Two Friends - Two Recipes - Two Holidays

The Paris House Candy Cane Dreamtini

3 ounces vanilla vodka
2 ounces Godiva white chocolate liqueur
1 ounce peppermint schnapps
1 candy cane stick crushed
candy cane

Mix vanilla vodka, white chocolate liqueur and peppermint schnapps in a cocktail shaker. and stir for 15 seconds. Pour contents into chilled martini glass rimmed with crushed candy cane (margarita style, using some of the schnapps in place of the lime). Garnish with candy cane stick. As Bunny says, "Have a lovely day sweetie-pies."

This recipe comes from one of my favorite bloggers, Bunny of The Paris House Designs. Bunny (Michele) blogs about food, fashion, family, decorating, gardening and more! Her antiques have been featured in Architectural Digest Magazine and she is a talented artist. She lives in a 200 year old historic home in New York and owns a party planning and design business. Bunny also designs jewelry and recently published her first children's book. Gardening? Last year she planted 3,500 bulbs! AND that was just the bulbs. She does it all and more, I declare, she is related to the Energizer Bunny.

Does Bunny know how to entertain?

Oh yes, and always with a flair.

The Earth Mother Ring

Designed by Bunny and worn by several Hollywood Starlets. Find out more about custom ordering one here.

You really need to stop by and introduce yourself to Bunny, and be sure to tell her I said hello.

This next recipe is dedicated to my friend Marice in California. We have been friends for thirty-three years. Marice is one of those friends who is always there, through thick and thin. I can't tell you how many times she has been there for me when times were tough, when the men in my life were jerks and when I just wanted to go somewhere and have a good time and believe me, we have had some good times! Over the years we have spent many, many holidays together — Hanukkah at her house, Christmas at mine. Since I can't be with her and her family again this year, I wanted to share this recipe and these memories with her. I know she'll love it!

Edible Dreidels

1. Dip the bottom of a chocolate kiss into 8 ounces of melted semisweet chocolate. Press onto the top flat part of one marshmallow; transfer onto parchment baking sheet. Repeat to make 12 dreidels. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
2. Cut a small slit in the bottom of each marshmallow and insert one thin pretzel stick. Dip dreidels in melted chocolate and return to parchment sheet. Refrigerate until set.
3. Fill a plastic baggie with 2 ounces of melted white chocolate (cutting a tiny hole in the bottom corner) and pipe Hebrew letters onto 3 sides of each of the dreidels.
4. Refrigerate at least 5 minutes or up to eight hours before serving. I think these would also be cute if you dipped the dreidels in white chocolate and tinted the white chocolate with blue for the lettering.

For more Hanukkah recipes, crafts, decorations and and gifts visit Martha Stewart.

Marice is the stable one, the one who always has her act together. I've been the one who made her step out of her comfort zone and let loose. Like the time I finally got her to go camping.


Actually this was probably more because of the guy she was dating at the time, but hey, I'll take partial credit. This pic is from her first and last camping trip. We headed to McGrath Beach in Ventura and Princess Marice was more than happy to let us wait on her hand and foot. This girl is lost in the world of cooking outdoors over a campfire, but that's okay, she has many redeeming qualities that make up for this.

She is my lobster-eating buddy. At the drop of a hat you can get us to jump in the car and go pig out on lobster or steamed clams. Shopping in Santa Barbara or Solvang is another favorite pastime and since SB was only about an hour away, we did this numerous times.

We were roommates several times, with me moving into her condo into what I still call my room. It was while here in 1994 that we went through the Northridge Earthquake together. She scared the crap out of me when I called out her name and she didn't answer right away. The bookcase in my room had fallen over and it took me several minutes to make my way out to the hallway. She was safe and sound, just shook up speechless. We were both unharmed, but I can't say the same for the condo. I can still recall the smell of the gallon of Italian dressing from Costco that fell and broke. With no water or electricity we couldn't clean it up right away. My camping gear came in handy that first day. We opened up the garage and I brewed coffee for myself and several neighbors and that night we cooked on the Coleman stove and drank tequila. Needless to say, the damage was severe enough that we had to move and it was about a year before she could move back in.

Hanukkah 1991

My official duty each year was to carve the "toikey" and the brisket. The best year was when her father had us light one of the menorah candles together, I felt so blessed to have her family in my life and will always cherish memories of time spent with them. I do miss her aunt's chopped liver though, no one had ever done it better. Or the year her brother and I were in hot competition for a big pink piggy bank in the gift exchange.

Marice with my son Christmas 1983

Stealing Recipes

Must have been something good this year, Marice is copying the recipe from my file. Notice she's sitting right next to the Christmas cookies. You know this was a while back, that answering machine is a dinosaur!

Here she is at another Christmas, this one as my friend Susie's, I can see her set chair in the background.

What is one of my favorite traits in a good friend?
Someone who makes me laugh
and Marice does this all the time!

We live 2600 miles apart now, she in California and me in Florida, but we talk on the phone every weekend for hours, unless she's out of town on one of her trips. Those weeks we try to catch each other during the week, but her job and the time difference don't allow that often enough. Marice was here in January 2007 and we traveled across the state to Orlando and Cocoa Beach.


Here we are with "the Mouse and the Man" at Disney. Notice we are holding my virtual grandson, Lil Jim.

You know someone is a good friend when they not only put up with your idiosyncrasies, but love doing it!

Kennedy Space Center
with Lil Jim.

(I haven't introduced you to Lil Jim yet, but suffice it to say, I am desperate for another grandchild.)

So, there you have it —

Two friends, Two recipes & Two holidays.

I'm sharing these recipes and friends for Foodie Friday, so be sure to visit Michael @ Designs by Gollum for even more Foodie Friday links.

Merry Christmas
&
Happy Hanukkah!