I feel so blessed to be in an inter-faith marriage.   I love celebrating Hanukkah with my husband’s family each year.  The food is delicious,  the traditions are beautiful and it just adds even more magic to the Christmas holiday season that I grew up accustomed to, the more celebrations the merrier.  My husband is non practicing, in the sense that he does not go to Temple and we were married by my priest in our catholic church and then went on to Christian all of our sons.  However I feel it is very very important for my children to understand their heritage, family traditions and experience them equally.

Mr. Bunny just took Oliver to cooking class with some of his cousins, his aunt and his grandmother.  Oliver loved it and they made some yummy easy recipes, just perfect for young chefs in training to experiment with.

No matter what you celebrate, everyone loves Homemade Chicken noodle soup, and Marshmallow Pretzel Dreidels will surely delight your little cook.  I hope you enjoy the following recipes and most importantly the sharing of  traditions  from our home to yours.

Ollie is cooking up a storm with his sweet daddy.

Oliver is very busy concentrating on making homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup recipe from Kings Cooking Studio:

1 Medium Onion

2 Medium Carrots

2 Stalks Celery

1 lb Chicken

3 Quarts of Chicken Broth

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1 lb Egg Noodles

Salt & Pepper

1/4 Cup Italian Parsley

*Clean the onion, carrots and celery.  Dice into small pieces.

*Clean the chicken and pat dry.

*Heat Pot an add olive oil

*Add onions and cook until they are translucent.  Add carrots and celery.  Cook a few more minutes until softer.

*Add the rest of the broth and bring the soup to a boil.  Simmer for 30 minutes.

* Remove the chicken from the pot, cool and cut into bite-sized pieces.

* Bring soup back to boil add pasta.  Cook until the pasta is done.

* Add the diced chicken, taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper.

* Garnish with cleaned, chopped parsley and serve soup hot.

Chocolate Matzoh Bark:

4 Sheets Plain Matzoh

1 Cup Butter

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1 1/2 Cups Semisweet Chocolate Chips

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees  Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil.

*Layer tightly place matzoh on top of foil.

* Melt butter in a saucepan.  Add brown sugar.  Stir over medium heat until thick syrup forms.  (about 3 minutes).

* Pour syrup over motzoh.  Spread with a spatula to be sure all pieces are coated with syrup.

* Bake for 5 minutes; be careful not to burn.

* Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips.

* Let stand for 2 minutes or until chocolate chips are melted enough to spread.  Lightly spread chips over matzoh.

* Chill.

* Pell off the foil and break into small pieces.  Serve chilled.

Marshmallow Pretzel Dreidels:

10 Large Marshmallows

1 Package Thin Pretzel Sticks

1 Small Container Cream Cheese

1 Package Chocolate Kisses

* Spread a thick layer of cream cheese on one side of a marshmallow.

* Place a chocolate kiss on top of it.

* Stick pretzel stick in the opposite side.

* Start spinning on the chocolate tip and then eat and enjoy.

Sweet Potato Pancakes:

1 Large Sweet Potato

1/2 Cup Matzoh Meal

1 Teaspoon Sugar

2 Teaspoons Potato Starch

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/8 Teaspoon Black Pepper

1 Large Egg

1 Large Egg White

1/2 Cup Milk

Canola Oil

* In a food processor, grate the sweet potato.

* In a large bowl combine the matzoh meal, potato starch, baking powder, salt and pepper.

* Stir in beaten egg, beaten egg white and milk.

* Stir in the sweet potato.

* In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil until simmering.

* Drop teaspoons of the mixture into skillet and flatten with the back of a spoon.

* Cook the pancakes until the edges are golden, about 2 minutes and then flip over for another minute.

* Drain on paper towels.  Repeat with the remaining sweet potato and add more oil as needed.

A few of our Hanukkah gifts wrapped by The Paris House Designs. On display in our studio.

Our signature Hot Pink.  Perfect for any Holiday.

What to wear to an evening Hanukkah Dinner

Dress J Crew

Jewelry , Vintage pieces from my Grandmother’s collection

No handbag this evening I just threw my new Nikon camera in The Paris House Canvas Silhouette tote bag.

This Room is making very small improvements each day.  The Floor may get painted in a high gloss black, We have finally chose Apple Green window treatments. Just need to get electrician to wire in sconces and have moldings put in etc. 

*** As much as I want to keep our studio white I also want to paint it or paper it ????  I’ll post more pictures of other angles in the room and perhaps you can  give me your input.  We have a lot of color going on so the white walls will look good, once they are painted and there are moldings and trim.  This angle is the most unfinished part…we’ll see.

I don’t know if this dress is still available at J Crew still, but if it is I would highly recommend it.  It is comfortable, stylish, affordable and fits great.  You can also wear a cardigan sweater belted over the dress and not wear a push up bra for a more discreet look. 

** I will add that Mr. Bunny did say that this dress made me look heavier than I am in person!!  Yes he did say that , the little Devil!  He said the ‘things’ on the dress pouffed out and made me look bigger than I am.  I think the ‘things’ he is referring to are the tiers of fabric on the dress.  However when I put it on he said he loved it and I looked great.  I think he just wanted to get me out the door and not be late..LOL ..Oh and as for the shoes I don’t know where I bought them… some where online but they were only $45.

This is  my Grandmother Margaret’s Faux Fur Coat.  This is not a great picture but this coat is one of the chicest and most gorgeous items I own.  It is so luxurious the fur is trimmed in a beautiful camel suede and camel suede belted tie. It is stunning in person and hard to believe it is faux.  Margaret had the most divine taste on a very very limited budget.  She taught me so much about antiques at a very young age.  I remember staying over her house on the weekends and at bedtime she would describe all of my great-grandmothers antique pieces of furniture in their house on the farm she  grew up  in upstate NY.  I was so fascinated.  Then we would look at her costume jewelry, many of the pieces I wear today and some that have inspired some of our creations at The Paris House.  Money has nothing to do with good taste, as far as I’m concerned too much money can ruin good taste. Please don’t send me any hate mail if you are filthy rich and are blessed with fabulous taste too..well God Bless You, I’m very happy for you!!  I am fascinated with the creative process of many young and somewhat ‘impoverished’ artisans.  I believe you are just born with the creative ‘gene’ and my grandmothers both had it, they were fabulous!!

Oh Holy Night The Stars are Shining Brightly

The Paris House wishes you many blessing and good health this Holiday Season.  We hope we encourage you to live your life filled with beauty, good health, gratitude and joy…for we truly only have one life to live, PLEASE live it beautifully starting on the inside first. Take this time to give back to those less fortunate.  We are giving to a local basket auction, St Jude’s Children’s Hospital and The Head Start program for families in need.  This is what the holidays are about.  Being together with family and friends, celebrating life and our faith and making the difference in the lives of those who are less fortunate.  Now that is living beautifully.

God Bless

I also want to thank the wonderful Rhonda of Shellbelles Tikihut for the very kind mention of our blog and business.  She has one of my favorite blogs and I love visiting her each day.  Stop over and say hi.

Tags: baking, cooking, Cooking Class, fashion, Hanukah, jcrew

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Desserts, Entrees, Family Fun, Family Fun Portfolio, Featured Holidays, La Cuisine, Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.