Featured Articles
Perfect Holiday: A Sweet Celebration in Brooklyn
Christmas is one of our favorite holidays. Every year the season brings up memories of growing up in Philadelphia. As kids we couldn’t wait to get to the Wannemaker Building to see the Christmas Light Show and tour the world of Ebenezer Scrooge in the animatronic Dickens Village. We’d walk beneath the dazzling ornaments hung in Rittenhouse Square before going home to sit with moms and grandmoms to be reminded of the parts of the holiday that aren’t about trees and toys. There was more family, food and fun than at any other part of the year. And - at least for a while - we didn’t have to go to school. It was a magical time, and each year we try to share the same warm feelings we remember with our New York family, transforming our home into a winter wonderland just in time for our big party.
A Modern Look At Kwanzaa
Since it was first introduced by Maulana Karenga in 1966, Kwanzaa has been part of the suite of holidays celebrated by Americans at the end of every year. Yet compared to other winter holidays, Kwanzaa is not especially popular, even among its target community of African Americans. Though a variety of Kwanzaa events take place every year, some attracting crowds of thousands, many of us are unfamiliar with the core principles of the celebration, its history or its original intent. For others, the disconnect is aesthetic, rooted in 60s perspectives on Black culture and diaspora and hard to connect with today. But the seven principles that form the core of the celebration, Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Familyhood / Cooperative economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith), are powerful points of focus and we should be careful not to lose them to neglect.
Chocolate Pound Cake With Peppermint Ganache Glaze
Family is at the heart of the story. For Jocelyn Delk Adams, founder of Grandbaby Cakes, family is where everything begins. The food blogger, turned cookbook author, turned television personality, was once just a little girl absorbing all of the knowledge and love there was to be found in a family kitchen. From the beginning, Jocelyn’s baking, with it’s focus on sweet treats and fond memories, has centered on the influence of a central character: her grandmother, “Big Mama.” Adams shares one of her favorite family recipes with us — a chocolate ganache pound cake with peppermint glaze.
