blue potato and chinese sausage getting sauteed in olive oil and thyme before joining chickpeas and leek soup

© Joselito Briones

we thought the blue potatoes were really pretty (we bought it at the jesus market), and we've had these chinese sausages in the fridge for a long time already, so i thought i'd spruce up left-over chickpeas and leek soup with these. no idea how it comes out, still on the stove, sure is pretty tho against the pale green and yellow of soup.

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portioned, marzipanned, decorated, and wrapped the christmas cake.

© Joselito Briones

so we decided to share one of our home-made fruitcakes with our neighbors (we still have one soaking in brandy).  charles made marzipan from scratch (very good).

we went to the east village to get a present for one of our neighbors' new baby, then to broadway panhandler and got those green and red bits for cake decoration (above photo). we weren't gonna get anything from there - one of those things where "oh it's just there, let's see what they have" and of course we walked out with the cake decorations, a spatula, and an all-clad roasting pan.

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early christmas present from the sims

© Joselito Briones

© Joselito Briones

we were just about to have our coq-au-vin (photo above, burning in brandy flames before going in the oven), after a recipe from the two fat ladies, when the sim family (our neighbors from upstairs) came over and gave us early christmas gifts - japanese desserts.  shown on top is white chocolate mochi covered in green tea powder

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