The origin stories of beloved Christmas icons

Story of the real St. Nick

Now that December has started and we are in the time of Advent, there are many old traditions we follow in the approach to Christmas.

Do you know where they come from? This week I’m sharing a few origin stories with you, so you have some watercooler trivia to share. There’s also a recipe, if you’re feeling more generous of spirit.

Do you know, the real St. Nicholas was a Bishop in Turkey in the 4th century, a particularly generous man who was especially devoted to children? In many European countries the Feast of St Nicholas is the start to the holiday season. He became so popular that by the 12th century, he had become a Patron Saint in most European countries and a church holiday was created in his honour, one that became known for gift-giving and charity.

The tradition of hanging Christmas stockings was apparently started because St. Nicholas helped out three young ladies whose father had squandered the family fortune after the death of his wife. This prevented the girls from having dowries and being able to marry. St. Nicholas wanted to help them anonymously, as was his custom and so he rode his white horse to the nobleman’s house and dropped gold coins down the chimney, where they were caught in the stockings hanging by the fire to dry.

Were you aware that mistletoe has been a symbol of winter celebrations since Druid times, before the time of Christ? It was said ancient Romans would lay down their weapons if they encountered an enemy under a branch of mistletoe. The Celtics believed it had magical powers and could ward off evil spirits and the Scandinavians included it as a symbol for their goddess of love. It is thought this link is the beginning of the custom of kissing under the mistletoe. This act is said to give those lucky kissers good fortune in the coming year. (I am proud to be from such sociable roots.)

Here’s another one for you, poinsettias are another giving gesture for the season. Legend says a small Mexican boy heading to the nativity scene in his town realized he had no gift for the baby Jesus. So, he gathered green branches that were by the side of the road. The other children teased him but once the branches were laid in the cradle, red, star-shaped flowers appeared on the end of each branch.

There’s more. Candy canes were invented alongside Christmas trees, but there is a bit of a twist to this story (full pun intended). Cookies and candies were used to decorate the first Christmas trees, Apparently, it was a choirmaster at a cathedral in Cologne who suggested twisting the plain sticks into the shape of a shepherd’s crook. That not only made them easier to hang on the tree, but it also provided a treat for children. It became a custom to hand candy canes out to children at church ceremonies across Europe, to help keep them quiet.

I am sure you see the running theme here. The season seems always to be about sharing with others. Whether you share your wealth, your generosity of spirit or the fruits of your labour, the result is the same—we are all better for it.

So, in case the aforementioned ideas didn’t do enough for you, here is my bit of sharing for this week, one of my favourite recipes for Christmas and always the first one I bake—my mom’s shortbread cookies.

My brother and I used to help Mom make and decorate these cookies. Great discussions sometimes went into the decorating details. My mom placed our completed cookies in the oven like they were works created by Michelangelo.

Sharing these cookies can happen in the cooking or the offering – they are a bit different than the usual shortbread but still melt in your mouth. My mom isn’t around anymore, but it warms my heart knowing I pass along her legacy of love every time I share these.

BROWN SUGAR SHORTBREAD

1 cup butter

½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2-1/4 cups Flour

½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F.

Cream the butter and sugar in a medium bowl until fluffy. Add extract(s) and mix well. Add flour ¼ cup at a time, saving ¼ cup or so for the rolling.

Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Place one portion on a well-floured surface. Pat it down and turn it over. Roll out to 1/4-1/2 inch thickness. (Do not roll too thin or the cookies will burn; thicker cookies will be even more “melt in your mouth”.)

Cut into desired shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheet. (If you have a silicone baking sheet, use that on the pan.) Decorate them with candied cherries, chocolate chips, sprinkles, coloured sugar, almonds or as inspiration strikes you. Bake for approximately 12 to 14 minutes, until golden at the edges. Store in a sealed cookie jar.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.

Learning about food from the books we read

The mythical food of books

Sharing food with friends makes it so much better

Friendship food

I was in the kitchen at home the other day, looking for a treat with my tea and discovered a Baci chocolate, the perfect little nibble.

It turned out to be not only a tasty treat but an inspiration. You see, a Baci comes wrapped with a special message on the subject of love and/or friendship. The message this time was: “Friendship brings great happiness with little gestures.”

So true, it is the little things that make up the fabric of our lives.

This is another reason I became a foodie—sharing a small treat with someone can lead to all kinds of wonderful experiences.

I first discovered Baci’s on my first trip to Europe, discovering the world at the grand old age of 18. My first foodie friend, a captivating young woman from South Africa, introduced them to me and I have to say they are still one of my favourite treats.

A Baci has a hazelnut crème filling that is sublime, and for extra excitement there is a whole hazelnut just under the chocolate coating.

The messages they contained were exceedingly powerful when read while strolling the streets of Rome, arm in arm with my new friend, dreaming of international romances and happy-ever-after endings.

As I got older, the notion of comfort food became a more common thing with friends. I guess, as life progressed, the problems seemed bigger and so a correspondingly serious dose of food was needed to work out a solution.

Thankfully, I had a friend who was a master at such things – fruit crisp being one of them. She had the magical touch for just the right amount of crunch and sweetness in the crumb topping, and her inspired combinations of fruit were full of exotic flavours and the cheery taste of summer sunshine. It was just the thing to cheer you up when you were blue, or to spur you on if you were waffling on some big idea.

