Ham, Latkes, and Black-eyed Peas

NB: Please forgive the formatting. If the spacing is awkward, it's because I could not justify it. I hope it's readable.

We couldn't celebrate the holidays at their traditional times (including my birthday) because all of us
were so sick and/or scattered, so Chanukah and Christmas came to the Donnelly/Foreman household one
week late this year. They came with more than their usual gusto because they were all crammed into the
single day we were all finally able to get it together. Lock'n'Load: Judah Maccabee and the three wise
men; a star in the East and one day's oil in the pot; a newborn in a crib of straw and a menorah brought from Russia by a Bubbe as a young woman. Tradition!

 

Then came dinner: 

Baked ham basted with a neighbor's maple syrup by an Irish Catholic with dancing green eyes partnering with this neurotic Russian who needs to taste everything in a crowded kitchen first, and potato latkes made by another neighbor - her card read, "Less Tzorris, More Nachas" - with a surprise side of black-eyed peas (a new year's tradition in the south) dropped off by yet another neighbor - "Happiness, Y'all!" - both of these women vying , and righteously so, for the title of World's Best Cook. Talk about an ecumenical experience - outdone - if you can believe it possible - outdone by a homemade chocolate rum birthday cake conjured by that very same latke lady. 

All in all, it was a good year. Hope yours was, too.


Happiest of New Years' to all of you out there

And

Thanks so much for giving me such a good read