Eat, Sing and Be Merry
Several Holiday Celebration performers share their favorite holiday customs and recipes.
FOOD | GIFT GIVING | FAMILY RITUALS
FOOD
Holiday specialties from different cultures abound. Ginger Liu of DreamDance II explains “Fish and chicken [are] for prosperity and noodles for longevity.” Marie de la Palme of Motion Tribe recalls, “During my childhood in France, we ate turkey with whole chestnuts around it and served with a chestnut purée. It is a very filling dish and the two aromas complete each other. For dessert, we had the ‘buche de Noel’ which is a light sheet cake rolled into a log shape (a 'bûche') filled with delicious buttery cream and sometimes decorated with candy mushrooms.” For Michael McCullough of the Palmdale High School Choral Union the great treat is “Hungarian horns – a pastry that my wife’s family introduced to me when I was courting their daughter. Unfortunately I only know how to eat them, and ‘gramma’ is very protective of this recipe.”
Mary Wood, the mother of the Celtic Spring clan, is happy to share her favorite cookies.
| | PECAN DREAMS
1/2 cup butter (beat until soft)
2 tablespoons sugar (add to butter and beat until creamy)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (add to the butter/sugar mixture)
1 cup pecans, roughly ground in blender or nut grinder (add to butter/sugar mixture and mix)
1 cup sifted unbleached flour (add to butter/sugar/nut mixture, and mix until smooth)
Roll the dough into small balls, and shape into crescent moons and place on greased baking sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar. |
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Lisa Haley of Lisa Haley and the Zydecats
| | BOILED SHRIMP IN THE SHELL
1 lb raw shrimp in the shell per person
1 large pot with rack (to keep shrimp out of the water)
1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar to height of rack line
Per pound of shrimp: 1 Tbs Old Bay seasoning, 1 lemon, quartered, 1 small potato quartered, 1 onion quartered, 1 ear of corn halved
Put all ingredients but shrimp and corn in the pot. Place rack on top. Fill pot with water and vinegar to rack line. Bring water to boil, simmer 10 minutes. Add corn on top of rack and simmer 5 minutes. Add shrimp and simmer 5 minutes. Turn off the fire! Test a shrimp for doneness. Shrimp should be firm and fully pink, but not mushy. Pour out water, remove rack, mix all ingredients.
Serve with cocktail sauce: Per pound of shrimp, 1/2 cup ketchup and 1 Tsp horseradish.
Bon Appetit et Joyeux Noel! |
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Amy Campion of Antics Performance
| | SIMPLE BEEF AND QUINOA SKILLET DINNER
2 pounds grass-fed ground beef
1 medium onion or 2 small onions, diced
4 cups cooked and cooled quinoa*
2 to 3 teaspoons sea salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
1 tablespoon dried basil
Brown the ground beef in a deep skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Leave it pretty chunky (that's our preference; you can chop it up to smithereens if you want).
Add the diced onions and let them sauté in all the yummy beef juices.
Add the cooked quinoa,* salt, pepper, and basil. Mix without smushing up the quinoa. Let it all come to a warm temperature.
Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve.
To add a yummy touch, put a bit of shredded goat cheese on top of each person's serving.
*To cook quinoa: Rinse 2 cups of quinoa grain in a fine mesh strainer under cold running water for 2 minutes. Put the grain, 4 cups of water, and a dash of extra virgin olive oil in an 8-cup capacity pot. Bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat to maintain a gentle simmer while covered. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat. After about 15 minutes, fluff with a fork.
©Copyright 2008 by Wardeh Harmon.
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Yolanda Hernandez of Mariachi Sol de Mexico
“Tamales and pozole are always a part of our tradition, plus posadas (an enactment of St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary looking for lodging in Bethlehem), singing sometimes in our old neighborhood. Also kids break a piñata with little gifts and candy.”
| | TAMALES
2 cu. Maseca (a particular brand of corn flour)
2 cu. lukewarm water or broth
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cu. lard or vegetable shortening
Dried corn husks
Soak corn husks for at least 6 hours.
