Festive cocktails

It's that time of the year...

No, I'm not going to remind you to bake cookies and tackle Christmas shopping crowds and decorate votives for your New Year's Eve party. You've already got that covered, right? But I do want to bring up another holiday tradition : one that requires no work on your part, won't necessarily involve family, and actually promises a rather hilarious time any way you look at it. It's time for holiday office parties.

Gløgg, by Food52.

A time where we hope the food and drinks are worth our time and place bets on which co-worker will be hitting the dance floor first, reveal inappropriate details about their personal life, or spend the night posted at the bar. My office party happened last week, and thankfully the buffets were worth it and no one danced. This Swedish poison called gløgg was served though, and that kept all of us making rotations back to the bar.

There were some casualties (let's just say that a lot of people were happy to only drink gløgg once a year), but I was left wanting even more festive drinks. Warm or chilled, spiced or fresh, shaken or sparkling. So here are a few recipes I can't wait to try out all the way through the New Year.

A staple: the champagne cocktail.

Champagne Cocktail, by Because I'm Addicted.

I love sours so this holiday version is a must: cinnamon sour.

Kate calls this drink, made with grapefruit, rosemary and honey, a light winter cocktail.

Gløgg's cousin : wassail.

Wassail, by Cookie and Kate.

PS: Let's forget eggnog for a second, ok? So many more exciting possibilities....

A "Big Board" at The Maiden Lane

Luckily for me, I've got generous friends. Lucky, because that means I was invited to dinner on the gift certificate that my friend received for making a donation to a newly-opened restaurant in her neighborhood. So first she donated money to a restaurant, and second she chose to share the "Big Board" and two pitchers of beer that she got in return as opposed to feasting on her own. There must be a special place in heaven for her.

In the end it seemed to us that the money she donated was rather comparable to what the dinner would have cost, but we're not complaining. Not when pickled fish, cured meats and cheese are involved. Here is our gargantuan board, complete with onions, cucumbers, caper berries, apple butter, chopped pistachios and a few condiment bottles with mustard, dill mustard and mayonnaise. I'm sure you won't be shocked to learn that we ate everything. Seriously everything. Except for maybe two water crackers, but we're both French, and thus destroyed their delicious grainy bread before the common bland crackers.

If you're around the East Village and nibbling on cured foie gras, chunks of parmesan, whitefish salad and smoked salmon in a dim, intimate, modern nautical bar setting is your thing, maybe stop by The Maiden Lane!

Eating my way through Europe

I can't believe how much I have eaten over the past week. Not only is Thanksgiving and its ensuing leftovers only a few days past, but I've also just come back from a trip that took me to London (home of the bacon sandwich) and Paris (home of stinky cheese and foie gras).

But because I enjoyed every bite like it was my last, here are a few shots of the delicious food I've been having:

Potato salad, swiss chard, pumpkin mash with feta, and creamy eggplant.

Salads at Ottolenghi.

And desserts at Ottolenghi!

Cheese at La Grande Epicerie de Paris.

Seafood tasting menu at La Table d'Aki in Paris.