Bye Bye Christmas Cookies
The holidays are winding down and there go my excuses for baking Christmas cookies. After all, Christmas cookies in September just don’t have the same appeal. So bye bye butter, bye bye sugar, bye bye vanilla, bye bye red and green decorations, until we meet again next December.
Hello New Year’s Resolutions…
Happy New Year!
A New Twist on an Old Tradition
We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner last weekend. I’m sure Annie’s favorite part was the shrimp cocktail since she never, ever tires of those bug like crustaceans. My favorite part of the meal is always the linguine with white clam sauce. I’m not sure what Louisa’s favorite item was, but usually she has no complaints about this meal since she likes seafood. And then there’s Joe’s favorite part – the bacala. His family always made a soup and salad out of that dried salt cod fish, which I had never tasted until I met him and his family. I’ve made my share of bacala soup over the years since it was part of his holiday tradition, but it was no secret that wasn’t my favorite part of the meal. It doesn’t fall to the level of beets on my dislike meter, but I could live just fine without it. Joe can’t.
This year he became very chatty with the wife of a coworker who shared that bacala was also part of her tradition, but she batter fries the fish for her family. After that conversation, Joe came home all charged up and ready to try this new approach to the classic. He bought the cod, he soaked the cod for days and changed the water daily, he prepared the batter, and he fried the fish. The whole time he was sure that this would maintain the tradition for him because it was the process of soaking the fish that was most important.
When it came time for dinner we all agreed that this was definitely a good way to include bacala in the meal if that had to be part of our tradition. Everyone, that is, except for Joe. Apparently there’s just something about that darn bacala soup that has grabbed his soul and won’t let go. Fried fish just wouldn’t do the trick.
Back to the soup pot next year.
Photo of the Week – December 28, 2011 – Happy Birthday Annie!
This was Annie’s family birthday celebration cake, her choice since she liked the Portal Cake she made back in August. It’s allergy safe (for my niece) since it’s egg free and nut free, and very delicious if you like chocolate. Happy Birthday Annie!