Festive Ice and Pickled Gifts for the Holidays

By Marilyn Michael

Christmas lights, doesn’t every family have a story? My folks turned our house into Disneyland, I swear, vying for that silver bowl top prize in the town decorating contest. The pinnacle was the year Santa kept pulling Rudolph up the side of the house with a pulley…don’t ask. I remember being pretty embarrassed as a teenager having the whole town drive by our house. Looking back, though, I’m proud of my parent’s enthusiasm and willingness to brighten people’s lives at the holidays.

We’ve lived on a boat for years in the shadow of Seattle’s Space Needle. My husband, Hank, wrote a humor/food column for a couple magazines. Below is his take on Christmas decorating followed by a couple of tasty ideas for holiday entertaining and gift giving that he offered his readers one year.

One of my most embarrassing memories from childhood was having kids over to play and trying to explain why our Christmas lights were still up on July 4^th. Putting lights on the boat is a real hassle, with the twist ties, tape, tangled bulbs, extension cords and all. Last January 10^th I was standing on the dock looking at those colored strings circling my boat wondering if I could pass them off as running lights.

Every year I swear this is the year of no lights but I’m compelled by an unknown force to put more and more lights up. My wife, who’s always right by the way, reminds me that I’m going to have problems with so many. Well, the big moment came and when I threw the switch I swear the Space Needle dimmed for a glorious moment that was punctuated by a popping breaker.

Actually there is a reason why every December I’ll crawl around the deck with twist ties hanging out of my mouth like tooth picks dragging stings of lights. One year a cancer patient I was seeing said to me, “Just think of all those tired people driving home from work down Interstate 5 who look down on Lake Union and see the boats all lit up, I bet it lifts their spirits”. So, up go the lights and onward with plans for having guests on board for the boat parade and other celebrations during the holiday season.

Holiday Ice

Not everyone drinks hot toddies in December. If you are serving drinks with ice, alcoholic or other, why not liven up those ice cubes. Put a twist of lemon or lime in the water before freezing. Gourmet markets sell edible flowers. Adding a flower to each cube before freezing can add an interesting and festive element to drinks you serve. You can add whatever you like, your only limitation is your imagination olives, pieces of fruit, you name it.

If you don’t want alcoholic drinks diluted by the ice cubes, add 2 parts water to 1 part alcohol to keep those drinks lively. Keep those cubes separate from ones the kids may use and party hardy but don’t drink and drive (in boat or cars.)

If you are attending a holiday gathering and want to arrive with a unique and appreciated hostess gift, food is always welcome and home made food is celebrated. I’m always a hit with jars of Pickled Shrimp and Pickled Onions.

Hank’s Pickled Shrimp

If you’re serving Bloody Marys for that New Year’s Brunch, hang a shrimp on the side of each glass.

Ingredients:

Tiger Prawn

8 cups white vinegar

3-4 Tablespoons pickling spice

Red onion

Garlic cloves

Small attractive canning jars with lids

Instructions:

Throw the shrimp (I prefer tiger prawns) in boiling heavily salted water for 10 to 15 seconds until shells turn pink. (Heavy salt brings out the shrimps flavor.)

Remove them with a slotted spoon and put cold water over them immediately to stop the cooking. (Overcooking the shrimp makes them tough.)

Peel the shrimp.

Place in a pan:

8 cups of white vinegar

3-4 Tablespoons pickling spice (I like it heaver so I use 4-6 Tablespoons)

Bring the brine to a boil then let it cool down.

Pack small, clean, attractive jars, layering each with:

Shrimp

Thin slices of red onion (some jars with and some jars without)

1 clove of raw garlic

If you like it spicy, add crushed red pepper to taste.

Cover with the brine.

Put lids tightly on the jars.

Chill overnight then gift or enjoy.

Pickled Pearl Onions

Make up some jars as above and fill with raw, peeled pearled onions

one clove of garlic, and crushed red pepper to taste.

