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Holiday Reflections
Lisa Hoffman & Charles Atkins (With Special Guest appearances by Cynthia and Harvey Atkins) Published 12/23/04 Charlie Writes: It’s Saturday and the fourth day of Hanukkah. My parents down from Boston—Harvey and Cynthia—gather in Lisa’s living room for a chat about holidays gone by. "So," I ask Lisa, once the laptop has booted. "How did you celebrate Hanukkah in Germany?" "We didn’t so much," she starts, "It was a nothing holiday. You’d get potato latkes. Do you know how to make potato latkes?" She asks, envisioning the traditional small golden-brown pancakes that are best served with sour cream and apple sauce. "I’d really like some." Mom chimes in. "You can find the frozen ones. They’re really quite good." "Maybe I could get some from the Jewish Federation; they have a program on Tuesdays called Love and Knishes. It’s a luncheon with entertainment and speakers and it’s just $5.50. There’s a woman who caters it. She does the food and she has a service on the side. "Do you know her name? She ponders. "…Nancy." "When I was a kid," Dad offers, harking back to Depression era Roxbury Massachusetts, "My Great Uncle Wolf would give all the kids a silver dollar for Hanukkah. He was an itinerant peddler, who sold everything. My dad used to buy coal from him. And we used to get a bag of Hanukkah gelt--the foil-wrapped chocolate coins. Uncle Wolf was actually quite interesting. He was clean shaven, but orthodox. He chemically removed his beard with a caustic." Lisa and mom chime in unison "a depilatory". "No, it was some kind of very harsh substance." "That’s a depilatory," they insist. "Maybe you should use it," Lisa offers, looking at my unshaven weekend scruff. And we veer into a discussion of hair removal in different cultures. "It’s a hair loom," Lisa chuckles. All groan. "It really used to bother me," Dad says, "when I started losing my hair. And then I grew a beard, and it didn’t seem to matter so much." "And you, Lisa?" I ask, "Care to comment on hair maintenance?" She cuts me a dirty look. "This is a very personal question. All I can tell you is that blondes have more fun." "My mother became a blonde in her seventies," Dad offers. "I’ve always been a blonde," Lisa replies. "I started blonde," Mom adds, "but it darkened as I grew". "So, I’m the only one who’s never been blond," I say, finding it hard to keep up with the conversation while trying to type. "Although I suspect Lisa is a suicide blonde." "What do you mean?" she asks, not liking the direction this is taking. "Dyed by her own hand," Dad says, beating me to the punch line. "That’s not true! If you look at my baby pictures, I’ve always been blonde!" "Okay enough on hair color, back to the holidays. Do you remember much about the holidays in England?" I ask Lisa. "Well, it was during the war, so everything was rationed and very hard to get. But when I worked as a cook I’d make plum pudding with hard sauce." "What’s that?" I ask. "It’s butter and sugar and brandy for the hard sauce." "Aren’t there egg in it?" Mom asks. "No," Lisa says, definitively. "Was it difficult to make?" "Very. It took for ever." "Maybe we should include a recipe?" I offer. "Do you have one?" "I must, somewhere. But it’s far too difficult and some of the ingredients are hard to get. Maybe we could do a traditional Christmas Stollen instead." "Favorite Christmas or Hanukkah of all time?" I ask. "Easter?" Lisa suggests. "No, we can’t wander that far a field." "You know they have two holidays," Lisa remarks. "In Germany?" "Yes the 25th and 26th when everything is closed. But before that comes Saint Nicholas Day on December 6th. And all of the children put a shoe or boot by the fire, and if they’ve been good Saint Nicholas fills them with Candy and fruit, but if they’ve been bad it’s twigs and coal. I remember once my mother even dressed up as Santa Claus for my little brother, and she walked around on her knees, trying to make herself look short and fat. And he was quite awed by this bearded stranger in a red suit who asked, "have you been a good boy?" Although by then, I think I was old enough to know that Santa Claus wasn’t real, even though she was trying hard to disguise her voice. And they wouldn’t put the tree out, like they do here, on Thanksgiving. The