Family. There aren’t many words more abstract than family. A household with a mother, father and 2.3 children isn’t a given any more. At my house, it was my parents, my much younger sister (really, she’s much younger, she didn’t pay me to say this. However, if you’re reading this Melissa, you can send the endorsement check…you have my address). When I was a kid my Mum’s side of the family lived no more than two miles away. We lived down the road and around the corner, which was only a half mile, from my grandparents. Down that road and around another corner, and up the hill, lived my uncle and his family. And next door to him, my aunt and cousin. Holidays were always spent together. We took turns going to everyone’s homes on Christmas Eve to see their tree even though we‘d already seen it many times. We ohh’ed and ahh’ed over the tree and the beautifully wrapped presents, ate lots of good food and visited.
Christmas morning was nice. My grandparents made the rounds to see all five grandchildren. Late in the morning we went to their home for Christmas dinner. Nana always roasted a turkey. We had the same meal for Christmas as we did Thanksgiving dinner. Holiday meals are not a tradition we fool with in this family. Grampy always put the apple pie in the still-warm oven to warm after the turkey came out. He always had vanilla ice cream on top of a half slice of apple pie and a little whipped cream on a half slice of pumpkin pie. Always. We haven’t been all together in 20 years. My grandparents, my uncle and my mother have passed away. The definition of our family has changed with marriages, divorces, additions of great grandchildren and the deaths of loved ones. The youngest member at our holiday dinner table now is my 13 year old nephew. My family has changed a lot.
Food is a big part of our family get togethers. Steve, my husband, grew up on the coast of Maine. He’s part of a long-time fishing family. His grandfather was a lobsterman for many decades and his brother and nephew are today. Fresh seafood is one of our blessings. Gram (Elsa) made the world’s best seafood newburg. I’ll never again eat a newburg as rich and satisfying and wonderful as Elsa’s. You can have someone’s recipe but that doesn’t guarantee you can make the same dish. There was just something about the way Elsa made it that can’t be duplicated. When we gathered at Gram and Grampy’s before Christmas we looked forward to the newburg almost as much as seeing family. We stood by the crockpot. We lifted the lid to smell. We talked about how good it was going to be, how wonderful it was while we were eating, and how good it was after we were done eating. Sadly, I don't have the recipe, but it wouldn't taste the same without Elsa's touch.
I’ve learned a lot about families made up of people who have no blood relation. I am a Senior FarmShare farmer. This year we have 15 members. When I wanted to add more people to the program I had the help of two members who know most everyone in the community. They knew who would be interested in joining and how to contact them. They lightened my task considerably. Pick-up days became a social event. It was a day to catch up with everyone you hadn’t seen during the past week. Someone always let me know if another member had been hospitalized or ill and wouldn’t be coming that week. If they knew someone else wasn’t feeling well they’d pick up that person’s fruits and vegetables and make a delivery. When a member didn’t have a ride someone always made sure they were either picked up or their food was dropped off. These folks watch out for each other very carefully. They are a close-knit family. When I needed a recipe or two to use some of my green tomatoes one of the members said she'd bring hers next week. I had it in the mail the next day. She went right home, wrote it out for me and took it to the post office. She called the next afternoon to be sure it had been delivered. She takes good care of my recipe needs now.
I spend days baking so that everyone in all parts of my family are well fed over the holidays. Haven’t gained those five holiday pounds yet? Come right over and I’ll take care of that! One of my favorite cookies is Ginger Snaps. They’re great with a glass of eggnog!
Ginger Snaps Recipe
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening or butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cloves
Cream sugar and shortening or butter. Mix in remaining ingredients. Using one tablespoon sized scoop of dough per cookie, roll dough into balls. Dip one side of each cookie in sugar. Bake in a 375° oven for 10 minutes.
Eggnog Recipe
3 cups whole milk
7 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup bourbon
1/3 cup Cognac or other brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla
You’ll need a thermometer.
Bring milk to barely boiling in a 2-quart heavy duty saucepan. Whisk together eggs and sugar in a bowl, then add hot milk in a slow stream while continuously whisking. Pour mixture into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly for six to seven minutes, until mixture registers 170°F.
Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Stir in cream, bourbon, brandy, and vanilla. Cool completely then cover and chill. The flavor improves if you make this eggnog the day prior to serving.
Happy Holidays!