Friday, March 26, 2010

Yummy Family Traditions

The holiday times are full of different family traditions. My family has had a tradition with food since I can remember. Every Christmas Eve, my Italian side of my family comes together to scoff down on an array of different traditional Italian dishes, with yours truly cooking it all. The family torch has been passed to me about three years ago. It is a creation of food that takes several days to produce everything, with the end result of it all disappearing within a couple hours. The whole process is very strenuous but is worth it, for one time per year, our whole family is together. That never happens except on this day. The food brings everyone together to share not only the exquisite entrees but also the memories, love and family times.

Our recipes for Christmas Eve, goes back generations straight to our ancestors in Sicily. My father and I value our still intact recipe book from all members of our late family so much that laminated it to prevent any more aging damage. Starting a week before Christmas Eve, we start our legendary spaghetti sauce, which is absolutely to die for!!! It cooks for that whole week, making quite a mess on the stove top, I might add. In the end, the mess is worth this savory sauce.

The selection of food provided ranges from the spaghetti sauce, calzones, pesto pasta, mussels, and a different array of fish, lasagna, manicotti and Italian pastries.

The pastries we get from Vincenza’s Italian Bakery, which is a little family owned restaurant and bakery that is traditional Italian food. The website is right here for anyone that would like to experience great Italian food in an intimate environment.

Here is a link for the best recipes I have found online that offers authentic Italian food, the closet to Italy you can get (that is without family recipes) by clicking here . The other entrees we make that are relatively new dishes. It is a different fresh zucchini salad every year and my famous chicken parmesan.

Everything is topped off with cappuccino, red wine and a bottle of Asti Spumante to toast our wonderful family. Family and food are the most important things in my life. I was brought up to charish those things the most. So when Christmas Eve hits, I put my heart and soul into the whole process. Christmas eve is pretty elaborate and beautiful at our house. You can even say, its more important than Christmas day. Needless to say, at the end of the night, everybody is too tired, stuffed and tipsy to drive anywhere, so we all end up spending the night at my fathers. That in itself is a sight to see; people placed about in the guest room, on the couch, recliners and even on the floor. I am so sorry I have no pictures of that, but I will definitely get one this year, that is, if I'm not already passed out.

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