Holidays Archives

Jolly Roger Cake of the Pirate Rack Rachham with Cannon Balls

Jolly Roger Pirate Chocolate Cake — Jolly Roger of Rack Rachham

I just love marzipan. It is so forgiving, easy to work with, and delicious. As a child living in Germany, I remember every year at Christmas time, the bakeries would put out a nativity scene made from marzipan, with the structures made from gingerbread. These were true artisans. So, when I decided to make a Jolly Roger cake, I wanted to do something in that tradition.

Originally, I was going to make large cannon (rum) balls for Spane’s pirate-themed party, but I soon realized that I could not put a candle on them the same way I could a cake. I still made the rum balls, and they turned out wonderful as well.

Making the cake was easy. I used my standard chocolate cake recipe, using Hershey’s Dark Cocoa, with the addition of a little Chipotle powder and Saigon cinnamon. Black food coloring made for intensely dark chocolate.

Cucumber Boats

Cucumber boats floating on their blue ocean plate with fully open egg-white sails, rigging of toothpicks with whimsical olives making the mast, and filled with egg salad. Ahoy!

Pirate Party – It’s a Pirate Party! This is a fun menu to make for your own pirate party, whether for kids, or adults who are celebrating International Talk like a Pirate Day. Of course, you can use these recipes at any time of the year.

Day of the Dead Brownies

These Day of the Dead brownies have an extra kick from Chipotle and Cinnamon that takes them out of the realm of the ordinary brownie.

Being a good Thanksgiving guest takes a little consideration. Here are some tips and answers to your questions about being a good guest.

Cranberry Brown Betty

This is fast becoming a staple Thanksgiving dessert. I don’t like pumpkin pie, and mince-pie is wonderful for Christmas, so this has the one for this holiday. It’s very simple to make with only a few ingredients that you probably already have on hand.

You will want to use Panko breadcrumbs because they are large and very dry. Broken up bread will not absorb enough of the juices to make a nice top on this. Breadcrumbs that come in a can will not work either, as they are too small, and you would just have a cranberry pudding instead of a Brown Betty.

Bride and Groom Ghosts

Took one look at her groom and hung herself!

Crafts in this Post

Bridge and Groom Ghosts

Halloween is my favorite holiday for crafts. There are so many fun projects you can do. Amber is making Zombie Dog Pumpkin for her son’s pumpkin contest. I’m sure she’ll win. I decided my theme this year was going to be about dead people, as I already have some Styrofoam I am going to use to make tomb stones.

We started our Halloween project this afternoon. A few weeks ago, I found some Polyethylene Foam laying discarded on the side of the road. As I walked past it, I thought, gee, it kind of looks like a ghost. Well, I went right back, picked it up, and took it home. Then when I was helping at the school a few days later, I found some smaller sheets and took those home, too, thinking I could make smaller ghosts.

So, I thought I would make a Bride and Groom ghosts, since I still have a lot of tulle left over from making Spane’s First Communion favor bags.

Pasta Fagioli Soup

When the stars make you drool
Joost-a like pasta fazool (Pasta Fagioli)
That’s amore
When you dance down the street
With a cloud at your feet, you’re in love
When you walk in a dream
But you know you’re not dreamin’, signore
‘Scusami, but you see
Back in old Napoli, that’s amore

Pasta Fagioli Soup

We all remember Dean Martin singing That’s Amore, either on television if you’re old enough, or in the movie Moonstruck if you’re not. It was raining here today in Glendale, and I had a PTA meeting to go to, so I thought that soup would be an excellent idea.

I have a wonderful book, The Mafia Cookbook, where I know I can get very authentic Italian recipes. This soup can either be an appetizer, having very little meat, as it is in the book, or you can add meat like I did and have a full filling meal.

Well, let’s get started.