Happy Holidays

I woke up on Christmas morning to a few words from the Wise.
My friend, Dany, from Singapore wrote on his family Christmas card:

What if...
Every heartache is an opportunity to heal
Every obstacle, time to grow,
Every loss, a chance to start anew...

I'm not sugarcoating it -
2015 has been healing, 
growing and renewing.

I felt he was also describing my year,
and he did it much better than I could.
 

Derrek and I are looking forward to putting 2015 behind us, and to start a new adventure in 2016, whatever the year may bring.

This year, while we are not with our families in the US or Thailand,
we still managed to put something from home on the table.
Sweet potato pie, recipe by my lovely mom-in-law
and soy-ginger roasted cornish hens to add a little flavour from the East.
Christmas or not, the meals we cook together are always fun. 

Here is to an even better 2016 for all of us
Thanks for watching this space :)

Happy Holidays!
 

Christmas honeycomb cannelloni, recipe from Jamie Oliver

 Smoked salmon with clementines, recipe from Jamie Oliver

Soy-ginger roasted cornish hens, recipe from Food and Wine

My mom-in-law's sweet potato pie

How

What

Quantity: 2 pies

3 large sweet potatoes
1/4 pound or 110g of margarine, cut into cubes
1 and 1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of flour
1/4 cup of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 tablespoon of spiced rum
Cinnamon to taste
Allspice to taste
Grounded clove to taste
2 Pie Crusts

Boil the sweet potatoes until they are soft (about 45 minutes to an hour. The texture should be soft when you poke them with a fork)
Run the potatoes under cold water to stop them from cooking. Peel & whip them in mixer

Add margarine, milk, vanilla (or rum), sugar, flour and continue to mix until blended

Add cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Mix until well blended. Taste and adjust to your liking

Depending on how sweet the potatoes are, you can add more sugar to taste.
(If you add 1/2 cup or more of sugar, add a little more flour because sugar will make the mixture more loose. 

Put the the mixture in the pie crust and and bake at 350F (175C) until pie is lightly browned (30-45 min). A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Let it cool before serving.