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"We could bring a big plate of brats," my husband, Don, says enthusiastically, thinking of his favorite German sausages.
"What about some kind of pasta?" suggests one of the kids.
"We could bring a Chinese treat," the youngest proposes.
One daughter jumps right out of the Christmas "box". "I think we should make latkes. Sure they're for Hanukkah, but that's a huge part of our Christmas celebration. Right? I think we should talk about Hannukah for our Christmas Around the World moment. Who doesn't love fried food?" That last line is a famous saying in our house.
"How about a big bowl of fresh salsa or something from Egypt," I offer. Nothing from the peanut gallery on these ideas. They are all still thinking.
"Here's the thing guys," I add. "I have meetings all afternoon and time is a big factor. Whatever we decide on has to be made ahead of time and should taste good even if it's cold."
With those restrictions we are all temporarily stumped.
Well, our family claims MANY cultures in our genetic heritage, plus we have adopted customs and favorite foods of countries no one in our ancestry hales from. So, it's not easy to decide what to bring that would represent a FAVORITE dish for Christmas Around the World. And, of course we couldn't just bring a package of cookies from the Euro Import store, though I know the neighbors wouldn't have cared one wit, the kids wanted it to be something special.
"We gonna have a party?" Brennan, our oldest asked at just 18 months old. A party for him was any gathering larger than the three of us. And, as we added kids, we added traditions and any reason to celebrate is a party at our house. Aside from the typical American holidays, here are some of the customs we either observe every year, or have acknowledged in one way or another:
The German Winter Fest
Chinese New Year
St. Patrick's Day
Purim
Holi - Indian Festival of Colors
Passover
Cinco de Mayo
Midsummer's Eve
Pioneer Day
Ramadan
Constitution Day
Festival of India
The Feast of the Sacrifice
Saint Nicholas Day
Hanukkah
Maybe one day I'll actually write something about each of those instead of just ripping off a bunch of links from other people's web sites.
Now the SHOCKING news. With all this celebration of diversity in our home, I (not we) tend to come back to favorites where food is concerned. And, I have to say that of all the food in the world we love to fill up on, my favorite over-all, could eat it for every meal, every day of the week ethnic cuisines comes from one country. My family does not agree.
"So, if you guys had to pick a favorite cuisine, where would it come from?" I ask, thinking I know the answer.
"I don't like having to choose favorites," Brennan says blandly.
"Yeah, it's like a false choice. I think you're setting us up. Think of all the food we love. Mexican food is like everything you could ever want to eat, wrapped in a tortilla. Then there's Indian. And Asian, I love Asian food except the breakfasts, I never could do the fish gruel when I travelled to places like China and Korea." Don says.
"Besides, I think if you choose one at the expense of all the others, it would take all the joy out of that one." Such a philosophical teen this oldest boy of mine.
"Yeah, but if you had to choose," I press.
"I wouldn't because you just want me to choose Italian, and I love Italian, but not at the cost of letting everything else go."
"Fine, you guys keep your open minds and palettes. I'm not ashamed to name a favorite, hands down, no questions asked ethnic food." I answer.
Guess what I chose. Maybe I already gave it away, but go ahead, guess. Anyway, we made a brilliant dessert I've been dreaming of making for YEARS. Find out what it was next time I write.
1 comment:
She never said what she chose! It was yummy, awsome cannoli inside of easy (cheater?) cannoli shells that were really just icecream cones cut in half. ;)
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