New York Book Club- Christmas Style

I am a part of a book club here in New York and as we members like to say, it's not your ordinary book club. The club had an author call in (I wasn't a part of the club yet, but it sounded like a really good discussion), in November we received an e-mail from the author's assistant, and in December we had a decent chance of being on the Martha Stewart show (Jill, you rock).
For the month of December, most of the girls leave New York for Christmas, so we had our meeting early in the month. Last Saturday, December 8th, we all met upstate for brunch at Sarabeth's restaurant. Sarabeth's kitchen is well known for it's preserves. They are sold in grocery stores all over New York. Here's a link, in case you are interested in learning more. http://www.sarabethsbakery.com/

The food was incredible. The most popular order was the lemon, ricotta pancakes. Some ordered eggs Benedict, Popeye eggs ( with spinach, of course), and eggs fritata. Sarabeth's also offered pumpkin waffles topped with honey, sour cream, and pumpkin seeds. They had spinach and goat cheese filled omelets, pancakes with berries, and several other tempting choices. I tried the almond crusted French toast drizzled with cranberry-raspberry sauce. The French toast was delectable!

After brunch, we headed over to Jill's apartment for fun and frivolity. We swapped gifts with the person whose name we had chosen a month earlier, and had a children's Christmas book swap. Jenny read us the book, My Penguin Osbert. The book is about a little boy who wants a penguin for Christmas. He gets the penguin, and comes to understand that having a penguin is a lot of hard work! It's a must read for children of all ages. Sheena read to us the book, Snowmen at Christmas. The book tells its reader all about the adventures of snowmen and how they celebrate Christmas while people are sleeping. It's an extremely cute children's book.

The day was a lot of fun, and I am happy to participate in such a fantastic club! Thanks, girls, for such a festive day.