Our Fondue Tradition

When the kids were growing up, we started the tradition to fondue on New Year’s Eve and watch a marathon of movies. We would pick movies that had multiple movies in the series like Harry Potter, The Pirates of the Caribbean, Jason Bourne, Lord of the Rings, Batman, Ocean’s 13, etc. Whatever the movie, it was about being together as a family and eating a meal that was a shared experience.

Fondue Plate

Our children have all grown up and moved onto their own lives, but we continue to spend our New Year’s Eve eating fondue and watching movies until about an hour before midnight.  We do a peanut oil fondue with steak, chicken, mushrooms, and green peppers (we used to do hot dogs when the kids were younger).  Then we do our family curry sauce, chutney, and béarnaise sauce for dipping.  Although we love a good cheese or chocolate fondue, this is a perfect fondue for creating a hearty meal, especially when needing to offset all of the glasses of wine that lead up to our midnight toast.

Fondue Table

Our New Year’s Day tradition is pork and sauerkraut, which is a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition that is meant to provide good luck throughout the coming year.  It works out really well since it is a slow cooker meal and we are usually moving a little slower after New Year’s Eve.  We’ve decided to share with you our curry fondue sauce recipe, which is obviously simple and can be used with other meals besides fondue.

Cooking in Peanut Oil

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Mayonnaise
  • 3 tbsp Whole Milk (Skim can be used to lower the fat and calories)
  • 4 – 5 tsp Curry Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Tabasco Sauce

Instructions

In a medium size bowl, combine mayonnaise, milk, curry powder, and tabasco sauce.  Whisk together and chill for 30 minutes.  If it is too thick, simply add a dash more of milk and stir.

Christmas Market in Denver, Colorado

Carolers

We went to Denver on Saturday because we were flying out of the Denver airport the following morning. As always, we went to the 16th Street Mall to wander the shops and came across the German Christmas market that is there annually. We really enjoy seeing all of the hand-crafted decorations in all of the various stalls.  The market is called the Denver Christkindl Market and it is definitely worth a visit if you’re in Denver in mid-to-late December.

Candy Galore
Hats for Skiing
Hand-Made Candles

Whether it is because the German Christmas traditions were the ones that most influenced the traditions in the United States or whether Colorado has a kindred spirit with Germany, there are several German Christmas markets throughout the state.  Years ago, we went to Georgetown in Colorado and bought hand-made Christmas ornaments and had each engraved.  We hang those every year, three generations of our family represented proudly.

Paper Stars
Christmas Decorations
Christmas Ornaments

Unless you can count a year and a half when one of was two years old, we’ve not been to Germany yet, but it is definitely a destination that we’re going to visit in the very near future.  We love these little markets, whether at home or abroad, there is such passion and love represented with each of the hand-made items on display.  Hopefully you have a similar market where you live as well.

More Christmas Decorations and Ornaments
Glass Ornaments
Scarves, Blankets, and More

We want to wish all of friends a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 🙂