Combine Maseca, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Work in broth or water with your fingers to make a soft, moist dough. In a small bowl, beat lard or shortening until fluffy, add corn flour and beat until dough has a spongy texture. Prepare tamales with desired filling. This recipe will make enough dough for 16 small tamales. It easily doubles.
Filling
1/3 lb. boneless pork loin or shoulder (optional: chicken or beef)
1 1/2 oz. chile pasilla or California pods (stems and seeds removed)
1/8 cu. cooking oil (corn)
3/4 cu. water
1/2 tbsp. salt
16 corn husks
1/4 lbs. prepared corn flour mixture (above)
Cover meat with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until done (about 2 hours).
Lightly sauté chile pods in cooking oil. Place in blender, add water and blend until smooth.
Cut meat into small pieces, cook in cooking oil until browned. Add chile mixture and salt to meat. Cook approximately 7 minutes.
Soak corn husks for a few minutes and rinse well.
Spread corn flour mixture evenly over the smooth side of the corn husks, place a tbsp. of meat mixture in the center. Fold over sides towards the center, fold end of husk and pinch the open end, place tamales in steamer with the folded side on the bottom. Cover with a wet cloth or more husks, add water and steam, approximately 1 ½ to 2 hours.
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GIFT GIVING
Ginger Liu of DreamDance II
“We greet others with ‘Gung Hey Fat Choy’ which means ‘Wishing You Prosperity and Wealth.’ Also, we give lai see’s (lucky red money envelopes) to each child. This is our way of passing good luck to the next generation. Decorating your home with bright, red banners with New Year wishes and symbols of good fortune in gold.”
Mary Wood of Celtic Spring
“The week before Christmas our family and friends take their instruments and voices and go caroling at residential care homes for the elderly. In that final week we bake vast amounts of homemade cookies that are given as gifts to all close friends and teachers. (Mary and the five oldest children each bake about three kinds of their favorite cookies, so we usually have about 18 different varieties of cookies.) We deliver the plates of cookies on Christmas Eve. Sometimes in great haste since we have a long drive to LA for the Holiday Celebration performance.”
FAMILY RITUALS
Marie de la Palme of Motion Tribe
“My husband is a pianist, so along with my daughter we often end up around the piano to sing all the Christmas songs in a row. We love improvising rock versions of the originals. We also always decorate the tree to the sound of the Blender's awesome CD: NOG.”
Michael McCullough of Palmdale High School Choral Union
“We participate in the crèche festival where a local church displays crèches (nativity scenes) from many cultures in all sizes and holds music festivals and performances in the display hall.”
Mary Wood of Celtic Spring
“Our family has many traditions to joyfully celebrate Christmas. We begin the season on the first Sunday of Advent walking out in nature in search of pine, holly, and rosemary, and make an Advent Wreath. That night, during dinner, we light the first candle on the wreath and sing ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel.’ We continue that tradition throughout Advent, adding a candle for each week in Advent that goes by. On that first Sunday of Advent during dinner we draw names for ‘Secret Angels.’ Each family member draws the name of another family member and secretly does special things for that person, like hiding treats in surprising places, like violin cases, and folding his/her laundry. On Christmas day each family member tries to guess who his/her secret angel was. Also in the beginning of Advent, the younger children begin memorizing special Christmas poems, which are recited on Christmas day during brunch. The Irish people love poetry and my Irish Grandpa passed this love on to us.”
Ginger Liu of DreamDance II
“During Chinese New Year, everyone visits with their families and friends in a tradition known as ‘new-year visits’ to express good wishes to each other.”
Martice Brumfield & Family of UCC Chorus
“The holidays for the Brumfield Family are filled with remembrance, gratitude, and thanksgiving. During this time of the year, our family takes comfort in the joy of being together. We often sit around the fireplace and talk about the things that have taken place over the year, whether good or bad. This is particularly important for us because it allows us to recognize just how blessed we really are. It is also a time for setting new goals and dreams we have for ourselves, whether it’s individually or collectively as a family.”
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