This is a reminder regarding the St. Nicholas themed From Thy Bounty Fair, which will be hosted here this week by Mary Ellen. The fair has been postponed until later in the week and is now scheduled for December 4.Please share with us your culinary ideas for celebrating the feast of St. Nicholas in your home. Submissions are encouraged and welcome from bloggers and non-bloggers. Please submit links to posts (past years welcome), pictures or ideas to bonnybluehouse at gmail dot com by Wednesday evening, Dec. 3, so they can be included in this festive fair to celebrate St. Nicholas. All ideas, small or great are welcome!
Looking for inspiration?
As always a good place to start is the Catholic Culture website with its extensive collection of recipes in the St. Nicholas section. There are a large variety of recipes from classic liturgical year cookbooks and resources.
Another excellent on-line resource for all things Saint Nicholas is the St. Nicholas Center. The recipe section of the website is a treasure trove of festive foods from around the world to celebrate St. Nicholas. Everything from beverages to sweets & treats, from breads to main dishes are included here.
Saint Nicholas Day is a highlight of the Advent of season and a traditional time of celebration. His feast is popular all over the world which provides many different cultural twists on foods and feasting. St. Nicholas Day gives us a perfect excuse to start baking Christmas cookies. Speculaas and Springerle are the most well-known of the traditional cookies, but, the variety of cookies made in different cultures is as varied as the cultures themselves. Whether the cookies are imprinted in traditional cookie molds, made in to the shape of the saint or his symbols, or simply round,they are a mainstay for celebrating the feast day.
Bisschopswijn, hot spiced wine, is a traditional beverage for many, consumed on the eve of the feast day. There are also several non-alchoholic punch variations or grape juice can be used. Helen McLoughlin, in Family Advent Customs, suggests as an activity toasting his memory with the Bishopwyn and telling the beautiful legends of the charity of St. Nicholas.Candy is a standard treat associated with the feast day as well, from homemade Nikolausschnitten and Borstplaat to chocolate coins and candy canes which have become associate with the feast. There are many fun ways to incorporate those into the St. Nicholas feast day.
The symbols associated with St. Nicholas such as three golden balls, three bags of gold (coins), three golden apples, three loaves of bread, three children in a tub, Trinity symbol on a cope, anchor, ship, bishop's mitre, shepherd's crook could be used as well.
Looking forward to seeing all of your ideas in the Bounty of St. Nicholas fair! Pin It
Have you ever tried the Peppernuts from the Cooking with the Saints book?
ReplyDeleteI made them several years back, but they came out hard as a rock. Suggestions? Did I over mix?
Last year I made a recipe from the St. Nicholas Center and blogged about it: http://blessusolord.blogspot.com/2007/12/note-to-self.html
ReplyDeleteThese cookies were completely unknown to my family before I tried the recipe, but they were a wonderful addition to our Feast Day celebration.