Public domain photograph of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
This is the winter of my dish content, made glorious . . . full formed, and finished and sent by dinner time into this breathing world.” With a nod to Mr. Shakespeare.
For most of my adult life, I’ve made Italian food for the holidays, often a seafood dish like spaghetti and clams for Christmas or New Years Eve and usually, a lasagna on Christmas Day. I might make a ham, macaroni with ricotta, and a salad for New Year. Or, I might make something Greek, a moussaka or a pastitsio.The main reason for these selections was ease, not nostalgia or tradition. These are the kinds of dishes that are either easily and quickly assembled just before dinner time, or they lend themselves to preparation in advance. This really works when you juggle a job (sometimes more than one) and try to make a memorable day for your child, husband, and elderly parent. I’ve always had the theory that good times are emotional vitamins. Creating good memories strengthens us for the tough times, which are inevitable. So celebration is important and food is a natural part of celebration.
Since I’ve generally been the one with total responsibility for meals, I’m just delighted with our new, evolving traditions. The hallmark seems to be collaboration, and there isn’t anything more collaborative than making tamales. That’s just what we did this year. We thought it would be fun, even though none of us had ever prepared them before. First we mined the Internet for recipes. We got all the ingredients together, and I prepared the pork for the pork tamales ahead of time. Then we got together the Monday before Christmas to assemble and steam the tamales. Before we started work, we watched some YouTube video demonstrations to see exactly how the assembly is done. It was a good afternoon’s work, but no where near the project we expected it to be. In between forays into the chips, salsa, and guacamole, we made thirty-eight tomales, froze them, and defrosted only what we needed on Christmas Day. Maybe next year we’ll do tamales again. Maybe not. No matter. Warm collaboration will always make for a winter of dish content, even if the dish were just a simple bowl of rice.
No comments:
Post a Comment