December book club birthdays

Every month at book club we celebrate everyone who's having a birthday that month, and this month there were three of us, including me (December 20). Beth, on the left, isn't a birthday girl, but she made the beautiful Pavlova for us so she gets in the photo. That's me, Kristina, and Judy with the tiara.

Beth had an "I Rule" tiara for us to wear.

She's the hostess with the mostess! 

She also set up a cookie decorating station, and Meegan is taking it pretty seriously. I felt like a kid again.

Then there was the appetizer spread on her kitchen counter, where we all gather and gab and munch for about an hour until we move into the dining room for our main potluck meal.

I made something new to me, a cranberry Brie wreath made with crescent roll dough that I've been seeing all over Instagram and Facebook lately. You put a bowl in the middle of a sheet pan and arrange the dough around it like a sea star, then cover it with layers of homemade cranberry sauce, Brie, toasted hazelnuts (I used pecans) and dried cranberries. Wrap the dough around the filling, brush with an egg wash, sprinkle with pink salt and rosemary, and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. Yummy!!!

The main meal was as bountiful as ever, with green chicken enchiladas, refried beans, chicken tortilla soup, stuffed zucchini boats, salad, a veggie platter. 

We discussed travel, food, and the book, "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" by James McBride," which we all loved. Highly recommend it.

Besides the Pavlova for dessert, Barb made fudge and melt-in-your-mouth crescent nut cookies.

A Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert that originated in either Australia or New Zealand and is named after Anna Pavlova, the Russian ballerina. It has a crispy meringue crust, a soft whipped cream center, and a fruit topping. It was absolutely luscious.

To top it all off, I won the Dead Sea Natural Body Mud that Beth brought back from her recent trip to Jordan and Egypt! It'll be a whole new me!

 

Have a colorful day