So, you can hold your own in the kitchen...

I make some really great meals. My family is very small minded. I cooked a loin-end beef rib roast a few years ago. I dry-aged it ten days. It was perfect. My sister had her husband light my grill to "finish" it because it was too red in the center.

I am not allowed in the kitchen at all!! It's terrible and all I eat when they cook is dressing and gravy and they always ask why.

Ah, but I am manipulative and have managed to get the traditional menu to evolve some so that less popular items are overshadowed by new traditions of yumminess. In other words, make room for my stuff 'cause it tastes better.

(However, this banana-pudding-casserole-thingy still makes its way to the table every year. <sigh> At least the kids like it.)

Plus I started the tradition of duck in mine with palenta and red wine reduction in cranberry sauce. But no one will eat it lol rednecks!

[quote]Holiday foods are some of my favorites and I come from a family of good cooks, so I look forward to the holidays[/quote

My family has some great cooks. I know the pressures of feeding the masses can be tough. I just hate to see it evolve into what has become:
We bought a few gallons of gumbo...
We got the turkey smoked at...
We opened 7 cans of beans and mushroom soup and made...
Look at this pie we bought at...


I can cook all of this shite, likely better. When I ask to contribute, We already have that.

I love the traditional holiday foods. I love turkey, dressing and I think making my own cranberry sauce is damn fun. We have so many choices that everyone can find something they like. Besides, if you didn't have some of those dreaded every year dishes, what would you talk about?

My grandmother used to make this gelatin sort of fruit thing with Durkee's dressing and Royal Anne cherries and marshmellows and some other things. I loved the stuff. Every once in a while I make it just to have it even though I'm probably the only one who will eat it. However, just having it there reminds me of my grandmother and the stories about her and that dish start immediately. Brings on a lot of laughter and the younger kids laugh and turn their noses up. They make fun of me for making it and eyes roll. It's like the black sheep of the meal. It's a hoot! Adds to the gathering... I tell them my grandmother is going to haunt them, but bring me good luck.

No, it's more of a salmon color. I really do seriously like the stuff. The Durkee's adds a dimensional flavor I can't put my finger on.

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Besides, if you didn't have some of those dreaded every year dishes, what would you talk about?

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You make the best argument. I miss my Grandma and the others good cooks that are now gone. I learned So much from them in the kitchen. I still hate that people take shortcuts. I have some family that I haven't seen in a decade coming in this year. It will be a great time no matter what the meal is.

My Mom would always have a side of canned cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving. She never bothered to slice it or smush it, she'd simply take it right out of the can and directly into a bowl with the lines from the inside of the can clearly visible on that cranberry block.