‘CUISINE SCENE °

MY. OWN memories of —

“ Christmas are cherished -
ones. Quite different from
the ones we now celebrate in

veneeta (as I can usually:

nristmas meant? ‘sunshine, and blue
kies, and Christmas tree: ots where «
adies brought in ‘fabric ‘swatches of...
their living room ‘sofa, forthe guys

in the paint ‘spray booths to tatch®
ie family tree to the decor {real-

Wher was s always thethuge.“
‘American | family Christmas Bye’.
“dinner (a groaning board you would
“not believe) at Auntie Camille and ;
“Uncle Frank’s house, where we
“ids had to perform some song, .-
 ecital or dance.'I hated this part: :

e went home witha car. full of. :

ack ages, and my brother and J...

ere told to go to bed so that Santa

ould come. But first, a snack for®
‘Santa,

Lalways left out a thick roast .

ham sandwich by. the fi ireplace, ani d.

glass of cold. milk. -

4 grew suspicious one year when

iy Dad told me that Santa would)

Jove to have a cold beer...
Christmas morning we opened

ackages (too many, I admit) and

ibbled on my mom's: apricot-nut *

The family, dinner was candlelit
nd delicious, and I wonder to this '
day how my mother did.it all. A
listening roast ham, baked apri-
ots; Tice pilaf with a date-and-nut
opping, filo’ pastry, ‘filled cheese .
poerag, stuffed vine leaves with _.
ice, currants’ and pine nuts, bundles.
of. green beans bound with bacon
d onions,'and lots of wonderful’
desserts (baklava, of course).
“She always gave a huge
. Christmas party the week before,
and I’ll never forget her seven-
tiered banana-nut Christmas tree
cake (all frosted in green swirls and
Savish candy decorations), © ¢

only

I simply /oved Christmas. Next
week I'll tell you this year's plans.
But: in the meantime..,

Lasked all the chefs and food
people for their own personal recol-
lections of Christmases past, and
plans for this.Christmas present.

| expected a few token lines ...

* jbut was I wrong. My fax machine
‘turned out page after page, in con-
stant succession, and I was simply
taken aback by their generous shar-

* ing.

So here’s the first group, with
the others to follow next week

. (Dec, 29),

Enjoy. their own celebration with
‘them, as I surely did. And to every-

© one — Merry Christmas!

Wolfgang vou Wieser, executive
. chef of the Four Seasons Hotel
and Chartwell Restaurant:

“By the time Weinacht's Nacht’
(Christmas Eve) arrives this Dec.
24 at the von Wieser residence, Si.
Nick will long be gone. In my
- homeland of Austria, St. Nicholas
has already found out who's
naughty and nice by Dec. 6.

“Instead, adults and kinder alike
await the arrival of Christkind on
Dec, 24, Unlike the North

“American traditions, the Austrian °
7 focus is always on Christmas Eve.
' “This year, my mother, Gertrude
“von Wieser, will continue our tradi-
"tions here in Vancouver (she is vis-
Ls ting from Feldkirch).
yo"We adults will spend the after-
‘fioon sipping mulled wine and dec-_
 orating the tree in a room (away ©
- from the twinkling eyes of the’
kinder).

“AI! the family will sit down to.
a Christmas dinnex of liver
- dumpling suppe, roast duck with a
mushroom, pea, sage and pear:
stuffing made with sour dough rye
bread:

“* “Our traditional finish isa +» ,
Christmas stollen ‘(a candied cake
OF orange, lemon, nuts and marzi- ©
~pan).
“AS a young boy i in Feldkirch, 1
would play outside in the snow *
after dinner while the adults would
finish decorating the tree and help
Santa Claus distribute the presents.
“We would all return to the
magically lit tree, sing Christmas.

carols, and open up the gifts under .

‘the tree.” -

- Hotel Vancouver's executive chef ©
Robert Le Crom:

“Being European, the important
day for me is Christmas Eve, not
Christmas Day. In my native
«Brittany (/'Orient on the ceast), |
used to be an usher and choir boy,
and Christmas Eve was very imper-
tant for my family. -

“As there was no snow for us,
our setting was quite different. On
Christraas Eve we drank the tradi-
tional hot chocolate, attended
Christmas mass, and returned home
to open up our presents.

