Little Missy's Holiday Life Style

Martha's Chicken Tortilla Soup*

So many of us are weighing in on Holiday entertaining, that Little Missy has pulled together a few tips for you too!  Straight from Palo Alto, the heart of Silicon Valley, where Little Missy grew up!  Food is the essence of holidays, and sometimes all we want is a good chicken soup.  Here is the recipe for Martha's Chicken Tortilla Soup.  When friends come to visit Little Missy, they always perk up when they hear Martha is cooking (rather than Little Missy, I'm sad to say).  The picture is not actually Martha's soup.  I got it from the Internet!

Martha's Chicken Tortilla Soup

You will need:

5 small whole, skinned and boned chicken breasts

2 onions

2 cloves garlic

6 ripe tomatoes

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

1 bay leaf

1 lemon

salt and pepper

First, boil chicken and 1/2 onion in water with garlic and salt for about 15 minutes.

Second, chop garlic and put into a skillet with oil of your choice.  Add remaining onion and tomatoes that you have chopped and sauté for 2 minutes.  Add a quart of chicken stock.

Third, cut boiled chicken into small pieces and put into skillet with chopped cilantro, 1 bay leaf and salt and cook at high heat for 10-15 minutes. Discard bay leaf and turn off heat. 

Garnish with tortilla strips that you have cut into thin slices and baked in a 400 degree oven until they are crisp, and diced avocado.  Add lemon juice.

And as for complicated guacamole, forget it!  True guacamole is simple.  But first I must relate a story of a very ambitious woman from a town in New Jersey, who was trying very hard to impress Little Missy with her culinary abilities (I'm not the right person for this trick--respectful of great cooks though I may be).  She brought over to my house her idea of the perfect guacamole--she was going to teach me how to make it!  She brought over at least 12 ingredients and some kind of special hand held food blender.  She was so proud of herself I didn't have the heart to tell her so was way off base!  That food blender is a dust catcher in one of my kitchen drawers!

Martha's Guacamole

2 avocados

juice of 1 lemon

some cilantro to taste

salt

Mash these up in a bowl and you will have the perfect guacamole.  If you are in California, only buy Casa Sanchez Thin and Light Delgados corn tortilla chips, nothing else.  The wrong chip can ruin the best guacamole!  I've seen this happen dozens of times!  Only Casa Sanchez!

That's it for Little Missy's food tips!  I'm not Julia Child, and if someone wants to come over and roast a chicken I am always very happy to set a beautiful table.  Which brings us to Little Missy's Holiday Table Tops!

When I first was married a million years ago back in the 70's, I found myself in the unique position of being hostess to my parents for the first Christmas ever!  Prior to that fateful Christmas, my mother had always been the hostess (with the mostess, I might add).  I sought to stand out, to be different from my mother.  And though I had beautiful linens and access to lovely flowers, I set a bare table with terra clay potted narcissus as centerpieces.  My holiday table looked like a page out of Simple Living.  It was really quite dismal.  My mother showed me once again her grace.  "Your table is beautiful," she said.  I wonder what she really thought. Now I bring out the antique Portuguese lace table clothes and the silver.  More is more!

Themes and Variations

I like a gold, ivory and evergreen holiday.  That means spraying magnolia leaves gold and arranging them together with white French tulips and evergreen bows.  It means ivory pleated French wired ribbon.  It means pine cones.  It means cut crystal and silver vases and containers.  It means Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and music boxes.  I like the smell of pine, as long as it is not overbearing.  Little Missy always makes Christmas sugar cookies in the shapes of stars, trees, doves, and ginger men and women.  There is always Champagne in the fridge.

Little Missy's Anise Christmas Cookies

Cream 1 cup butter and 3/4 cup sugar until fluffy.  Beat in 1 already lightly beaten egg, and 1 1/2 teaspoons anise seed.  In a bowl, sift 1 1/2 cup white flour and 1 1/2 whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt and stir into butter mixture.  Add 1/4 cup brandy (a good one).  Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters.  Sprinkle with cinnamon or coloured sugars.  Bake 10-12 minutes in a pre-heated 350 oven.

And remember to tell the people who mean the most to you how much you love them!

*Not Martha Stewart!



