Whisky Christmas log with chocolate chips, cranberries and marron glacés

The holidays are right around the corner and there are just no more free slots in your calendar for yet another social engagement: there's the office party, the elementary school fundraiser, the pre-K recital and party, the last minute Christmas drinks with old colleagues, the dinner with close friends, the cocktail with your pilates buddies and the afterdinner toast with those other friends you only see once a year in December. No to mention lunch with the girls and the charity bake sale you agreed to help out with.

As if Christmas in itself does not involve enough binging, we stuff our faces all the way through December and suffer a hang over or two in the process.

 

What is it about the holiday season that makes everyone act like they will never be seeing each other again? Most of us live in the same city, perhaps just blocks away from each other, and we will probably bump into each other at the supermarket in our yoga pants at least a few more times before the year is over. Ok, so this year may be an exception if the Mayas have any say, but it is just the exception that confirms the rule: life will pretty much be the same as the day before when you wake up on the 26th or next January 1st, so why all the craziness?

In Italy the holiday season is all about eating dry, mass produced pandoro and picking out the candied peel from panettone while balancing a glass of bad quality, often too sweet spumante with a smile stamped on your face. The good part is the homemade crema al mascarpone that at least one member of each family is usually famous for.

I also remember many a Christmas holiday in Sweden during which the initally greatly anticipated and delicious Julbord became the fodder of nightmares as the days passed. By the fifteenth Julsbord I ate in seven days I was dreaming of bowls herring and ris a la malta hunting me down in the snow.

I know that wherever you are, you are being tormented by something spicy or sweet, just in a different guise. Stale stollen? Sorry sorrel? Boring bunuelos? Terrible turron? I want to know more!
  

Here is something you can make to bring to a party or to wrap up as a gift. I guarantee, it is anything but bland, dull or plain. It is right up there with chewy dark gingerbread, spicy and warming mulled wine and the most wonderfully studded Christmas pudding you can conjure up in your mind.

I tweaked the original recipe (from this blog, which is full of great recipes and stories) using marrons glacées and dried cranberries because cherries are not a favorite (to say the least) in our home but I still thought red was essential for the Christmas feeling. You can mix in figs, dates, apricots or any kind of nut. It is a great way to use up odds and ends in your pantry, a more traditional version of a Monster cookie or an Everything bagel. The end result was delicious, truly addictive and it took me under two hours to make, from beginning to end (cooling and setting included because I used the freezer). The recipe makes six logs: I brought three to a dinner party and pretty much ended up eating the other three myself, when no one was looking.

Shortcut Monte Bianco

I walked into the store and towards the counter. I had pretty much already made up my mind and knew where to look. I made my way through the crowds, nearing the display I was headed for. I could have almost reached what I had come for if it hadn't been for two people blocking my view. The sales person was showing his customer a product. I looked on a little impatiently, hoping I would make it to school in time to pick up the kids. It wasn't until they started discussing  skin tone and color tests that I did a double take.

Since when have jeans-clad, unshaven, sneaker-wearing students with back packs started buying/wearing  foundation? I ask this out of pure curiousity, I am not in the least preoccupied with a person's preferences or judging. 

I simply am not accustomed to seeing a guy that age, an age when most of us felt uncomfortable in our skin, standing self assuredly at a make up counter amidst a throng of women, trying on foundation and discussing the pros and cons of the product in question with the sales person. Even if I live in one of the world's fashion capitals, where appearance is a priority and something to be taken seriously. Even if I live in Italy, where men are known to be well-groomed and where the concept - if not the word -metrosexual probably originated.

I admit I have sometimes wondered with friends if that guy who just walked by was wearing bronzer. We have all read article after article about the male population being the fastest growing consumer group of cosmetic products (and surgery). But let's face it, not many of us are used to sharing their Diorshow mascara with the man in their lives.

Have you ever had to elbow a man to get to that last box of No. 2 foundation first? Do your male friends/kids wear make up? Is this a new trend?

Here is the kind of girly dessert a lady would order because of the creamy, soft texture and the sweet nuggets of marrons glacés and dark, toothsome bits of chocolate strategically hidden throughout. It is also the kind of dessert any husband eating a manly slice of bourbon pecan pie would constantly be stealing forkfuls from. It is also one of those shortcuts I often like to post about to make our lives easier. This is a quick version of a Monte Bianco, a popular dessert in Lombardy and Piedmont of quite certain French origin. The ingredients are pretty much the same and despite this taking literally just a few minutes to put together, the final effect is pretty sinful and delicious.

This recipe was given to me by a friend, Laura, without exact amounts, which just goes to show how forgiving it is. And why my amounts are pretty approximate. You basically have to eyeball your ingredients according to the size of your container. Those below should be enough for a springform. Ideally that is what it should be made in but I haven't replaced my broken one yet so I made mine in a glass, freezer-proof bowl. You could also make it in individual glasses.