CHRISTMAS

A Christmas tradition that we have been doing since my girls were little, something that I never did, is after the tree is decorated, which we all take part in, the last thing put on the tree is the “Christmas Pickle”.  German folklore has it that whoever finds the pickle will be blessed for one year or receives a special gift from St. Nick.

There are always lots of cookies (and peppermint crunch candy) made, pitzels being my very favorite ever cookie.  For years I use to use my grandmother's iron for the pitzels.  You made one cookie at a time over the open flame on the stove.  You had to be sure that you kept the iron clean because as the oil leaked out, things could catch fire.  I occasionally had the dish towel that I used for this catch fire as you wiped.  About 2 years ago I purchased an electric iron where I could make two cookies at a time without fear of fire.  I use the same recipe, so they almost taste the same.

Christmas morning starts at my house about 5 AM.  You would think that my kids were young, not true!  I am right there with them, I am so excited that I cannot sleep either.  After we return from our Christmas Eve dinner, it is probably about 11:00-11:30pm.  I get everything ready for the next morning and then I lay out all the gifts under the tree and hang the stockings.  Even though they are older, they do not want to have a glimpse of what it is going to look like under the tree.  I was exactly the same way growing up.  I have to lug all the gifts up from the basement where I hide them.  I pretty much have this down to a science, bagged separately are the stocking gifts and also separate are the gifts (one each) I put into their bedrooms for them to find in the morning when they wake up.  One year, my oldest Christine was really into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, actually for many years, and to some extend it still continues to this day.   I purchased these life size cardboard figures of Buffy and Spike.  I put Spike into her room, while she slept, and when she woke up, she just about had a heart attack seeing a man standing at the bottom of her bed.  Of course when her eyes focused and she realized it was Spike, she was the happiest girl alive.  Here she is with him (not the cardboard figure).  She has met most of cast from this series – like I said she really really loved the show.

Around 6AM, my cousin, brothers and Mother arrive to watch the girls open their gifts.  I have breakfast at my house for anyone who shows up this morning, the earlier risers and occasionally a friend or two of the girls.  Every year we have” Breakfast Before”.  It is made the day ahead and just baked in the AM.  It’s a delicious breakfast and there is not as much confusion in the kitchen with all the orders of who wants what.  We tried that before and it won’t happen again.

After breakfast the kids rush out to go to their father’s to spend some time with him.   I’ll see them again in the evening.  Sometimes they are able to come back for dinner.  Before I was divorced, we had everyone from his family and mine (immediate family) for dinner.  We started that so that the kids could stay home with their gifts rather than go visiting all day.  We have a tradition that anyone coming to our house on Christmas Day signs my Christmas tablecloth.  They can write a message, draw a picture or just sign their name.  I have pens that will wash away after I embroider whatever their message is.  Most years, I am just finishing the embroidering when it is time to do it again.  I read about someone doing this in a magazine I get called “Country Living”.  I read about this many many years ago and I want to thank the person that had sent a note into the magazine saying that this was something that they did.  I love and treasure this tablecloth.  It is as important to me as the pictures and videos of my children growing up.  My girls are already fighting over it.  It is time to start a new one, so that each will get one.  If not, I told them they would have to share it.  It is a work of art to me.  I am not the sewing type.  I am lucky I can thread a needle (which I actually can’t now because of my eyes).  You can see how I progressed during the years.  Looking back at it, there are family members that have passed, there are neighbors that moved away, but the memories are there.

For dinner, there are about 10-11 of us.  It is small.  We go back and forth between 2 meals that I serve.  We have filet mignon and crab cakes, served with mashed potatoes with cheese and green olives, string bean casserole, corn and Caesar salad.  Or we have fresh ham (which is like pork) done in Dijon mustard and garlic, with the same sides, except a regular salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  We usually have some type of pasta too.  As the night progresses, my cousin and her children and some friends come by for dessert.  By 11:00pm everyone is gone, and we are exhausted!  It was a great two days!

Pitzels

6 cups flour

6 eggs

1-1/2 cup sugar

1 cup Wesson oil

1 bottle anise extract

Mix all together and rolls into 1" balls. When making cookies, listen for sizzle to know when done.