Cooking together with friends is a wonderful thing to do, and you really know when you have a special connection if you can create magic in the kitchen. In the early days of my special friendships, food was shared in those rare visits or more often by sending recipes to each other.

I am lucky both these girlfriends and I have been able to cook together over the years, making some fantastic meals that have been shared with our families over and over as we remember the good times and great flavours.

We live in different parts of the world, but as soon as we enter each other’s kitchens, the tea pot goes on and it’s like we just walked in from down the street.

I don’t have the fruit crisp recipe, as there isn’t one written down. My friend Sue says she just “feels it,” but here is a recipe from South Africa that is a national favourite. I copied it from the piece of airmail paper my friend sent in a missive long ago. I still have it between the pages of one of my cookbooks.

My friend Merle claimed it never missed with the menfolk (wink-wink, nudge-nudge as they say in the UK where she now lives, happily married).

So here’s to good friends, new and old, and the good food shared amongst them. May we always find a reason to keep sharing our happiness with tastes and recipes.

Ultra Divine Cape Brandy Pudding (serves six to eight people)

250 g dates, stoned and finely chopped

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

250 mL walnuts or pecans, chopped finely

2 eggs, beaten

Sauce:

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp butter

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup brandy (next to this she wrote “Yahoo!”)

Divide dates into two portions and put into separate bowls. Add baking soda to one and pour boiling water over it. Allow it to cool.

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs thoroughly, one by one. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into creamed mixture.

Add dry portion of date and nuts, mixing well to blend.

Stir in baking soda-date mixture – mix thoroughly.

Turn into large ovenproof dish and bake at 180 C (350 F) for 45 minutes or till golden brown on top and knife inserted in centre comes out clean.

Prepare sauce by heating sugar, butter and water together in saucepan five minutes. Remove from stove and stir in vanilla and brandy.

Pour sauce over pudding as it comes out of the oven. Serve hot or cold with whipped cream.

(I have poured the sauce over each serving too, which also works well.)

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.

Will that chocolate cake really give me nightmares?

Sweet dreams made of this?

Maybe it’s because Hallowe’en just passed and all that candy is sitting around calling our names from the cupboards, but I have talked with many friends whose sleep has been less than wonderful lately.

It made me wonder, is there any real science behind what we eat and how we sleep?

I know this is a deep rabbit hole. I’m not professing to give any profound diet advice, but rather share a few tidbits about the legends of food and drink that is meant to promote a blissful snooze, or perhaps might prevent one.

First let’s explore the positive connections. One seasonal connection between sleep and food is the good old turkey. Turkey meat contains tryptophan, an amino acid that promotes melatonin production (a hormone that helps regulate our sleep.) However, it’s not a large meal that helps – just the protein. This is not a rationalization for that second helping as a midnight snack.

On the theme of protein, nuts are another great evening snack that research has shown helps us sleep well. Both almonds (high in magnesium, which helps muscles relax) and walnuts (which contain melatonin, as do almonds) are great if you need a wee something after dinner.

How about that glass of warm milk your grandparents might have recommended? That will work, both from the calming effect of a warm beverage and from the tryptophan in the milk. Similarly, the cup of camomile tea is calming in the cup and from its flavones, which are a type of antioxidant. And get this: adding honey will help, as it aids in reducing stress-induced corticosterone levels.

If you’d like to step out of the old traditions and be adventurous, try kiwi fruit as an evening snack. Research is not conclusive yet, but scientists say it’s possible vitamin C in kiwi fruit helps with better sleep. Vitamin C is another antioxidant.

On to the negative connections between food and sleep. Now, about that chocolate cake, it turns out chocolate is good for your health in a few ways but the benefits work best when you consume it earlier in the day, during your active periods, just like coffee with its caffeine. Its high flavonoid content helps boost our metabolism and our mood, as well as having a positive effect on our cardiovascular system and our cognitive brain functions.

Chocolate at breakfast (in moderate amounts) can even help regulate our circadian rhythms, especially for people out of sync, like night-shift workers and jet-lagged travellers. So perhaps it’s best to leave that piece of cake until the next morning. It might not give you nightmares, but it won’t help you rest well.

The good news is, this certainly supports the idea that hot chocolate or a chocolate croissant is a fine idea at breakfast. That must have been why I felt so good in France last month.

I have one last tidbit to offer—don’t eat those evening tidbits too late or your body will have to work hard to process them. Our digestion slows by 50% when we sleep, so it takes longer to take care of that snack. Spicy foods and acidic ingredients, like tomatoes or alcohol, are especially difficult. I know those are the ones that might give me strange dreams when they are on the menu.

Of course, regular rhythms are one of the big keys for achieving a peaceful and restorative sleep. The general rule is adults should have seven to eight hours of sleep to maintain overall health. That helps us store memories and repair muscles.

Just like meditation or putting our devices down can help calm our mind before sleeping, more fresh air and exercise can help with our muscles, giving our body an incentive to go into low wave, deep sleep for the repair work.

I’m not suggesting you have to eat something before bed but if you do, I hope it’s a wee something that brings sweet dreams for a pleasant tomorrow.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.