I hope you all had a great Christmas!
There were some wonderful treasures under the tree this year, including the adorable Papaya Christmas decoration above, a gift from Chris and Andrea.
I was overjoyed to receive a set of La Rochère bee tumblers from Pete’s cousin Fiona! I’ve been trying to find a set for months, ever since I spied them at a lunch with Roz…
Made in France, each chunky tumbler has four Napoleonic bees pressed into the thick glass…
Santa left me a special surprise this year – a cast aluminium pizzelle iron!
I’m yet to try it out, and I’m intrigued that it has a different design on each plate…
Big Boy bought me tea for Christmas – my son went into T2 and sniffed all the open bowls of tea to try and find one he thought I might like…
It wouldn’t be Christmas without speculaas, so I made up a batch using Maureen’s recipe. I still can’t get the dough to hold an intricate design, but these little stars and gingerbread men were perfect eating…
A pressie from Pete – a little pâté knife…
…with a glowing azure blue handle…
A copy of Marcella Hazan’s classic Italian cookbook, a gift from Maude. I can’t wait to explore its pages…
And here are the ladies, enjoying a Christmas feast of rice and salmon, their all-time favourite food…
Did you give or receive any exciting foodie gifts this Christmas? We’d love to hear about them!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I adore that christmas decoration!.. you really did have a wonderful day, I received a butter churn so I am very happy with that! Now we can rest! love c
Celi, a butter churn! That will get the arms toned! :) Have a great rest, hope you had a peaceful and happy day! xx
Looks like some wonderful gifts!
Thanks Greg, they were very cool! It was a lovely weekend, hope you and Katherine had a great one too!
One of my most favorite gifts that Santa put under the tree is a kitchen timer in the shape of a little yellow ducky that quacks instead of buzzing!!
Gian, that is too funny! What a great gift!
You have obviously been a very good girl this year as Santa was kind and generous. I love the glasses :)
Claire, thank you! Don’t know how good I was, but Santa was certainly generous this year.. ;-)
Celia, those gifts you received are all so lovely. Just like you! The glasses are especially pretty.
Peter (Santa) gave me the CWA Classics cookery book (888 pages!), as well as a new Canon camera, so watch out for sharper images, hopefully ( :
My boss gave me a $50 voucher to a great second hand bookstore and cafe in Curtin, so we will spend a morning this week visiting the cookery section there, methinks.
Our neighbours gave me a three month gym membership for my Boxing Day birthday, so I can work off all the cooking and the chocolates that my son gave me!
I hope you and your readers are having a good relaxing rest.
Lizzy, that’s a big book! I’m sure they’ll be some treasures in there! New camera sounds like fun too…look forward to seeing your shiny new pics in the new year! :)
Good morning Celia! My lovely son and eldest daughter gave me Greg Malouf’s new book, “New Middle Eastern Food”. It seems they have been paying attention to what I really like after all.
I also received some lovely T2 tea and accessories, some new knives and a biography on Alice Waters. Plenty to keep me happy in the kitchen!
Hope you have a happy and safe new year with the menfolk.
Amanda, safe travels in the new year! I didn’t even know Greg Malouf had a new book out, I’ve only just been given his old one! Love his recipes…
Celia, what wonderful gifts, sounds like you and your family had a wonderful day together. I received many gifts that brought a smile to my face and joy in my heart. My sister bought me a new camera, and I am very grateful, also lots of little things from my niece and nephew…santa bought me some wonderful linen for the kitchen and some new cake or cappuccino word toppers..I bought myself a few books off amazon, and a couple of new e-courses for 2012. Surrounded by family and hearing from friends, what more could a girl want! xx
Yvette, it sounds like you had a wonderful time! A new camera, I know you’ll be putting that to good use! Have a great 2012!
It looks that you had a fabulous Christmas & lovely Christmas presents included!
I also love your chique paté knife!
Your speculaas looks lovely too! :) Yum!
Sophie, thank you! The speculaas are a Christmas thing for me – I don’t seem to like them as much during the year, but at Christmas, I can’t seem to get enough of them! :)
I have those bee glasses too! I bought my first set in New York many years ago, only to find them here when I got home. I love them.
I gave Indira Naidoo’ book “Edible Balconies”. It looks great, I might have to buy another for myself.
Have a wonderful New Year!