Breakfast Before

Slice bread, cut in cubes

1 lb Jimmy Dean sausage, cooked and drained

1 ham slice - heated thru and cut into cubes

1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumpled

pepperoni - sliced and cut small

Egg Mixture

9 eggs

3 cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 cup grated cheese

Cut enough bread cubes to cover bottom of 9x13 pan.  Layer cooked meats on top of break.  Pour egg mixture over all.  Let sit overnight.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

CHRISTMAS EVE

What is Christmas Eve to an Italian family?  It’s at least 7 fishes!  Christmas Eve is held at my cousin’s house.  There are probably about 30 people for dinner.  (not really so many for dinner compared to our outside picnics – they can host up to 60-75 people – but we’ll get into that later when we blog about the Fourth of July).  Everybody tries to help out with the food.  Of course the main meal is handled by the “older” family members.  The younger family handles the desserts (and drinks).  There is a constant joke that when the “older family” is unable to handle this celebration, the younger members, and by younger I mean the “close to” fifties will take over by having “take out”!  At this point in the game, the twenty-something’s really have no clue.  We still cannot even get them to wash or dry the dishes, so what did we do?  We went to plastic!  Only one member of the family, the eldest – Maria’s dad, my Uncle Al – he was 93 God bless his soul – still ate on china while we used plastic, but he passed this year (may he rest in peace).

My cousin Maria, who hosts this dinner, her husband Jimmy (may he rest in peace) who was Irish, would always say that the Italians would eat the plastic fruit if it was on the table.  We miss his sense of humor!

Whenever there have been small children around, Santa would be sure to stop.   Most times we would hear the fire truck while we were eating dinner or other times much later in the night when the children were sleepy.   He would have gifts for all the little ones.  It never seemed to fail, at the age of 2; the children would scream and cry.  Sometimes you would try and sneak your kid on his lap if the child had fallen asleep and woken up, all hell would break loose!  Unfortunately, I cannot locate any pictures of this although I know they exist.  

After dinner, all of the adults would exchange gifts.   We tried a Pollyanna once, but that didn’t really work out, so we went back to everyone exchanging.  More recently due to the expense, we say we only do for our own immediate family, but most of us usually give a family gift instead, so everyone is at least thought of.  Some members of the family, give out their gifts early, and say they are not Christmas presents, they were just something she picked up (right Mom?).  The children still always receive gifts from everyone.  After all, Christmas is for the kids.  We put a cut off, at the age of 18 for kid’s gifts, but for some reason gifts still keep coming and my kids are 21 and 17.  The cut off seems to follow when the children actually move out, then they get a house gift, if there are 2 in the house.

I love giving presents.  I usually start actively shopping in September-October.   In July, however, I usually already have a least 1 gift put aside.  I love seeing people open what I have picked out for them.  I really try and find something that is unique to them.  As I am getting older, I find that I am starting to have a hard time keeping the secret, but I still can, unlike my Mother who has already shown us (me and my girls) things she has purchased for us for Christmas already.  Let me also state that I already have been wearing a ring that she purchased for my birthday.  My birthday is in September, she gave it to me in February.  She loves to give hints as to what her gifts are, even if you don’t want them.  She keeps saying things until you finally know what it is, and then she says you guessed it.  My mother is 73, so she is not senile yet.  She just cannot keep a secret. 

Getting back to the menu for Christmas Eve.  Most times we do have the very same things every year.  Why deviate from perfection?

1.)    Clams and Spaghetti

2.)    Tuna with roasted peppers and black olives

3.)    Smelts

4.)    Calamari (Squid)

5.)    Crab Imperial

6.)    Shrimp Scampi

7.)    Shrimp Wrapped in Bacon

8.)    Cod in lemon

9.)    Cod in red gravy (or sauce as some might say)

Along with all this on the table there is salad, bread, olives, fennel, fruit (not the plastic type) and figs.  The desserts come out later.

The shrimp wrapped in bacon is the quickest to go and, to me, the best of the meal.  I could just eat that and would be extremely happy.  The recipe is my fathers, may he rest in peace, and is made with his special sauce.  Some of you may be familiar with this as it is sold locally and has put the “Golden Nugget” in Berlin on the map for its wings.  Unfortunately the Nugget fell victim to arson and at this point has still not reopened.  I am told they are selling the wings from another location. Another location in West Deptford that does extremely well with Tony’s Wing Sauce is “King of Steaks”.

Shrimp Wrapped in Bacon

Jumbo shrimp

Bacon

Tony’s Wing Sauce

Take bacon and cut in pieces (about 1 - 1 ½ inches long)

Wrap bacon around cleaned shrimp (trying to cover the center of the shrimp)

Spoon wing sauce onto each bacon wrapped shrimp

Broil until bacon is crisp and shrimp looks white, flip over and put wing sauce on second side

When bacon is crispy and shrimp is cooked, remove and enjoy.  You can spoon some of the sauce that melted off back onto the shrimp before serving.  Each side may take about 10 minutes, depending upon the size of the shrimp and the thickness of the bacon.

