confectionary christmas
The way to Christmas this year routed through marzipan, with this beautiful apple cake and filling of lovely Charlottesville heirloom apples from local Albemarle Baking Company on the drive from Brooklyn to Atlanta.
And then there was dancing.
With my sisters Kat and Kass, I surprised one of my mom’s dance classes as we threw Kooshes in the air with them, skipped and circled.
After that, we turned to the serious prep for Kassandra and Sean’s engagement party at my parents’ house. Kat diced the eggs for egg salad focaccia sandwiches,
while I folded peppers into the pimento cheese, also for dainty Southern sandwiches that went quickly later that night.
Reid we roused from his reflective newspaper perusal,
pressing him into service dicing cauliflower for airy fritters with egg whites.
I boiled gorgeous local Georgia shrimp,
and we continued cooking our way down the evening’s menu,
as Kassandra and Sean returned to the house with sample cakes to evaluate,
and the rented glassware sparkled in waiting.
That night, close friends and family arrived, with Grampa approving Reid’s tie (these images by Kat, who is a splendid photographer),
Photo by Katrina Taylor.
and the engaged couple entertained questions,
Photo by Katrina Taylor.
and accepted congratulations from Aunt Pam and Uncle Stewart,
Photo by Katrina Taylor.
who then caught up with Mom and Dad while I tended bar, making our signature blood orange-cava cocktail.
Photo by Katrina Taylor.
The next day was full of shopping and sipping and scheming for the annual family video that happened later that night, in our usual dance-around-the-garage-at-midnight-Christmas-Eve-and-scare-the-neighbors way.
I have to say that Kat and Reid comported themselves with dignity in their costume choices (Kass was our esteemed choreographer, of course); watch for the parental feature and a signing cameo:
And Christmas was full of laughing, as Kevin and Grampa deciphered opening a tool set together (they’ll tell that story differently),
and we watched as the snow began to fall, making it the first white Christmas at their house that I can remember…
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Posted by Kristen Taylor on Friday, January 21st, 2011, 1:50 pm * Filed in Entertaining, Food, holiday, Travel. * Tags: marzipan, party. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 22nd, 2011 at 9:21 am
Ooh, this year’s Rolyat production was a winner! And congratulations to Kassandra and Sean on their engagement!
Shrimp question–do you devein them? Is it necessary for flavor and/or texture?
January 25th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Thanks, Mica! We had a lot of fun with the production, as usual and Kass and Sean are really happy.
Yes, on the shrimp I would devein them—sometimes there won’t be anything to devein, but it makes for better presentation (also, I butterfly shrimp often, so slicing part-way through runs right along the vein and makes it even easier).
Happy 2011!
January 28th, 2011 at 9:42 am
You are divine! And have the coolest family ever. Congrats to your beautiful sister and big hugs to you and K. (Was that he in the purple suit? Shazzam!)
xoxo
January 30th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
I do have a pretty amazing family :) And will pass on the congrats (that was Kat’s boyfriend Reid in the purple—doesn’t he rock it?) Hope that this new year is starting splendidly for you and yours—