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[hibiscus]

Hi everyone!

Hanukah & christmas is looming. It would be interesting to hear what you normally serve or do for family dinner on Hanukah and Christmas. Do you host, if so, what''s your menu? Is it normally held, MIL/SIL/your home/take turns? If you dine-out, where do you normally go to? This year I''m hosting the xmas dinner. My husband have been going to either his mom or sister house for the dinner and its a typical turkey, mashed potatoes, peas, guacomole dip w chips, mix vegetable dip, cheesecake, apple & peach pie. I thought of adding some asian touches in my menu but not steering too far away from the(ir) norm.

Appetizer: california rolls, firecrackers & 2 types of cookies

Dinner: Tom yam koong, asian salad, madura roasted chicken & tomato rice, spinach manicotti, sourdough

Dessert: Almond mocha torte, red velvet cake.

Love to hear your side of the menu.

 

[dragonfly411]

I AM STARVING AND YOU ARE NOT HELPING

 

[FrekeChild]

I don''t host, but I travel from FSIL''s house to my parent''s house, and then to my cousin''s house, cooking. This is for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. We usually have turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, etc etc etc. It kind of changes as you go from house to house, but those are the normal items.

 

[hibiscus]

oops, sorry girlfriend

Its really late for lunch if you haven''t had anything to eat! Go eat something.

*sending some pot pie aroma your way..

 

[bee*]

I always have Christmas dinner at my parent''s house-it''s Turkey and Ham,mashed and roast potato, turnip, mushy peas, brussel sprouts and lots of gravy. Then for desert it''s christmas cake and pudding (which I hate) with jelly, ice-cream, trifle, and custard.

 

[hibiscus]

Seems like some traveling to do there Freke. Its a 5 hour drive to my MIL and 7 hours to SIL, this year is great. No long hours for us in the car and the food will be fresh and warm.

You making me hungry eventhough I just had lunch.

 

[kittybean]

For my Ukrainian family, Christmas Eve (Sviat Vechir) is the important meal. The traditional meal ("sviata vechera") has twelve courses, but every family I know disagrees on what the twelve courses are supposed to be! Here''s what my family eats:

1. Prosfora: bread and honey. The patriarch of the family goes around and gives some to each person present, from oldest to youngest, and also wishes them a joyous Christmas season and a prosperous year to come.

2. Borscht i ushka: traditional beet soup with mushroom dumplings in it. Most people count this as two "courses" or "foods" (the word stravi doesn''t translate well to English).

3. Fish courses: traditional fish in aspic (usually we use gefilte fish and unflavored gelatin) and a white fish with lemon. My dad sometimes substitutes salmon.

4. Varenyky: known to many people as perogies, these are boiled dumplings traditionally stuffed with potato or cabbage. Ukrainians often eat them stuffed with meat, but the Christmas Eve dinner is meatless because it is a day of fasting.

5. Holubtzi: the word literally means "little doves," but these are cabbage leaves rolled and stuffed with a rice and vegetable or buckwheat filling. My dad makes them with rice, tomato, and peppers, and gives it a spicy kick.

6. Kompot: a fruit compote. When my grandmother ("baba") is not around, we usually skip this, but it involves a lot of boiling of various fruits.

7. Kutya: a dish consisting of wheat berries, poppy seed paste, honey, and other seeds. It is an acquired taste! People either love it or hate it, and whenever it''s served, there always seems to be way more than the cook ever intended to make. When my dad was little, anyone who came into his aunt''s house for the month or so following the holidays had to eat a spoonful of kutya before they were allowed to leave. Ukrainian tradition dictates that you should throw kutya at your ceiling on Christmas Eve, and if it sticks, you will have a prosperous year. Needless to say, my mom has never let us do this.

8. Christmas cookies: this is not traditionally Ukrainian, but my mom bakes some wonderful Christmas cookies and brownies that we usually eat for dessert--orange drops, mint fudge brownies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter chip cookies, and lemon bars.

Note: although my family here in the United States celebrates Christmas when the rest of America does, most people in Ukraine celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the old (Julian) calendar. Their Christmas Eve dinner happens on January 6.

 

[hibiscus]

Date: 10/23/2008 5:45:50 PM
Author: bee*
I always have Christmas dinner at my parent''s house-it''s Turkey and Ham,mashed and roast potato, turnip, mushy peas, brussel sprouts and lots of gravy. Then for desert it''s christmas cake and pudding (which I hate) with jelly, ice-cream, trifle, and custard.

What kind of pudding Bee? custard is one of my favorite.

