Holiday Tastes: Something New

Originally uploaded to flickr by Adam Foster.

I hate traditions.  Maybe hate is a strong word, but I strongly resist them.  I grew up in a very stereotypical, old-fashioned Southern family.  I was strangled by tradition.  There would actually be fights – with tears and subtle Southern-style grudges – over things like what dishes would be served at holidays and how the Christmas tree was decorated, because it had to be the same way every time.

We don’t go back to Texas for holidays anymore.  Too expensive and too painful to fly.  So over the past 13 years since moving to DC, I’ve spent Thanksgiving everywhere from London, Seville, San Diego, New York City (three times), Raleigh and Connecticut.  The past few years we’ve hosted friends out on the Eastern Shore, which starts to feel very much like a tradition.  Therefore I start to assert myself over the menu.  Sure, we’ll have a turkey, one friend has to have stuffing (which is what they call it, despite being cooked outside the bird), hubby always wants mashed potatoes and a pecan pie.  But I can’t stand having the exact same menu every year.  Change is my comfort.

This year we’ll have homemade pasta for dinner Wednesday night because, well, it’s nothing like what we’ll be eating for the next two days.  But for the big day itself, my major contribution is a salad.  I realize, for most, a salad cannot compete with mac ‘n cheese or cranberry sauce from a can, but that’s exactly why it’ll be there.  I’ve already road tested it and it is delicious.  It comes from the most recent Cooking Light: orange salad with arugula and oil-cured olives.  The dressing is what makes this so great.  A mixture of shallots, lemon juice, mint leaves, sugar, Dijon mustard and olive oil with a little kosher salt and freshly ground pepper for good measure.

And there will be no flag football or post-meal walk.  We shall play Rock Band and go for bike rides instead.