Amy Morris & Anna Polonsky’s holiday survival tips

Photo Credit: Charles Roussel
Founder, The Anchor Council; US Director, LeFooding
Good friends and collaborators, Amy Morris from The Anchor Council, a new Brooklyn-based interior and event design firm, and Anna Polonsky of Le Fooding, shared a few of their holiday entertaining and survival tips.
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Homemade Cookie Dough: Make your favorite cookie dough and keep it in the fridge. It’s an easy treat and always delights—cookies in 10 minutes!
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Holiday Decor Sources: Go to Authentiques in Chelsea, New York: During the year they sell everything from vintage scotch tumblers to Murano glass ashtrays, but at Christmas they specialize in vintage ornaments. For those who haven’t been it’s a must-visit Christmas destination, and a great way to get into the spirit of the holiday.
The bright colors and super heroes plastered everywhere can be a little overwhelming, but Party City also carries plain red and white hanging snowflake-like fans and fluffy decorations. Hang them together at different heights and suddenly you’ve got a holiday wonderland for just $30.
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Create Happy Little Routines: The tradition of the tree lends itself to happy little routines that continue to give year after year.
- Buy your partner a new ornament for when you dress the tree. —Anna
- The Australians have Pims on Christmas morning—something we’ve adopted when opening our gifts. —Amy
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Restorative Yoga: It’s just what your body needs this time of year and it’s good for digestion. If you can’t make it to class, do a few minutes of downward facing dogs.
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Non-Traditional Menu: We go to restaurants a lot so when we’re home, we love to savor simple, stress-free meals. When entertaining, replace the holiday tradition with any family-style dish that you can make in advance. Think curry, fish stews, roast. Ask your guests to bring nibbles. Shameful confession: Talenti sorbets (easily found in delis) will do perfectly for dessert.
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A Holiday with Friends: As an expat, I’m usually far from my family during the holidays. We now gather, along with other “holiday orphans,” share the menu execution, and orchestrate a Secret Santa. Keep the gifts within a reasonable budget and people get creative.
Last year, I was lucky enough to receive the best gift, a custom-made hat to be made by the wonderful Satya Twena. I love to offer handmade soaps and candles from Apotheke or the latest issue of Le Fooding.
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Breakfast for The Crowd: Bacon Egg Cups. We cooked these for the sous chefs at Estela, and the 20 others helping set-up at Anna’s farm wedding and they were a huge hit.
- Pre-heat your oven to 375°F.
- Put pastry dough at the base of each cup in a cupcake tin. If you can’t find dough at local grocer, in the freezer, just put a piece of toast in its place.
- Wrap a piece of almost cooked bacon around the inside of the cups.
- Crack an egg in the middle.
- Grate some cheese over the top.
- Cook for 20 minutes.
You can add chives and veggies to the eggs as well but we like to keep it simple.