Deb, there is apparently a dragonfly range as well! Hope you’ll review that book for us, it looked intriguing. As you know, we’ve grown tomatoes and capsicums indoors this year, with reasonable success! Look forward to joining you on your adventures in 2012! xx
Oh! I forgot. Thanks for the chook update. These girls are possibly the luckiest chooks in the world.
Thanks Deb! I told Pete I was taking the video just for you, so I’m glad you enjoyed it! :)
What fun and awesome pressies Celia! I’ve been eyeing of those pizelle irons, but didn’t realize they had two different sides, you’ll have to let us know hour they go. Big boy has good taste indeed, I can just imagine him sniffing all the samples, very sweet!
I don’t like soft drinks or syrups much art all, but drink bottles of plain soda water, so my lovely hubby got me my own soda stream maker to avoid all the half empty bottles of flat stuff in the fridge. Very thoughtful, but now I’m wondering what else I can fizz! I see lots of fun coming up:)
Soda stream sounds like fun, can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at one. Last year the girls across the road got one, and we gave them homemade lilly pilly cordial to flavour their drinks – they loved it!
What a treasure your pate knife is, Celia! Beautiful. I was so hoping Santa would bring me a copy of the CWA preserves book but alas, he must’ve been out of stock. I did give many jars of jam away..so much fun to be on a jam making binge. Oh, I just read InTolerant Chef’s post above..the daughters received a soda stream maker too!
We’ve been making creamy soda (it’s green!), lemonade and raspberry. I like the idea of plain soda water though. We did pick up a bottle of Bickford’s lemon/lime/bitters cordial last night and it was delicious in the carbonated water..about double the amount was needed compared to the s/s syrup (60ml?).
Chris, pretty coloured soda drinks! Sounds like a holiday treat! We keep saying we have to make lime cordial, but we haven’t got around to it yet!
I love those glasses!
Anything bees goes well in my kitchen!
You did get a load of lovely gifts- and the pizzelle iron is interesting!
I got a couple of novels I wanted- PD James writing about Pemberly!
A soft and toasty baby alpaca cape in chocolate brown, a small teapot table lamp, a wedge of log painted like a watermelon slice by my grandson and the joy of watching the little boys delight on Christmas morning !
Heidi, I hope you can find some of the bee tumblers – maybe a subtle hint to your boys might result in them being a future gift! :) Glad you had a joyous Christmas, dearheart!
What lucky chooks! Looks like they ate very well for Christmas too. What a beautiful pate knife. Blue is my favorite color and that handle is just gorgeous. I have a Hazan cookbook too. I hope you enjoy yours! I love curling up w/ mine occasionally and just looking at the pictures of all the pasta shapes. Two of my favorite things I got for Christmas are my mini 6 cup bundt pan and Jeni Bauer’s ice cream cookbook & as an unexpected bonus my brother bought my husband and I two pints of Jeni’s ice cream since one of her stores is 10 minutes from his house. We transported the Black Forest and Dark Chocolate Peppermint back to KY surrounded by some dry ice. Can’t wait to dig into it tomorrow:)
Mel, the chooks ADORE salmon and rice! The Hazan book is a wonderful read – her conversational writing style is so accessible. I’ve had my eye on a half sized bundt pan for ages, but still haven’t bought one. Can’t wait to see what you make with it!
Oh what a bounty of goodies. Some real gems there. Happy New Year!
Many happies for the New Year to you too, Tania! :)
Beautiful gifts! Curious to see what you make with the pizzelle iron.
Manuela, I was inspired by Heidi’s post here:
http://heidiannie.com/2011/12/pizzelles-a-recipe/
What a fun and impressive bounty! :D And I can just imagine Big Boy going into T2 and trying to find the perfect tea. He’s come a long way hasn’t he! You must be proud :D
Bursting with pride for both of them! Have a great New Year, Lorraine! :)
I got a bag of licorice…
Aaah, coal you can eat? :)
I love those glasses, we bought a set of 6 on one of our anniversary trips.. they are still my favorite and just used them for Christmas morning:) You were so lucky, lots of great “foodie” gifts to try out this year!
Smidge, apparently there’s a dragonfly range as well! Must keep my eye out on the January sales.. :)
Happy Christmas to you, looks like you had a great day. A pizelle iron, I have been looking everywhere for one of those, and what a lovely pattern on it. Also love those bee glasses too. I got the Design Sponge book and Sybilla Court’s design book. No cookbooks this year, think my family are sick of tripping over them, did get a great Bollywood apron though – looks fabulous.
