? Coco has, this yummy sausage can be bought in Vons, it can be severed right out of the wrapping, for sandwiches, or it can be cooked for a delicious breakfast meal. It is spicy and juicy and very tasty with eggs. I tried it on Mother’s day and I liked it, but it is very rich and  I could only eat a little bit, all my family licked their plates clean and asked for more.

Thankfulness

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, I am thankful for my family, a roof over my head,  breakfast lunch and dinner, and that I am so fortunate to live in America.

I would love to hear from my readers what you are thankful for. 

Gravy Gravy

One of my favorite things about Autumn is Turkey! And what good is turkey with out gravy! Here in America we celebrate Thanksgiving, a feast with the pilgrims from England and the natives of America. They had a turkey and corn and many other festive foods. It was the first feast in the new world and we still celebrate it today.I love cooking and I have so many memories of helping my mom cook pumpkins pies and rubbing butter on the turkey. Another memory is making grandma’s home-made stuffing, Yummy! I would pull apart bread and cover it in chicken broth and butter. (oh no! I just told part of her secret recipe!) My favorite thanksgiving food (other than the turkey of course) is gravy! here is a delicious recipe for yummy gravy!

Pennies For Peace

I just finished the book Three Cups of Tea, it was an amazing book. I would definetly recomend this book to anybody ( they also have a young readers addition and a picture book) it is about a man named Greg Mortenson, his goal in life was to cilmb K2, (the second largest mountian in the world) in honor of his sister      Christa, he was going to leave her necklace on the summit of K2, but when he accidently wanders into a village in Pakistam called Korphe, his heart goes out to the children and he promises to build a school for them .His mother was a principal at a school, Greg went and told them about the children in Pakistan, and how they were drawing there numbers in the dirt with a stick in the cold with no teacher.

The children started a program called Pennies for Peace and raised enough money to build a school. The book club that I go to is also doing Pennies for Peace, we are putting containers in stores so that people can help kids get an education. What some Americans don’t understand is a penny buys a pencil in Pakistan. I encourage you to read this book, it taught me that education can help bring peace, and to be thankful, many people gave very little, but it was all they had.Now Greg has helped build 18 schools and counting and he needs all the help he can get, Pennies for Peace is a non-profit organization and every cent helps.