'TIS THE SEASON FOR COMFORT FOOD

By Barbara Winters

The tree is down*, the weather is dreary and we're craving a flavor besides ham or turkey.  If the thought of one more cookie or piece of fudge makes you want to throw  up, it's time to move into ... The Comfort Food Zone.

Comfort food is something Mom or Grandma usually made.  It was delicious.  It slid down easily.  If it had any nutritional value that was downplayed to let you enjoy its flavorful goodness.  It mostly made you feel warm inside and loved.

Robb Walsh, food writer and cook book author, once defined patriotism as the memory of foods eaten in childhood.  I cannot disagree with that, and besides I like dropping names. (Pick that up.)  If your family celebrates its heritage then there are most likely delicious things Nana made which made you proud to be a member of the family.

After the holidays it's nice to be able to use up some leftovers, so my comfort food is wild rice soup.  It's creamy and smooth and has good basic ingredients in it.

The first time I made wild rice I had never even heard of it before. Turns out it is technically not rice but some paddy-raised grass grown by Native Americans in Minnesota.  Good for them.  I hate to think of them stuck with making pemmican all winter.

I was given a huge box of wild rice and didn't really read the instructions until the kitchen was completely occupied by Thanksgiving dinner.  It seems that I had to empty the whole box into a soup kettle to accommodate all the water needed, then bring it to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for an hour.  Then, I was to strain it through a sieve into another soup kettle, then put the rice back in the liquid, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for an hour.  Lather, rinse, repeat. 

The final time I drained it, the husk had opened and the grains were a little fluffy.  It had a nutty flavor. Some people add butter. I learned that if you cooked it in stock it tasted even better.  My effort made up for the fact that my stuffing came out of a box.  Shut up, it was years before anyone noticed.

The good news is that the Reese company now produces wild rice in little managable 4 oz. boxes.  If you left over, make some and add it to the soup.  I think you'll find it a delicious dinner for the cold new year.

   

(*or it should be, you slackers.)

WILD RICE SOUP

1/3 cup wild rice (or 1 cup left over wild rice,

and skip the cup of liquid)

1 cup water or chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup onion, chopped

1 cup celery, finely chopped

3/4 cup sliced mushrooms

1 large clove garlic, finely minced

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 cup flour

4 cups milk

1 cup cream

To Prepare Rice:

In a saucepan, bring water to a boil and add rice and salt. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes or until tender.

To Prepare Soup:

Melt butter, add onions, celery, and mushrooms, cover and gently cook for 5 minutes until tender. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant.

Stir in 2 teaspoons salt, pepper and flour. Remove from heat and add milk, stirring until flour is well blended.

Return to low heat, cook stirring constantly until soup has thickened. Add cooked rice and simmer a few minutes to blend flavors.

Serve hot, garnish with chopped chives or grated cheese, optional.

SHARED TRADITIONS
By Marilyn Michael

My grandparent’s kitchen was the hub of their small house. Taking up a whole house end, it had an amazing-to-a-child trap door that led to a musty dirt-walled basement lined with shelves of canned peaches, and pears, dill pickles, apricot preserves and other assorted jellies and jams. The kitchen’s window looked out on a full city lot sized garden from which my Grandfather would emerge with corn to be husked, shiny fat pea pods to be shelled and other fresh food like my Grandmother’s favorite-turnip greens. By the time I was old enough to store memories, the wood and coal stove had given way to electric and the icebox was now a refrigerator, but my Grandmother still had eggs and cream delivered by a local farmer.

Every Christmas of my childhood was spent in this simple, inviting house in walking distance from my own. There were family traditions, often involving food. Christmas Eve was a buffet and always included my two favorite dishes, brown beans and ham bone and Grandma’s potato salad. We opened our presents that night and Christmas day was spent enjoying them and preparing a traditional feast of turkey, ham and all the trimmings.

