Yummy! It all looks delicious especially the first course and the dessert. My mom requested a zabaglione double boiler for christmas a few years ago. It was a favorite from her childhood. I'm not sure she has made any yet. I will have to request a lesson.
Amanda

Yes my daughter & I make one every year.Not that elaberate.

Amanda - The first course they called it charcuterie was a very surprising mix of different flavors, the cold cuts and the almonds, the sweetness of the dates and the small amount of cabbage that I love it! it was not sauerkraut but more of a pickled cabbage.
When your mom makes the zabaglione you are going to like it! you just have to pick the best berries in town, holding the berries was a crisp cookie.

Silvia

Bulldinkie - That is so nice to make a gingerbread house with your daughter, I always wanted to make one. One day I am going to surprise myself and make it.:)

Silvia

Silvia - I got lost in the dinner and forgot the gingerbread. I have seen a great display of the houses in Lahaska Pa when I lived in NJ - but I like to eat gingerbread too.

I like the combination of flavors you describe in the charcuterie. At holiday meals with my extended family we always had the cheese course at the end of a holiday meal - maybe because my uncle and aunt had spent so many years in Italy?

What a fabulous gingerbread house! Complete with electric lights.

When I lived in Florida I could not get enough Grouper. The photo of your Grouper is killing me. Very interesting sectioned plate in the cheese picture. It makes a nice presentation for the cheese.

Teresa

That's a wonderful-looking dinner. I am also a grouper fan. Our fish market has it sometimes but it doesn't taste as good as it does in Florida.

I like seeing gingerbread houses but have never made one. Last year, there was a show on (I think) The Travel Channel showing the WDW kitchens getting ready for the holidays, including making the gingerbread houses.

Amanda - Now that you mention to eat the cheese after the holiday meal, I remember that I went to a big dinner invitation while I was in Italy and they served the cheese at the end of the meal, but I was so full that I couldn't eat it.:)

Teresa - Did you live a long time in Florida? If so it must be a big change to live in MN now, cold!!!lol.
I was happy to see at the restaurant that the portions were not too big that I couldn't eat it and not overly rich like in other places either. The pairing of the cheese with fruit preserves was excellent, they even put a little piece of honey beehive with the mild blue cheese, I had my doubts because I don't like blue cheese, but this one was very different, I will eat it again.

The other dish was a filet of beef...

Ruthanna - Thank you, I think we all have the grouper in common, I love fresh fish prepared in different ways.
I think that I also saw the tv program that you mention, but it was so long ago that I don't remember too much. I can imagine the labor on making those gingerbread houses.

Cookies are easy, I made a cookie party last December...

Silvia

Silvia, that's a lot of cookies!

The dinner looks delicious too. I'm not a huge consumer of cheese, although I do like a bit now and then, but I love fish and seafood of any type. Yummy.

My daughters and I used to make gingerbread houses every year at Christmas. They weren't actually "houses", really, they were more like shacks. We called them "gingerbread hovels", LOL. They usually consisted of a pound of homemade gingerbread, a couple of pounds of frosting for glue and copious amounts of candy decorations. They stood up just about long enough to take pictures, and when they fell down we at them. It was actually quite a lot of fun.

Not as impressive as that one, but delicious!

Annie

Silvia - I grew up in Minnesota. I moved away after high school and lived in Hawaii, Treasure Island, FL (1 year), Italy (2.5 years), Dallas (1 year) and did a lot of travelling in between. I finally came back to Minnesota. I learned that I hate hot, humid weather, I actually enjoy shoveling snow and it is possible to run all year long thanks to Yaktrax.

I travelled a lot as a child because my father worked for an airline. And then I worked for an airline. Right now I prefer to live my travel life through others.

I enjoyed the trip to the gingerbread house, the restaurant, your party and the tour of your garden.

Bring it on!

Annie - Your gingerbread house sounds terrific! I bet it was so much fun to make it and eat it too! I am sure your daughters remember all those good memories. And if you ever make them again, maybe for your babies's babies please share a picture...

I like to make cookies with friends and then we put them in small bags to share with other friends.:)

Teresa - What an interesting life you had! A lot like mine, traveling to different places and now I am here for good, I only take vacations now and for short time, don't like to leave my 3 dogs alone for too long.:)

We have parties for friends to practice languages, I do all the cooking for a group under 20 but for a group bigger than that we do a potluck.
I always tried to include activities for the parties, sometimes we invite a chef and if it is daytime we always include a tour of the garden, even non-gardeners like that because they get to see how some of the food is grown and I usually include the harvest in the dishes that I make.
This year I grew an Italian winter squash that were so big that gave us a lot of meals to share with friends. One of the favorite dishes was the lasagna made with sausage and squash.