 

[hibiscus]

Hi kittybean, thank you for sharing on whats goes on for christmas in a Ukranian family. Very enlightening, appreciate it. That''s a LOT of courses to prepare, it seems like everyone pitch in, that''s just wonderful

Hmm, I''ve tried many other delicacies but nothing Ukrainian, I will make a point to do so.

 

[Linda W]

Date: 10/23/2008 5:45:50 PM
Author: bee*
I always have Christmas dinner at my parent''s house-it''s Turkey and Ham,mashed and roast potato, turnip, mushy peas, brussel sprouts and lots of gravy. Then for desert it''s christmas cake and pudding (which I hate) with jelly, ice-cream, trifle, and custard.

Sounds yummmmmmmmmy Bee. We love brussel sprouts too (except my grandboys). Yum to trifle and custard

 

[Linda W]

Date: 10/23/2008 6:54:21 PM
Author: kittybean
For my Ukrainian family, Christmas Eve (Sviat Vechir) is the important meal. The traditional meal (''sviata vechera'') has twelve courses, but every family I know disagrees on what the twelve courses are supposed to be! Here''s what my family eats:


1. Prosfora: bread and honey. The patriarch of the family goes around and gives some to each person present, from oldest to youngest, and also wishes them a joyous Christmas season and a prosperous year to come.


2. Borscht i ushka: traditional beet soup with mushroom dumplings in it. Most people count this as two ''courses'' or ''foods'' (the word stravi doesn''t translate well to English).


3. Fish courses: traditional fish in aspic (usually we use gefilte fish and unflavored gelatin) and a white fish with lemon. My dad sometimes substitutes salmon.


4. Varenyky: known to many people as perogies, these are boiled dumplings traditionally stuffed with potato or cabbage. Ukrainians often eat them stuffed with meat, but the Christmas Eve dinner is meatless because it is a day of fasting.


5. Holubtzi: the word literally means ''little doves,'' but these are cabbage leaves rolled and stuffed with a rice and vegetable or buckwheat filling. My dad makes them with rice, tomato, and peppers, and gives it a spicy kick.


6. Kompot: a fruit compote. When my grandmother (''baba'') is not around, we usually skip this, but it involves a lot of boiling of various fruits.


7. Kutya: a dish consisting of wheat berries, poppy seed paste, honey, and other seeds. It is an acquired taste! People either love it or hate it, and whenever it''s served, there always seems to be way more than the cook ever intended to make. When my dad was little, anyone who came into his aunt''s house for the month or so following the holidays had to eat a spoonful of kutya before they were allowed to leave. Ukrainian tradition dictates that you should throw kutya at your ceiling on Christmas Eve, and if it sticks, you will have a prosperous year. Needless to say, my mom has never let us do this.


8. Christmas cookies: this is not traditionally Ukrainian, but my mom bakes some wonderful Christmas cookies and brownies that we usually eat for dessert--orange drops, mint fudge brownies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter chip cookies, and lemon bars.


Note: although my family here in the United States celebrates Christmas when the rest of America does, most people in Ukraine celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the old (Julian) calendar. Their Christmas Eve dinner happens on January 6.

Kittybean: I so enjoyed reading about your Ukraine family dinner, it sounds lovely and I would so love to try making some of your families dishes.


Linda

 

[kittybean]

Date: 10/23/2008 11:42:14 PM
Author: Linda W

Kittybean: I so enjoyed reading about your Ukraine family dinner, it sounds lovely and I would so love to try making some of your families dishes.

Linda

Linda, I am happy and honored that you found my post interesting and would like to try some of the recipes. Although I help to form the dumplings and the cabbage rolls, I don''t actually know what recipes my family uses. I am going to find out for you, though! In the meantime, here''s a link I found to some recipes posted online that seem pretty authentic to me.

 

[oobiecoo]

At my my parent''s for Thanksgiving we usually have:

Turkey(sometimes fried), Ham or Both
Cornbread Dressing
Canned (Congealed) Cranberry Sauce- We refuse to eat the *real* stuff lol
Rolls
Green Bean Casserole or Green Bean Bundles wrapped with bacon in a marinade
Yams with marshmallows ( I don''t eat this!)
Deviled Eggs
Iced Tea

Last year I made dinner for just DH and myself. We had:
Ham
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with butter and brown sugar
Devilled Eggs
Rolls
Steamed Brocolli

In highschool, we started an almost yearly tradition of having Sloppy Joes on Christmas Eve. My mom asked what I wanted and I hadn''t had them in years so we made them