HOLIDAY MEMORIES

When the Season Tugs on Your Heartstrings

There is a difference between the kind of nostalgia that brings a quiet smile to your face and the slippery slope of teary sentimentality.  This is the time of the year when celebrating traditions can be really happy for some and rather dark and sad for others.

Recently, as my wife and I unpacked our fabulous stash of Christmas decorations, I was reminded just how real the emotions associated with the trappings of the season can be.  These items range from almost 70 year old handmade lace tablecloths created by my grandmother and my mother’s wedding crystal to little ornaments identified with family and friends. Of course, many of these folks are long since gone or at least all grown up which in some ways is the same thing.

I think that there is a definite line between particular memories that one keeps private in one’s heart (happy or sad) and certain stories and experiences that deserve to be shared again and again.  I believe my Christmas Pudding story is firmly in the category of deserving to be shared.

The characters and events depicted in Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol” are a familiar iconic image in our culture.  Almost everyone is familiar with the Mr. Scrooge, Tiny Tim, the Christmas ghosts and of course Mrs. Cratchit serving the Christmas pudding.  However, there are not many Americans that know what Christmas Plum Pudding really is and even fewer that have eaten one, much less made one.

This lack of appreciation was part of my motivation recently to offer a cooking class at La Cucina at Avanti Savoia entitled Classy Holiday Desserts.  The menu included A French Yule Log Cake or Buche de Noel and a traditional English Plum Pudding.  We prepared puddings from scratch for the class and then served two that were ready to be steamed, flambéed and served.

The response from all the attendees was enthusiastic and appreciative, but none more so than that of the author of one of our favorite food blogs, The Food Hound.  Read her latest post about our class and the connection to Charles Dickens himself. We heartily encourage you to follow this fun blog and we promise that you won’t be disappointed.  This lady really knows her stuff.

“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”  Keep Smiling and Merry Christmas!
Cedric Charles Dickens, December 1987