Hi Red, thanks for stopping in! A Bollywood apron sounds like huge fun!! :)
What magnificent gifts Celia, I especially love your pate knife – absolutely gorgeous!
:-) Mandy
Thanks Mandy, it’s a treasure, isn’t it? The colour really appeals to me..
Merry Christmas Celia! looks a lovely time with your family and friends -best wishes for the coming year and looking forward to more blogging and you introducing us to new treasures. Just realised my time off work coincides with Chef Warehouse closedown period – how badly planned is THAT!
Anne, I know, I’ve got time to play in January, and they’re going to be closed! They work hard though, and deserve the holiday! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and all the best for 2012!
Wow those are really special gifts :)
Thanks Tes! I loved them all! :)
Dear Celia,
Looks like you got quite a few pressies that would come in handy in the kitchen. I didn’t receive any foodie gift altho lots of good food so far :) :) Need to hit the gym asap.
Chopinand, it’s a ridiculous time for eating, isn’t it? I think we’ll all be jogging in January.. ;-)
When I was a girl our babysitter, an old lady from Italy made us pizzelle. To us California kids they were very exotic.
My big gift was a new color laser printer. (So happy!) I also got a coffee filter, small tongs and a small very spatula. It was a lovely time
Also my Mother-in-law made me a batch of her amazing fluffy peanut brittle. It’s the best.
Hugs, Maz.
Maz, we got a laser printer a couple of years ago and have never looked back, you’ll love it! All your papercraft looks wonderful printed out on it!
Looks like you had a fabulous time opening presents – such lovely things! Thank you for sharing them with us. I can’t wait to see what you make with the aluminium pizzelle iron.
C, thank you! I’m still researching re the pizzelle iron, will keep you all posted!
trying for the 5th time to leave a comment, I think I know what the problem is…
anyway, wonderful post, Celia, loved everything, and wish you and your family a FANTASTIC beginning of 2012
We will be half way through your home… flying to Hawaii (Maui) tomorrow morning…. first time for us in that island, I am counting the seconds…
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Sally, are you trying to comment from your iPad? I’ve heard a few people say they’ve had problem leaving WP comments with it. All the best to you and Phil for a wonderful 2012, have fun in Hawaii!!
ok, Celia…. here is what I think the problem is….
trll your readers who use the iPad that once they swipe to open the site, they must scroll down to the end of the page where a little link says. View standard site
by clicking there, the site shows exactly as a normal website, and the comments will work. On the iPad view, the body of the comment sometimes is not there, you can enter your personal info, but there is no way to type the message to post
hope this helps…..
Nice haul Celia. That Marcella Hazan book was the first cookbook I ever bought, outside of Women’s Weekly stuff, and remains one of my faves.
Good to know, Davey, thanks!
Strangely enough I didn’t get any foodie gifts this year, but I was given a lot of lovely gifts. I am very envious of your pizzelle iron!
Cindy, you and I both went on a quest after reading Heidi’s post! I found mine, so hopefully yours is just around the corner too! :)
I love that pâté knife, and the tumblers are to die for! This year P and I gave each other an upright freezer. I’ve wanted one for years. Our old one blew up in a cloud of blue smoke that threw the main switch box. It was old, the freezer – not the switch box, so it died a memorable death. I’m hoping this freezer last as long.
Misk, the tumblers are just great, we’ve been using them every night with dinner! I don’t know what we’d do without our freezer, it makes our lives MUCH easier!
I wrote this post about it a couple of years ago – we’ve found even more ways to use it since!
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2010/05/22/freezers/
These are great pictures Celia, all that white and silver gives the impression that you are having a cold Christmas rather than a blazing hot one. Your presents all look lovely, but I do like your little Christmas angel.
I shall hopefully be posting about some of the things I received and gave in the next few days.
Oooh, look forward to reading your post, Choc! All the best for a great, chocolate-filled 2012! :)
The pate spreader…wow…my favorite color.
Thanks Norma! Mine too! :)
Happy Christmas Celia! Once you have figured out a good recipe for your wafering iron, put it up! I bought an antique one years ago and am still struggling to make the perfect wafer. Quite a challenge indeed considering the amount of cheese consumed in this house!!!!!
Will do, Vix! Have a great 2012! :)