A typical Barker family Christmas has come and gone, another fun holiday with minimal fueds, illness and lots of company! We had our lovely Christmas Eve dinner, Italian style. Homemade pasta, fresh jumbo shrimp in a homemade marinara sauce and caesar salad. Oh and bread. LOTS and lots of bread! How did we come across this yummy spread? Well many moons ago my parents debated on who's family tradition to adopt for Christmas. Just to educate you on some of our cultural heritage, here is the my mother's Swedish Friberg fare: lutefisk, potato sausage, lots of white sauce and fruit soup. Italian Barker fare: see above. I'll leave it to the beloved Garrison Keillor to present an explanation of this time honored tradition:
""Lutefisk is cod that has been dried in a lye solution. It looks like the desiccated cadavers of squirrels run over by trucks, but after it is soaked and reconstituted and the lye is washed out and it's cooked, it looks more fish-related, though with lutefisk, the window of success is small. It can be tasty, but the statistics aren’t on your side. It is the hereditary delicacy of Swedes and Norwegians who serve it around the holidays, in memory of their ancestors, who ate it because they were poor. Most lutefisk is not edible by normal people. It is reminiscent of the afterbirth of a dog or the world's largest chunk of phlegm." ~Garrison Keillor's "Pontoon"
Fish Jello?
Every few years we migrate back to the frozen tundra for Christmas fully forewarned we will have to partake in this fabulous feast of fish jello. Needless to say we go to bed almost every Christmas Eve with full bellies and visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in our heads.
Merry Christmas!
Caitlyn
Colin scored some major points with the in-laws this year by giving my parents an American flag he flew over Iraq.
merry christmas! your family has a lovely home!
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