A quick note regarding the sauce, we no longer own the company, my father's partner bought the company from us – so I am not trying to make a sale, just trying to introduce you to an excellent product.  This sauce is excellent on anything!  It was originally made for wings (I'll go into that story under my Superbowl blog), but it is great on fish, pork, chicken, rice and even chicken quesadillas.  My daughters even put in on toast and popcorn!  

HALLOWEEN

Halloween is another fun time of year for our family.  We love witches, the green, pointy nose with wart, long fingernail kind, the scarier the better!  The inside of our home is transformed into a witches’ haven.  There are cackling witches on brooms or swings from the ceiling beams, there are witches that talk when you pass by them.  Witches propped on the fireplace mantel, witches capes that block doorways.  Where ever I can put one, one is there. 

My love of witches on Halloween goes back many years.  One year, while in my teens, I dressed up as a witch, painted my skin with green makeup, put on long black finger nails and slowly opened the door of my family’s house to lure children in – on Halloween of course.  (That might not be such a good idea nowadays, but back then, people were more trusting and innocent).  My mother always had a crowd at her house because of the “special bags” of candy she gave away.  They were the biggest find of the neighborhood, so everyone came!  One kid across the street, used to come back at least 6 times in a different costume each time.  After he was discovered, my mother began making them show her who they were under their costume mask.  This tradition still continues, minus the boy who came back 6 times.  It would be a little frightening now if he did as he is in his 40’s now.  So anyway, one year one of the teenage neighbors was going to have fun with this, so when I reached out to lure whoever in, he grabbed me and pulled me out!  It was a lot of fun.  You were able to meet a lot of different kids from around the area.  All the kids wanted to have a picture with the witch.   Years later some kids would come still looking for the witch.  I was replaced by a life size replica that stands in my mother’s dining room for our Halloween gathering to this day.

My replacement - the green one!

Cookies courtesy of Cheryl & Lauren

This “gathering” happens on Halloween.  Each year we are invited, by poem, by my mother who is head witch.  There is a theme to each party.  One year we all had to wear a witch’s hat.  Another year we had to decorate a broom.  Prizes are awarded, which are always Halloween related.  The menu is usually close to the same, soups and chili.  And recently Chick-fil-A nuggets have been added.  Any desserts for the gathering are usually Halloween related.  One year there was a witch face cake, another year witch hat cookies. 

"Salem the Cat"

Here are some pictures  from previous gatherings and also pictures of my little witches.  A Jewish apple cake recipe follows after pictures.  This is a "must try" for the fall!

The first to arrive for judging





 

 




"Witches (and warlock) in training"



Witch Christine



Witch Hannah

My favorite "all time" picture even though there are no witches.  Christine actually made little kids cry on that Halloween!

Jewish Apple Cake Recipe

5-6 large apples - Winesap (or any tart apple)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup oil

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Remove skin of apples and slice thin. Mix 4 teaspoons of cinnamon and 4 tablespoons of sugar.  Toss sliced apples in this.  Grease and flour tube pan.  Pour 1/2 batter, 1/2 apples and repeat.  Finish with apples and sprinkle with additional cinnamon and sugar.  Bake at 350 degrees - 60 minutes or until pick comes out clean.  Cool in pan.  Enjoy!

EASTER

When you think of Easter in our home, you immediately think of Italian ham pies and Easter egg hunts.   Even though my children are now older, we still do an Easter egg hunt, but now the eggs are filled with money.  Both girls still compete with who can find the most.   My job is not any easier in hiding, because I no longer can get away with just anywhere; I have to make it tough since they are older.  They should, after all, need to work for this “free” money.    I have been telling myself for the last 2 years that I need to make a map of the hiding spots.  This year was the first year that we actually did not hide any real eggs.  That decision was the result of two eggs never being found last year until much later in the week or month because I could not remember.  I have sleep apnea, so I blame that for my memory loss!  Truth be told, I actually want to say months, but then you might think that I do not clean my house!   I do, but maybe not quite as extensive as it should be.  Let me also throw in a visual picture of 2 dogs and 7 cats of them accidentally coming across my hiding spots.  This is my excuse why the map has never come to be.  If I hide the eggs the night before, then I could make a map, but due to the animals, I need to hide them in the morning and no one really sleeps in late, so therefore I have no time to make a map. 

