Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I originally had Plum Pudding with a Hard Sauce on our Dickensian Christmas Even menu, but Nonna asked, "No figgy pudding...like the song?!?" Fine. I started with this recipe for Warm Sticky Figgy Pudding , on the FoodNetwork's website, but I wanted more fig than date and didn't have any chocolate in the house - that was unwrapped and not destined for stockings, that is. So, I adapted quite a bit... 2 C dried figs 1 C dates Cover the dates and figs with boiling water and steep till cool. Drain the liquid, but reserve 2 C for the recipe. Destem and deseeds the fruits and use a potato masher to create a paste. In a large mixing bowl place the 2 C of liquid, 1 t baking soda, fruit mash, 1 C organic brown sugar, 2 T dark rum, and 2 eggs. Whisk until smooth. Butter your ramekins or other baking dishes. Gently fold in 2 C white whole wheat flour, 1/2 C ground almonds, 2 T unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1 t baking powder. Spoon the mixture into the ramekins - le...

After finding this 16th century recipe for mincemeat pie, I decided to nix mincemeat pies from our Christmas Eve Dickensian feast. Yuck. And yuck again. I'm sorry. I try to be open-minded about food, but this sounds so unappetizing to me - mutton, saffron, suet, vinegar, prunes, raisins, and dates...oh, and powdered beef broth. I don't want to waste all that good fruit! Pyes of mutton or beif must be fyne mynced & seasoned with pepper and salte and a lytel saffron to colour it suet or marrow a good quantitie a lytell vynegre pruynes great reasons and dates take the fattest of the broath of powdred beefe.  And if you will have paest royall take butter and yolkes of egges & so to temper the floure to make the paest. Other changes: Nonna requested figgy pudding - like the song! - instead of plum pudding, so I changed from the brandy hard sauce to vanilla ice cream.

As we are recovering from the end-of-school mania, we are able to focus more on our  Cooking Around the World Adventure . I haven't finished blogging about our Ukrainian dinner - it was not a hit - but we forged forward with the United Arab Emirates and both dishes were amazing. from worldtravels.com About the UAE... Here are some interesting facts we learned...Founded in 1971, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. 'Emirate' means 'state or province ruled by an Emir.' And 'Emir' means 'commander' or 'ruler' in Arabic. Dubai is the most populated Emirate with over a third of the UAE population. I found two things fascinating about its population: (1) it's youthful; more than 50% of the population is under 25 years old. And (2) it's largely an ex-pat community; only 13% of the people living in the country are c...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of  Sprinkle Pop, a  #ChristmasCookiesWeek sponsor. I received complimentary product for the purpose of review and recipe development, but all opinions are honest and they are my own.  This page may contain affiliate links. Prizes + Giveaway Here we are at the final day of a fantastic event helmed by Ellen of  Family Around the Table   with help from Christie of  A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures . These talented ladies are tireless and inspiring. They not only wrangled all of us foodie bloggers, but they lined up some amazing event sponsors who donated to us for recipe creation and also for prizes. Go to  my kick-off post  to read about the prize packages and to enter the giveaway. Or you may enter at the bottom of this post. You won't want to miss out. Seriously. Your holiday baking will be kicked up more than a few notches. The Final Cookie Tray Chocolate-Dipped Almond Biscotti by Ho...

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays or cook and bake together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page  Foodie Extravaganza . We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our  Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board ! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out  HERE . Today we're celebrating National Fig Week; and I am hosting. Although dried figs are available all year long, there is nothing quite like the taste and texture of fresh figs. They are luscious and sweet with a texture that marries the toothiness of their flesh, the smoothness of their skin, and the crunchiness of their seeds. Here in California fresh figs are usually available from June through September. This was a lone fig on one of...

At the very end of the beloved Charles Dickens holiday classic A Christmas Carol , a reformed Ebenezer Scrooge and his long-suffering employee Bob Cratchit share an oddly named libation: a smoking bishop. "A Merry Christmas, Bob!" said Scrooge with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon over a bowl of Smoking Bishop, Bob! " The drink, as NPR's Neda Ulaby discovered  when she interviewed Cedric Dickens, Charles's great-grandson and author of Drinking with Dickens , is hot, spiced wine similar to wassail — something like a mulled wine, scented with citrus and infused with port. Ingredients 1 bottle of red wine same amount of water 1/2 C organic dark brown sugar juice from 4 roasted oranges + 1 roast...