nineteenth day of advent
December 19th, 2009
I think the worst of the christmas crazy is over for me and it’s just wrapping and eating and singing from here on out. But mostly eating. What are you having for Christmas dinner?
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My family eats a German dish: Sauerbratten. With venison. Not being hunters, it’s been a challenge my whole life to score some for our Xmas dinner, but we’ve been blessed with gifts from friends and often strangers, who have heard our annual plea and stepped forward.
It is traditionally made with cabbage, but my grandfather was a clever gardener and wrapped fresh lettuce in layer upon layer of cloth and buried it in the ground, deeply. On Christmas Eve, he would go out, dig it up, unwrap it, and, my mother said (as she does EVERY year), would remove a few rotted outer leaves before revealing the lettuce head inside.
Endive. With the slightly bitter, hard greens. Prepared with oil and vinegar.
And the main course, wine and herb marinated venison served (10 to 14 days) atop a lovely bed of German noodles, southern style, called Spaetzle. Mmmmmmmm…..
Of course, I never make it as good as my mom did my whole life (she’s the immigrant with firsthand experience). But she’s always complimentary and pretends it’s JUST as good as hers always was.
And my husband (Mexican) and kids LOVE LOVE LOVE it. We wait for New Year’s Day to have tamales, Mexican style. I love our country!
We don’t do Christmas dinner–we do brunch on Christmas morning after opening presents. Lots of yummy brunch dishes: eggs with cream, sausage, sage and mushrooms; smoked salmon; fresh fruit; cinnamon buns; champagne and orange juice, french toast made with challah bread and cream cheese with strawberry jam. Yum. And being in San Diego, we do tamales on New Year’s too!