Little Missy's Best Tip

 

 

Hillary Clinton for 2016

Hands Down



Little Missy's  Rules of Etiquette 

and More Holiday Gift Ideas

 

 

Far be it from Little Missy to be discouraging, but if you don't get out there and shop soon, all the good stuff will be gone, especially the stuff I am writing about now!

 

 

Maison Michel Veil

Like this Maison Michel veil!  You will wow the true  fashionista on your list and if someone doesn't like it or thinks it's silly, you can weed them out as not genuinely fashionable.

 

 

Hafner Chardonnay

Hafner Chardonnay is Missy's favorite chardonnay, and also the favourite of the top San Francisco museums when they have their events.  Friends are always wowed by the gift packs from this family owned Healdsburg vineyard.    Call them at +707 4334606 and tell them you want what Christine Suppes gets and they will take good care of you!  A really good tip!

 

Kermit Lynch's new book

However, if  your friends, like the charming Berkeley, California wine importer and taste maker Kermit Lynch,  prefer the French and Italian varieties, Kermit's new book may be just  the ideal gift.  He was the California pioneer of the European wine market and he writes really well (he majored in creative writing at San Francisco State in the day when that meant something).

 

Alfred Dunhill Toiletries for Men

Little Missy has always preached that men need to pamper themselves with facials, massages and fabulous products.  Make sure you visit Dunhill when you go to London, gentlemen, and get yourselves pampered.  An afternoon of pampering for gentlemen at a top spot is always one of my favourite gift ideas.

 

Metro Drop Earrings by Tiffany

These earrings are very Little Missy.  Just the right amount of bling for the holidays from the best American company.  My personal jeweller says that Tiffany diamonds are the best in the business and that Tiffany is the best company around.  He knows, as he is fixing every other jeweller's emergencies every day!

 

 

Now for Little Missy's Rules of Etiquette for the Holidays

1. Don't come to a party empty handed.  Bring a candle, wine, a bunch of holly, but bring something. Don't believe your hostess when he or she says that "your presence is their presents".  It's not true.

2.  Do NOT drag out your cell phone at a party.  For heaven's sakes!  Just Don't!

3. Don't take off your shoes.  Even if your feet are killing you.  Make preparations ahead of time, but don't go barefoot.

4. Don't chew gum or offer it to anyone.

5. Don't talk about your problems at the party.

6. If you know a good joke and can tell it, then do.  But not an off colour one.

Well, the season is starting to get under way!  There will be more Little Missy thoughts and tips, and I hope this has inspired you!  In the moment! 

 

 

 

 

Little Missy's Holiday List

or The Early Bird Catches The Worm!

Part One

 

Rodarte Jewelry

 

It's never too early to start your holiday shopping!  You can choose to forget the holidays which is curmudgeonly but completely understandable, given the frantic nature of the season.  Once or twice there has been the holiday season when even Little Missy thought and failed to take the spiritual path (make that pass), and pretend that the commercial aspect was beneath the challenge.  To JackSprat1, who writes in "Sorry Missy, Tesla is in Palo Alto, not Paris, and is not a clothes designer" I say to you Jack, you're right!  Tesla IS a car company and I think it would make a darned good Christmas gift.

Tesla

 

Now Tesla is a really nice Christmas present!  So is Rodarte's barbed wire jewelry, or their tie dye shirts , all of which will be supreme fashion collector's items.

 

Rodarte Tie Dye Shirt

 

 

Hermes Yak Shawl

 

Little Missy loves her Hermes Yak shawl and this would make a wonderful Christmas present.  The image isn't too good, but you know those French, their je ne sais quois never involved the Internet, and this is Hermes' official representation!

 

Anna Karenina A Fashion Primer

Little Missy Says All Children Must Read This Book!

This genius book (for children and their parents and everyone)! breaks down the most important part of Anna Karenina, the STYLE of Anna's CLOTHES!

 

Turnbull and Asser Pyjamas

There is something very manly about a man in his pyjamas when they are the right pyjamas that Little Missy can not resist! Yes, gentlemen, these are the right pyjamas!  They are always on my list for the men on my list!

 

Well, that's it for this time, but don't you dare think we have finished with Little Missy's Holiday List, we have only scratched the surface!  So be in the moment, even if that means being kind of early!  Laughing Out Loud, Little Missy Contradicts herself as usual!