Food, Glorious Food!

Dad prepares to carve the turkey.

I come from a family who LOVES to eat so many of our celebrations and memories have centered around food over the years.

Thanksgiving with toddlers.

Apparently my hubby came from a similar family because when I married him, he brought a whole new set of family recipes to the marriage AND his own recipe box.

Will Grandma do her usual sampling?

One of the family tricks that has provided amusement at our gatherings has been my mother's tendency to "sample" the pies when no one is looking.  We'd usually discover that she'd done some tasting when we'd go to bring the pie to the table and see that a little hole had been cut out smack dab in the middle of the pie.

"On your mark, get set....."

When all the family gathers together, we enjoy the same dishes over and over again.  If it is Thanksgiving, you get Green Bean Casserole, Hash Brown Supreme Casserole, Sweet Potato Souffle, Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, Jellied Cranberry Sauce, Turkey, a dessert salad (affectionately called "fruit compote" by the kids), and at least two kinds of pie.

We also like to photograph food.  I never realized that we did this so much until this year when my sister-in-law came around the corner and saw me setting up a shot with one of the dishes.

"Wow, " she said, "You and your brother are just the same.  He's always taking pictures of food."

I'd never realized this was unusual.  I thought everyone did this at special meals or when they make something that they want to remember.

After all, how else are you going to have bragging rights, if you don't snap a picture of that culinary concoction and then post it on your blog or up on Facebook?

I was going to ask my mom if she used to do this but then I figured out it would be pointless to do so.  After all, she was ALWAYS taking pictures so I'm sure that there was a roast or a pie in there somewhere.

I DID have to chuckle though on Thanksgiving Day when we Skyped with our son and his family in Texas.  We asked him if he had had a nice holiday with his in-laws.

"Mom," he said.  "It was a curious experience spending the holiday with a different family and seeing what  traditions they had.  And this has to be the FIRST time that I've sat down at a holiday meal where everything  didn't taste like dessert."

Yikes!  Guilty as charged.  We do have a powerful sweet tooth in our family.