“Our traditional meal was

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always a coast goose with roasted
chestnuts, a rich pate to begin the
meal, and always a yule log (Buche
de Noel) tor our Christmas dessert.

“This year, on the 24th, ! will be
cooking supper for my immediate
family, to get some rest for the big
job on Christmas Day.”

(Last year he fed some 2,400
people on Christmas Day at the
Hotel Vancouver, and expects to do
the same this year!)

“Our Christmas Eve dinner will
be a lobster salad with a nice
Alsatian wine, veal medallions with
a moreal sauce and lots of fresh
vegetables with a bottle of
Beaujolais, and (of course!) a yule
lug and Champagne to finish.”

Glivier Andreini, executive chef
instructor of the Dubrutle French
Culinary School:

“| was born in Vevey, the
French part of Switzerland, I have

- one brother, who will be arriving

from Switzerland on Dec. 22 to
spend Christmas with my family
and me. I have not seen him for
seven years.

“This will be his first visit to
B.C., and we will be putting on a
(somewhat) special Christmas for
him to experience what this
province is all about.

“Because I will be working on
the morning of Dec. 24 (it is the
final day for my students), my wife
Helene will begin preparing the
evening meal without me (actually
she is an excellent cook, so [ have
great faith in her culinary abilities).

“Our Christmas Eve dinner will
start with a mixed baby leaf salad
with an Asian-influenced vinai-

. grette. My seven-year-old son,

Gianny, loves quail, so we have put
the obligatory turkey behind us at
Thanksgiving. We will keep him
happy, and serve quail with port

- and grape sauce.

‘-“The main course is to showcase
the Great North. I pian to serve’
either buffalo or musk-ox for my
brother, Michel, to taste.

“Gianny will be allowed to open

a few of his presents trom under the _

tree before he goes to bed (at home,
in Switzerland, our parcels .
appeared under the tree on
Christmas taorning).

“Late evening, I will Prepare a
passion fruit souffle, as it is a tradi-
tion of mine to. make this souffle at.
Christmas.

“It was created by Fredy :
Girardet from Lausanne, and is a
nod to my culinary heritage.

“From our wine cellar, I have .
stored a few bottles of West Coast
wine and champagne, to show
Michel what we can produce here.

“Then, up to Whistler to ski (my

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NEWS photo Elio Waketlold

‘A FESTIVE. gingerbread house and cookies. (courtesy of: The
Bread Garden, Park Royal, West Vancotver) sets the mood for
holiday celebration. See column for how the chefs and “food.

les” are ‘Gelebrating this season. .

brother is a great skier), and a few
lessons in snowboarding from Chef

‘Roland Pfaff of the Val d'Isere

Restaurant in Whistler.”

Chef-owner Philip Mitchell of
Cafe Norte, Edgemont Village,
North Vancouver: | -

“On the 19th, we're having a
large (60 people including children)
party at our home for our friends,
with a buffet dinner with many tra-

ditional Canadian dishes and a good -

smattering of Mexican dishes like
Chiles en nogada and queso’ pondi-

- to with wild mushrooms.

“Christmas Eve will find the
entire family down at Sister Hilda’s
Mission in East Vancouver with
everyone pitching in to help carve
and serve turkey dinner for 250 ©
people out of mobile kitchens (a

Kelly Johnson

PIES

great perspective for our kids to

‘learn how fortunate we’are, and the
~ people down there truly appreciate :
“having children invoived). ;

“Christmas Day is at home with:
our immediate family. Breakfast
will be fresh artichokes and spinach

- creamed on English muffins with
_ poached eggs and serrano chili hol-

landaise. ;
Philip recollects fondly, “Where oo

J grew up was Qualicum Beach on

Vancouver Island. I have four older
brothers and it was'our job to go
cut and choose and cut our
Christmas tree.

“Being from a small town, i was

_atleast:18 years old before I real-

ized that people in the cities actual-

-ly bought their trees! 1 had never
‘Known anyone who had done that!

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