Christmas tree got decorated on Christmas Eve—on the 24th. And the house would be permeated with wonderful aromas from the cooking goose. And we’d have real candles on our tree. They didn’t have all the electric lights and stuff." Dad remembers, "When I was a graduate student, the women on Christmas Eve would have us stringing cranberries." "We had cotton as snow," Lisa adds, "and what’s known here as tinsel, in German was called Lametta. In fact I remember, but this has nothing to do with anything, but there was a very famous cabaret singer Claire Waldorf and she was making fun of Goering--the head of the Luftwaffe and she would sing, ‘Auf der Brust hat er Lametta. Und der Bauch wird immer fetter.’ On his chest he wears Lametta and his stomach is getting fatter.’ She took chances…I remember going with my little brother to the cabaret to hear her sing. I hated that he always tagged along. And my father would say to him, ‘watch out for Liesel.’" "And he was right," I comment, picturing an adolescent Lisa on her own in a smoky cabaret. "How much younger was your brother?" Mom asks. "Eight years." And the memories of Lisa’s parents and her brother Hans Erich, who perished under the Nazis, enter the room. "We had such wonderful celery salad with the goose," she continues. "It was called Sellerie Salat." "What’s that?" "You can sometimes find it here as celeriac. It’s very unappealing to look at. You cook it and peel the brown outside off and slice it and serve it with vinaigrette." "Did your family ever make Gurken Salad?" Mom asks, as I experience a sense memory of the thinly sliced savory cucumber and onion salad that was always brought by one of my German relatives to holiday gatherings. Lisa nods, "And we’d have potato dumplings with the goose and the goose was filled with apples--whole apples. And then we’d have goose fat with it." Her eyes sparkle,"Oh, but the goose fat was delicious, with salt on it. Wonderful for the cholesterol." "And gribenis." Mom adds. "What’s that?" I ask, wondering if my mother has begun to speak in tongues. "That’s the cracklings," she says—offering another word I’m unfamiliar with, but one which could easily become the title of a Stephen King novel. "It’s when you fry up the goose fat and the skin with some onion. The skin crinkles up and it’s delicious." "Okay," I say, "So the holidays are really all about food?" "Yes," from Lisa. "Yes," from Dad. "Yes," from Mom. "And the German holidays weren’t so gaudy," Lisa says. "I think that was the era," Mom responds. "They didn’t used to be so gaudy and commercial here either." "They were more about family and traditions…and food," Lisa says. "…I don’t think the tradition of putting the shoes by the fire ever came to this country." "Isn’t that like the stocking on the fireplace?" I ask. "Either way," she says, "you put your foot in." We groan again. "I don’t think Lisa could make it five minutes without a pun," I explain to my folks. "It’s mind over matter," she rebuts, "if you don’t mind it doesn’t matter…Ooh," she says, "before you shut off the computer we mustn’t forget to thank all of our friends and readers who have sent such lovely cards and good wishes. Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night."
Lisa’s Christmas Stollen (also known as a Dresdener Stollen} Serves 16 (2 loaves)Ingredients: 12 cups sifted flour 3 cups milk 1 pound butter, melted 6 eggs 1 pound raisins 1 pound currants 2 cups sugar ½ teaspoon mace ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg 1 tablespoon lemon zest 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoon brandy 2 ¼ cups blanched chopped almonds ½ pound citron finely chopped 1 ½ teaspoons salt 2 cakes compressed yeast (2 packages) dissolved in ½ cup lukewarm water Topping Ingredients: ¼ cup butter melted 2 tablespoons brandy ½ cup confectioner’s sugar Directions:
Cynthia’s Latkes Serves 6Ingredients: 2 eggs 3 cups grated drained potatoes (Cynthia recommends doing both the potatoes and the onions in a food processor). And don't forget to drain those potatoes before mixing with the egg. 4 tablespoons grated or chopped onion 1/2 teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon pepper 2 tablespoons cracker or matzoh meal. (You can also use regular flour) ½ cup oil Directions:
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