Holiday Food

Festive Foods Friday Five

1. Favorite cookie/candy/baked good without which, it's just not Christmas.

Honestly, I'm not sure there is one for me right now. Is that blasphemous? Since my kids are (mostly) grown and I don't got to my mother's any more at Christmas, my food rituals have loosened considerably. At one point sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, toll house cookeies and fudge would've been required. At my parents' it was usually pork loin at the main Christmas feast with baked pineapple and cheese, sweet potatoes in some form and green beans the way my grandmother cooked them (with country ham overcooked but yummy). And always lots of desserts: mince pie, pecan pie, rum cake, chocolate mint pound cake, regular pound cake, coconut cake. I've NEVER cooked that much, for better or for worse.

2. Do you do a fancy dinner on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, both, or neither?

I've always tried to keep Christmas Eve simple because Christmas Eve has always included church and stocking hanging and stories and me staying up late late late to wrap gifts. This is even more true now that I have 2-3 services on Christmas Eve. Our CE dinner this year is still under discussion. LD#2 and SiL are mostly in charge of menus.

Our big meal this year will be Christmas Day and will feature ham, baked pineapple and I don't know yet what else. Present will be moi, the Kid, LD#2, SiL, his parents and sister. Menus for Christmas Day have varied over the years at chez Rev. Dr. Mom: often turkey but occasionally salmon.

3. Evaluate one or more of the holiday beverage trifecta: hot chocolate, wassail, egg nog.

I've only had real eggnog once, and now the raw eggs would keep me away. The stuff out of the carton --gah! Wassail???? So I guess it's hot chocolate for me!

4. Candy canes: do you like all the new-fangled flavors or are you a peppermint purist?

I am DEFINITELY a peppermint purist: red and white peppermint stripes defined candy canes!

5. Have you ever actually had figgy pudding? And is it really so good that people will refuse to leave until they are served it?

Never had figgy pudding but I had a classmate in seminary who was a Brit and she claimed that it was in fact that good.

And what about the crown prince of holiday foods--the fruitcake.?

My mother made fruit cake every single year until just recently. She loves it and hers isn't bad; I just don't much care for the candied fruit. My dad also used to buy Claxton fruitcakes from some civic group and they were pretty good--softer and chewier as I recall.

If I were to make a fruitcake I would want to leave out most of the candied stuff and just have lots of dates and raisins and figs and nuts.