Christmas in May? – NYC Bûche de Noël Train

Buche de noel train made up of fancy yule logs for Chrismas from NYC bakeries such as Balthazar, Benoit, Bouchon, Canelle Patisserie, Daniel Boulud (DBGB), Dominique Ansel Bakery, Epicerie Boulud, and Francois Payard Patisserie
 
 
(Thank you, Mr. Copy and Paste, for allowing me to correctly put “Bûche de Noël” in the title instead of Buche de Noel.)
 
I wouldn’t have even known to call it that, to be honest. I recognize the term “yule log,” but when looking at this train, that’s not what I would’ve immediately thought either. Ah well. The point is….
 
LOOK AT IT!
 
No, really look. Click through to the link, Serious Eats, and really look at each of the train piece breakdowns. Pretty incredible, right? Each one is from a fancy schmancy bakery in New York City that become highly sought after right around Christmas for their amazing yule logs. After seeing some of the pictures of the insides, I certainly can’t blame them, but I can’t imagine paying some of those prices either.
 

Buche de noel train made up of fancy yule logs for Chrismas from NYC bakeries such as Balthazar, Benoit, Bouchon, Canelle Patisserie, Daniel Boulud (DBGB), Dominique Ansel Bakery, Epicerie Boulud, and Francois Payard Patisserie
 
(With Google Reader going the way of the dinosaurs, I’m forced to find a new feed reader, and so far, I haven’t found one that will allow me to export/import all of my tagged/labeled items. That’s how I’ve saved a lot of my links over the last few years and I don’t want to lose them all. Unfortunately, that also means you’re going to end up with some holiday-specific posts during times of the year where they might seem a little out of place. Oops!)

May the Easter bunny bring you coffee as well…

easter, holidays | March 31, 2013 | By

Cartoon with God placing coffee in the angels halos with the caption that says "Oh, that's what those are for!"

Whether today has religious meaning for you, is a day for hanging out with friends or family, or is the one day a year you get to play Easter bunny to pull pranks on the kids by miscounting how many eggs are left….. Have a great holiday! ;)

April Fools’ Dinner Ideas (Guest)

guest, holidays, kids, picky eaters | March 14, 2013 | By

(Today’s post is brought you by guest poster Barbara.)

There are few things quite as much fun as April Fools’ Day. Filled with practical jokes and hoaxes on every scale, it’s hard to imagine a year without this kind of fun. Interested in creating a bit of April Fools fun at your house? These dinner ideas can help.

Eat the Meal in Reverse

Sometimes the easiest concepts can make for a good April Fools’ trick, and this is certainly one of them. While you typically serve your meal followed by dessert, try to go in reverse instead. Eat your dessert, then the meal, then the appetizer. Your little ones are sure to think it’s the best day of the year.

Serve Faux Food

Easily one of the most popular April Fools’ Day meal ideas, there are many different ways to tackle this. There are also a variety of different recipes that fall into this category. If you want to stay on the easy side of things, go with premade stuff like “peas and carrots” candy. They’re small candies that are made to look like frozen peas and carrots might.
Want to take things to the next level? Get ready for some real fun. Make a “hamburger” for dinner. Simply make cookies into the shape of hamburger buns, complete with the sesame seeds, and then add a peppermint patty to the middle for the meat. You can even add food coloring to coconut to turn it green so you’ll have the lettuce to go with your burger. A bit of red icing can make the ketchup. Other similar ideas include a meatball sub with a pound cake bun and ice cream meatballs, a “cake” that includes pizza sauce, Italian sausage, and pepperoni topped with a biscuit mix to make it resemble cake, and even a pudding dessert that looks like dirt from your garden instead of dessert.
You could also go with a cake that looks like a pizza, pound cake coated in graham cracker crumbs to resemble chicken nuggets, taco salad made from ice cream, coconut, and maraschino cherries, or even berry sodas that are really jello, making them tough to suck through a straw. There’s quite a bit of fun to be had with these faux food ideas, and you’re likely to surprise anyone who sits down to your table.

Go With Whimsical Names

A great idea if you have little ones in the house, simply renaming a few of your own favorite dishes can be a perfect way to create a meal for this amusing day. For example, for breakfast, you could serve ostrich eggs, which are simply canned peach halves surrounded by whipped cream. For your beverage, you could serve dragon blood, which is really just fruit punch. Coming up with fun names or presentations for your food is the best way to serve your typical meal while still incorporating the holiday spirit into things.
No matter what you decide to serve this April Fools’ Day, it’s certain to be a memorable treat they’ll look back on fondly in the days to come.

Barbara Petersen is a writer with an interest in family, food and fun. See more of her work at the Holiday Gifts & Baskets Blog, put on by http://www.holiday-gifts-gift-baskets.com.