St. Nicholas Day 2011

Last year our St. Nicholas celebration was marked by S wrecking his truck.

This year things were a little more peaceful. I did have a couple of electricians here restoring power to the children’s rooms while I was trying to make dinner…three bad breakers a bad switch, and a bad receptacle later there are lights that work in this house that haven’t since we moved in!

The colors for St. Nicholas are red and white, so I tried to make foods that reflected this theme, and the friends who came over (it was Tuesday night so we had our regular open house) also brought red foods.

St. Nicholas Cake from this recipe from the St. Nicholas Center:

St. Nicolaas Koek (Dutch Spice Squares)

Small cakes without which no Dutch Sinterklaas season would be complete.

1 lb. butter
1 pound light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup water
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
? teaspoon cloves
? teaspoon salt
? teaspoon mace
? pound blanched walnuts (dry thoroughly and brown in 1 tablespoon butter, stirring constantly, drain)
or
? pound sliced almonds, unblanched and unbrowned

Cream butter and sugar; dissolved baking soda in the water, add. Sift dry ingredients; add to butter mixture (will make a soft dough). Place on floured board, knead in almonds and roll out about ?-inch thick. Fit into cookie sheets and bake at 350? about 30 minutes or until done. Cut into squares before cold. Yields about 5 dozen squares.

Originally from Eet Smakelijk, published by the Junior Welfare League, Holland, Michigan, 1964.

Roast Pork with Cranberry/Ginger Sauce

Rice

Cranberry Scones

Roasted Tomato and White Bean Soup

And of course gelt (chocolate coins) for the children.

Table with gelt

The feast is ready!

Candles for St. Nicholas in red and white

It belongs to a friend and I use it whenever I can. I just love the whimsical creatures.

This entry was posted in Advent, Beauty, Celebration, cooking, Creativity, devotional life, Family Lore, feasts, feasts, Hospitality, Memories, Pages in Our Heritage of Faith and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to St. Nicholas Day 2011

  1. What a lovely celebration!

  2. Lovely! What a wonderful gift: hospitality!! The Lord loves it when we welcome others to our homes. 🙂 Thank you for linking up.

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