One Christmas Eve tradition was a treat but always seemed a bit odd for my family. No one drank alcohol and milk was something had ice cold with a meal or plate of cookies. On that night every year, though, they made Tom and Jerry’s all around. A rare bottle of whiskey would appear for the adults and the kids would enjoy vanilla poured straight into the hot milk thickened with a powdered sugar and egg batter. A dusting of nutmeg gave it an exotic taste as it went down smooth and warm. I’d savor the smells of the nutmeg and vanilla and wonder why we had this yummy drink only once a year. It just didn’t occur to my family that the Christmas Eve tradition of this sweet, hot milk drink could be enjoyed at other times.

As an adult, I stayed close to middle class culinary roots and never tried hot milk drinks outside of a couple Christmas Eve attempts at Tom and Jerry’s. When coffee became a culture declaring basic drip passé, I began drinking mochas. The steaming hot milk and sweetness of chocolate brought memories of the creamy milk drink of my Christmas Eves. The presence of coffee, though, somehow made it different. But, it was comforting and exotic in a similar way. And, they even had freshly grated nutmeg on the counter.

When a new libation called Chai began appearing in coffee shops I never tried it. Not having been raised on tea, I had never developed a taste for it. I vaguely remember my Aunt Mame sipping tea from china cups, but she was an anomaly in my coffee-fanatic family. We had sturdy percolators that sat on stovetops with little glass toppers for a view of the perking brew. Dad had an odd-seeming habit from his farm family upbringing of sometimes adding a few eggshells in the coffee grounds to “take the bitterness out.” We were definitely coffee people. Even after retiring, my father kept the tradition of morning and afternoon coffee breaks, usually with a sweet treat, often pie.

As an adult, two women who had grown up in India became my close friends and offered to teach me to make some of their traditional dishes. Developing a taste for this cuisine opened my mind to food traditions other than the basic comfort foods of my youth. I was eager to try it all. I learned to make Tandoori marinades, vegetable dahls, meat and vegetable curries, rice-based pulaos, coconut sauces for fish, spicy chutneys and I discovered a store that made heavenly garlic Nan, a delicious flatbread to accompany the dishes.

One day a new friend from Pakistan shared that his favorite food memory was the Chai his mother would always have for them. He offered to make it for me. Though concerned the element of tea would preclude my enjoyment of this libation, I looked forward to trying it. He used loose black tea that came in half-inch strings, not the powder filled tea bags that characterized, for me, a cup of tea. Into the boiling water went the tea, and then brown sugar, whole cloves, chunks of cinnamon sticks, and small 'coins' of fresh ginger. When the milk and cardamom powder were added to the boiling aromatic brew, it foamed up impressively. Then, his Mom’s secret, several fifteen-second removals of the pot from the heat and reboiling.

The aromas grabbed me. This was clearly not the watery, tepid brown drink I thought of as tea. He strained it and poured me a steaming cup. I was in love. Cupping my hands around the mug I was transported to exotic lands and at the same time back to my Grandma’s kitchen on Christmas Eve. It was lightly sweet and creamy smooth. And, beyond the nutmeg and vanilla of my Tom and Jerry memories, its spice blend was exotic and yet comforting. How lucky he had been. He’d enjoyed this amazing treat year around. It was his favorite food memory; I’m sure in a similar way that I look back fondly on those Christmas Eve cups of hot sweet milk and nutmeg.

SAM KHURSHID'S CHAI RECIPE

Makes 5 cups

Ingredients:

3 cups water

2 cups milk

5 rounded teaspoons loose black tea (one per cup or

       1 tea bag per cup)

10 whole cloves (two per cup)

5  -  ½ cinnamon sticks (one per cup)

5 teaspoons brown sugar (one per cup) or to taste

5  - 1/4 inch thick slices of 1" round fresh ginger,   

       unpeeled (one per cup)

1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder (just 1/2 teaspoon

       for the entire batch)

Instructions:

Bring water to a boil. Add black tea. cinnamon, brown sugar, cloves, and ginger. Boil for 2 minutes then add milk and cardamom. (It expands in pot, watch it.) Bring back to boil, take off heat for 15 seconds return it to heat and boil. Do this twice more. Strain off the spices. Serve. (This can also be made with equal parts water and milk or all milk.)