I for one would really like to hear about holiday food traditions from members around the world -- Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Eid, Easter, you name it.
When I was still living at home, holidays were worse than ordinary days. My mom was even more irritable and prone to picking fights. I have no idea why.
To this day I get physically ill at the smell of cooking pineapple, because she would cook ham with pineapple on top of it for Christmas and Easter.
Once I left, I found holidays much more relaxing and enjoyable. In our home now we sometimes have ham for holidays, but with various mustards on the side. I think the only other unique thing we do is stuff celery with cream cheese. One of my grandmothers would stuff celery with cream cheese mixed with chopped green olives to go with Christmas Eve dinner.
Since moving out to Minnesota I discovered it's traditional here among many Scandinavian Americans to have oyster stew on Christmas Eve. The first Christmas I was here, my future MIL invited us over for that. I brought my own split pea soup as I'm allergic to shellfish, lol. Lutefisk is also traditional out here for Christmas. It's cod cured in lye. I guess you soak all the lye out before cooking it. I have never tried it. Lefse is another traditional Scandinavian-American food around here for Christmas. It's a thin soft bread made of potatoes. Some have it with just butter on it. Some add sugar, too.
My African-American friends back in the Detroit area make homemade macaroni and cheese to go with the traditional Anglo Thanksgiving dinner. I thought about doing that this year, but couldn't quite handle the thought of that carbo overload, haha, nor the extra work involved.
When I was still living at home, holidays were worse than ordinary days. My mom was even more irritable and prone to picking fights. I have no idea why.
To this day I get physically ill at the smell of cooking pineapple, because she would cook ham with pineapple on top of it for Christmas and Easter.
Once I left, I found holidays much more relaxing and enjoyable. In our home now we sometimes have ham for holidays, but with various mustards on the side. I think the only other unique thing we do is stuff celery with cream cheese. One of my grandmothers would stuff celery with cream cheese mixed with chopped green olives to go with Christmas Eve dinner.
Since moving out to Minnesota I discovered it's traditional here among many Scandinavian Americans to have oyster stew on Christmas Eve. The first Christmas I was here, my future MIL invited us over for that. I brought my own split pea soup as I'm allergic to shellfish, lol. Lutefisk is also traditional out here for Christmas. It's cod cured in lye. I guess you soak all the lye out before cooking it. I have never tried it. Lefse is another traditional Scandinavian-American food around here for Christmas. It's a thin soft bread made of potatoes. Some have it with just butter on it. Some add sugar, too.
My African-American friends back in the Detroit area make homemade macaroni and cheese to go with the traditional Anglo Thanksgiving dinner. I thought about doing that this year, but couldn't quite handle the thought of that carbo overload, haha, nor the extra work involved.