Silvia

Interesting, I didn�t realize my post a few days ago never showed up.

Anyway, that is a gigantic ginger bread house. It is big enough actually for a kid to wonder around inside. I helped build a ginger bread house sometime ago. I wired it for LED lights and I made a little compartment for model train liquid smoke to make smoke for the chimney. It was very cool.

That is a very nice restaurant. I looked up some reviews, they are all good. I like restaurants where you can see the action of the kitchen. I will have to remember this place if the next time I am around the area.

Wonderful cookies you made. You can be famous and wealthy just making cookies.

There is a very famous and expensive restaurant in NY, operated by David Rockefeller, called Blue Hill at Stone Barn. They grow their own organic vegetables and meats and they have tours of their garden. Sounds like your kitchen and garden.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am sure you will be cooking a very interesting meal.

dcarch

Hi Dcarch - It is never too late to talk.:)

I lived in NY for about 10 years in one of my other lives,lol, but I never went to that restaurant, it sounds like one I would like to visit, maybe one day...

Thank you for your compliment about the cookies, for the holidays I like to make an assortment of different ones, last December I also made candied star fruit from the garden. And I agree with you making cookies can be an art but my strong point is the garden where I can feel one with nature.

The ginger bread house that you helped sounds great, I wish that I could see that. What I like about the one that I saw is that everything gets recycled after the holidays.

Have a great Thanksgiving Day! And if anybody is going to cook an interesting meal, it is going to be you! :) I have a smoked turkey to work with, made a cranberry relish, will prepare chestnut stuffing and a lots of veggies from the garden, that is where I will have to put my thinking cap. For dessert I will do a fresh strawberry something.

A view from the window of the ginger bread house

Silvia

silvia, I always post pictures of my grandkids, baking cookies.

Here's one of my granddaughter, Makayla, and one of the infamous "hovels", although it was about five years ago!

Annie

Awesome looking Gingerbread house Silvia, and the dinner didn't look bad either! We build GB houses every year for Christmas. Started waaaayyyy back when the kids were younguns (Oldest graduated from college this year and the younger will graduate from college this May)and we built the tiny houses around an empty milk carton. Our local library also has a GB house building competition for families, groups, professionals,etc. It's lots of fun and some of them are very creative. NancyLouise

Oh Annie, Makayla is so adorable! I just saw her in the other thread, she is really growing fast and that cookie house is a beautiful creation! Thank you for sharing your wonderful family with us.

Nancylouise - That is such nice tradition in your house to build the houses and congratulations on your kids graduating from college! you must be proud for a job well done.

The ginger bread house took me by surprise because I was not expecting it and when I saw the people taking pictures, I realized what it was, lol. In that moment I was paying attention to the decor, the chandeliers, the Christmas tree, and the jazz music from another era, the hotel itself is like stepping in another time in Florida...

Here are the musicians that I was looking at when I was going to the restaurant

Silvia

Syliva, Amazing, that's a fabulous GB house and a fabulous dinner. It's been years since I've been to the Grand Floridian and I only dined at Victoria & Albert's. Time to head over there again.

I made 2 GB houses, using a kit, with my GS. This is a reminder that I need to solicit Lily's (GD) help to make one this year.

Love your cookie party, I've been checking with neighbors to see if they would be interested in participating.

Thanks for sharing.

DC, next time you are down here we should meet up at the Grand Floridian.

Silvia - thanks for the pictures from the Grand Floridian. My daughter and I had high tea there during Spring Break of 2011.

Being a Florida native, I am especially fond of grouper too!

Cathy - When we meet in the future, we should have an unforgettable location to match our interest. If we get to meet DC no matter where, it should be very special.

And I am glad to know that you tried your hand at making the ginger bread house, if you do one again, I would love to see it.

I found that there is always interest to make cookie parties, you can do anyway you like it. Last year, we gather a group and each person had a special cookie that they liked to share the recipe and bake together. I have fun also making the bags to give away.

Pat - The high tea with your daughter sounds like a lot of fun and great memories!
I learn so much talking to Florida natives and enjoy the stories that they tell me even the ones with the hurricanes in it. In my neighborhood I get together with friends and through the reunion they tell me how it was here and who lived, etc. The stories are so colorful and interesting.

Silvia