A Most Memorable Meal

Using a holiday meal as a most memorable meal seems to be an easy way out of thinking back to other possible meals that are considered normal, every-day meals. This past Christmas however was a meal that I will remember for quite some time for many reasons. This meal was filled with food and family that doesn’t always have the opportunity of coming together. Having almost all of my mother’s family in attendance as well as my father’s mother’s family who all gathered at my house we all totaled 22 people.
My Aunt Rosi from Sicily, Aunt Sara who lives in Switzerland with her three children and my dad’s cousin and his wife who is from Brazil were all at my house for the first time together. Three continents were represented at the three tables that were needed to seat all of the people and so many different types of food were present on our buffet full of overflowing dishes. When my family hosts holiday meals at my home my mother asks everyone to bring a dish for dinner and an appetizer or dessert and she typically makes a meat-based main dish and there is always plenty of food for everyone during the meal and leftovers for at least a day.
This year’s Christmas meal was more eclectic than normal due to the diverse population and the foods that everyone brought. My aunt from Sicily made the lasagna that her mother had taught her to make that has everything except the kitchen sink in it and tastes amazing. From Brazil a marinated chicken was prepared that was absolutely mouthwatering and enjoyed by all. My grandmother traded positions with my mom and brought the main meat dish, a ham. This ham was from the local butcher that has caused me to be very picky about where the meat I eat comes from. Most importantly though was the mustard sauce that accompanied the ham, a sauce that my great-grandmother always made whenever ham was served in her house. More traditional dishes such as mashed potatoes and stuffing were left off the menu and substitutes were new dishes such as a mashed pear and turnip dish that was a recommendation from a culinary magazine and my grandmother’s spiced brussel sprouts. With so many dishes there was such a nice variety with something that made everyone happy.
Dessert was another part of the meal that brought many different types together. One of my grandmothers had made cookies that she hadn’t made since my mother’s childhood which were added to a tray of many different cookies that I had made over the previous week as I discovered my love of baking. Chocolate was also a key staple for dessert but it came in many different forms and flavors. With boxes of chocolates with various fillings, chocolate covered pretzels, and specially flavored chili chocolate brought from Switzerland there was something for everyone who enjoys chocolate.
This past Christmas was a meal that was a time that brought people and food together that probably won’t come together again until I get married which will be quite a while. This was a meal that turned into more of an event that was able to join people together over food, the center for most American conversation.

Hi and welcome!

This is the first time that I have ever done a blog like this so please work with me as I start!

In May I will be taking about a 2 week trip to Rome, Italy with a class from school and this blog is my attempt to capture the thoughts that I have up to and through the time spent in Italy. There will be some posts that are assignments from class while others will be pieces of my own. I hope that this will be a fun adventure for me as well as for you to read about as I experience different food and culture. In titling my blog I hope to make my first connection between cultures and food as I reference very Italian foods that have become Americanized in certain ways. While in Italy I hope to be able to explore the differences that have come about as these food have crossed the ocean and how the originals are so different than what I am used to in Western Pennsylvania.

As I go through this semester and this blog there may be some books that I reference, a start would be the book Through the Kitchen Window which is edited by Arlene Voski Avakian and is a collection of short stories and recipies that tell the stories of women and their time spent in the kitchen and/or how food has become a part of their life for better or worse.

Please leave comments and thoughts that you have, and I hope that this blog is one that at least makes you smile! :)