Saturday, August 2, 2008

Christmas Pork, Kraut, Dumplings, and Diet Coke

By Karen Robbins

When my kids all come home for Christmas, they expect the one meal I've become famous for: roast pork, sauerkraut and dumplings. It's my Bohemian/Chech background.

Our daughters-in-law have learned to put up with the menu. I think a few might even like it. Leah is a southern gal raised on fried catfish and hush puppies which her mother makes for my son who loves it. Lori is strictly an American-style gal and would just as soon have hamburgers and fries with lots of ketchup. Aya is Japanese and her menu choices tend to lean toward fresh vegetables, raw or pan seared fish, and pressed seaweed.

Bless their hearts though, they are all in love with my sons and put up with the tradtional menu--and a few side items I add to hopefully satiate their appetites as well.

As I searched for a picture of my crown roast of pork, I found one other constant: Diet Coke--prominently displayed in it's original plastic 2 liter bottle right next to the Christmas dinnerware and good silver.

What is your traditional Christmas dinner? And how do you satisfied varied appetites and tastes?

1 comment:

Cathy Messecar said...

Karen, some years we do a Christmas brunch with breakfast foods. Other years, we go traditional with turkey and/or ham. One year, we were having a large crowd and I warned all shead of time that we would have fajitas, rice, charro beans, guacamole and PIE--lots easier for me to get ready than the traditional meal.