Even though we no longer hide real eggs, we still dye them.  Each year I try to find a different kind of dying or decorating kit.  Some years they are quite beautiful and some years, you really don’t want to take credit for them.  You might want to say that you were babysitting some of the little kids in the neighborhood and they wanted to help dye the eggs.   You might get away with that excuse.  See one such example below. 

But we had a blast and we were all crying from laughter.  We videoed this display, along with commentary, for our extended family later in the day.  We cried again with laughter and all the family could say is that “something is wrong with all of you."

The Italian ham pies are what everyone waits for at Easter.  Each year’s pies are compared to previous years and just whose pies are better.   I believe the original recipe, not that there was an actual one, was my Grandmothers or her Mother’s.  Italians (and I am sure others too) tend to just throw things together and go by the feel rather than actual measurements.  My mother and I took years adjusting what we first believed the recipe to be, to get the perfect pie.  Each year my mother, who has not made a pie in years now, will say that she just stopped making them a year or so before.  She also will find something wrong with them to say her pies were better or that I did something wrong without her.  An example of that is one year I said I may have put to much garlic in.  (I refuse to taste the mixture uncooked, where she would have to tell if something is missing or if there is too much of something.)  When the pies were given out she said they were good but that they had a bit too much garlic.  Other family members have said mine were the best.  But I will give credit where it is due, it was my mother that actually did the adjustments when we were trying to perfect it.  She showed me the ropes of exactly what to do and just how thick the crust should be!  The pies are a lot of work and could be costly, but they are a special treat.  We do not make them any other time of year, so they are truly a treat!  In preparation of the pies, I take off work the Thursday and Friday before Easter.  I actually begin on Wednesday night and get everything cut and mixed, so that I can start fresh on Thursday morning.  Each pie takes about 1 hour to bake, so I am baking until the evening hours.  Because they have meat in them, and we cannot eat meat on Good Friday, we make a spinach pie with the leftover crust dough, so we can enjoy the pies on Friday.  I begin passing them out on Saturday to my family and friends.  A little hint if you decide to try them.  Differentiate them by putting a touch of spinach on the top of the spinach pies.  Any dough left over after the spinach pies, we try and do something with, create a cookie with chocolate, cinnamon and raisins or a bread twist with garlic and cheese.    Experiment with whatever!  You might find something that you like.

A dessert that I always make for Easter is a Coconut Pound cake.  The recipe is below for that also.

Italian Ham Pie

Crust Recipe (makes 10) – you will need to make this about 2 times.  The extra crust from the 10 balls, set aside and use for the spinach pies or cookies or dough twists.  The dough becomes tougher to roll after the first time.  If you don’t mind dealing with the toughness of rolling, it still tastes the same.

10 cups flour

5 eggs

1 ¾ cup melted Crisco (25 Tbsp)

1 ¾ cup water

1 teaspoon salt

Make well in flour and add the rest.  Separate into equal size balls – about 10.

Fill with ham pie mixture – Bake at 375 degrees for at least 1 hour.  Rub egg yolk (mixed with very small amount of water) on crust when removed from oven.  These eggs are separate from what is used above!

Ham Pie Mixture

6 sticks of pepperoni – cut in ½ and sliced long ways (cut into small pieces with scissors)

1 lb. bacon (cut into small pieces)

3 pounds ital. sausage (casing removed) (separate by swishing with fingers)

5 lb. canned ham diced (into little cubes)

6 lb. ricotta cheese

1 cup grated locadella cheese (can use romano or parmesan)

4 hard boiled eggs diced

10 large eggs

Garlic Powder

Parsley Flakes

Roll out 1 ball of dough, as thin as possible, fill with a line of ham pie mixture.  Fold over dough to enclose mixture.  Cut off excess leaving about ½ inch to 1 inch remaining around pie.  Seal with fork around pie.

Spinach Mixture

4 large bags spinach

Garlic

Salt

Olive oil, water

Cook spinach, making sure all liquid is gone. Pat dry.

Coconut Pound Cake – Bake at 350 degrees, approximately  1 ¼ - 1 ½  hours. (until pick comes out clean).

1 cup butter

3 cups sugar

6 eggs

3 cups flour

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

8 oz. sour cream

1 cup frozen coconut, thawed

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon coconut extract

Cream butter, gradually adding sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating after each.  Combine flour, soda, salt and mix well.  Add it to cream mixture, alternating with sour cream.  Beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Stir in coconut and flavorings.  Pour into greased and flour 10” tube pan.

Cool in pan 10-15 minutes.  Remove.  Cool completely.  Sprinkle with powder sugar.  (You can also drizzle chocolate if desired).

Hope you enjoy the recipes and my blog!