Favorite Holiday Tradition or Food

[Banginit]

Hi wanted to kick off a thread...hope its not cheesy.

Favorite Holiday Tradition or Food or Both?

Tradition: Prob is driving around Hidden Valley NV at night after a snow n looking at the Christmas decorations... they do the whole place...alot more when i was growing up.

Favorite Food: Pumpkin roll cake w the cream cheese filling, walnuts n powder suger.

Bang

[Cobia]

I will be out in the woods hunting  Looking for hogs and maybe a big buck ( as I am doing right now ).

[G]

Favorite holiday food: Apple pie

Favorite holiday tradition: Shooting guns

Merica! 

[rachelvarga]

We usually eat Sarmale, it is basically Romanian cabbage rolls.

[Banginit]

We usually eat Sarmale, it is basically Romanian cabbage rolls.

  looks good my mom made cabbage rolls ...Turkish but grandparents from Hungry

[rachelvarga]

Also Cozonac.

[G]

Yummy!  ;D I need some cozonac for my tummy!

[Dr. Who]

For Christmas dinner back when I was growing up, it was more or less like Thanksgiving dinner, except we often had a baked ham instead of turkey.  Desserts were always my favorites like pumpkin pie with whipped cream and/or ice cream.  Although when it came to food, New Year's was the biggie, since our families use to cook up a lot of traditional dishes that were common  for those of us growing up in Japanese-American families.

I also use to like wandering around downtown Chicago during the Christmas holiday to see all decorations, as well as the Chicago Christmas tree.  Most of the big department stores use to have some elaborate Christmas displays in their windows that were really cool, but this year I haven't ventured downtown or anywhere where there are crowds. LOL  A lot of business have also cutback on stuff due to the pandemic, so things aren't quite like they use to be.

[logcabin]

My memories were about my Hungarian Grandmother, who cooked from scratch without a recipe or cookbook. We lived on a farm which was self sufficient as to meat (Beef, Pork, Poultry), vegetables (large garden - more than an acre), Dairy (we milked cows everyday). So she cooked Hungarian Meat Balls in a big pot, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Corn, Fresh Made Apple or Peach Pie with sweet cream topping. She made lots of pastries from the old country which us kids would stuff ourselves with. Since we didn't have a TV in the early days, we would then sit around talking as a family trying to digest this large meal.

[rachelvarga]

I only started celebrating Thanksgiving and Halloween when I got here so it is relatively new for me. Easter is different also. It seems that with Easter and Christmas there are religious and secular festivities which is nice because everyone has a good time. Halloween is the on holiday that I find to be a lot of fun but Christmas is by far my favorite. I watch Christmas movies pretty much everyday of the season. Home Alone being my favorite.

[Prospector Bob]

Thanksgiving turkey & Christmas ham are traditions in my family but my favorite foods were the native New Mexican foods that accompanied the turkey or ham. I loved the tamales, chile rojo, frijoles, posole & menudo we had at our family feasts. Still do! ;D

When I was a kid, the whole family would gather at my Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. The adult men would butcher a whole hog in the garage so the women could make tamales all day. They'd make enough tamales to last through New Year's day. We'd also have a live turkey that met the same fate as the hog in the garage. No frozen birds for us! We'd also have all the other traditional Thanksgiving foods like corn bread stuffing, baked potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, yams & my least favorite dish, green bean casserole. Then there were pumpkin & minced meat pies with whipped cream for dessert!

When you left Grandma's house after Thanksgiving dinner, you waddled out from being over stuffed.

Christmas dinner was more of the same except for the ham instead of the turkey. On New Year's day we had more posole & menudo plus any left-over tamales. Another tradition that my Mom started was black-eyed peas cooked with chunks of left-over Christmas ham. Mom's an Okie. It was what her family had at New Years when she was growing up.

Rachel... those Romanian cabbage rolls made my mouth water. They look scrumptious!

[Banginit]

I only started celebrating Thanksgiving and Halloween when I got here so it is relatively new for me. Easter is different also. It seems that with Easter and Christmas there are religious and secular festivities which is nice because everyone has a good time. Halloween is the on holiday that I find to be a lot of fun but Christmas is by far my favorite. I watch Christmas movies pretty much everyday of the season. Home Alone being my favorite.

  mmm favorite Christmas movie...Jingle all the way... Phil Hartman was awesome.. also 4 Christmases with Reese Witherspoon ❤

[G]

Christmas Story and National lampoon's Christmas Vacation are my favorite Holiday movies.

Cousin Eddie has to be one of the greatest comical character ever imagined.

[Florida Couple]

We usually eat Sarmale, it is basically Romanian cabbage rolls.

The Mrs (damn iPad spellcheck). Thinks  that looks like manicotti 

[rachelvarga]

My memories were about my Hungarian Grandmother, who cooked from scratch without a recipe or cookbook. We lived on a farm which was self sufficient as to meat (Beef, Pork, Poultry), vegetables (large garden - more than an acre), Dairy (we milked cows everyday). So she cooked Hungarian Meat Balls in a big pot, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Corn, Fresh Made Apple or Peach Pie with sweet cream topping. She made lots of pastries from the old country which us kids would stuff ourselves with. Since we didn't have a TV in the early days, we would then sit around talking as a family trying to digest this large meal.

Logcabin, did you ever see these. It's Hungarian and they are so good. Kurtosh Kalach. Bread is rolled onto a spindle then cooked over hot coals. Take it off and put honey on it and roll it in sugar or whatever you like. You would probably love this.

Transylvannia is actually called Ardeal and has been part of Romania or Hungary at one time or the other. My Mom's side is from there. At the foot of the Carpathian Mountains. There is a lot of Hungarian and Romanian culture mixed. My great-great-Grandmother was Hungarian so technically I am part Hungarian. I cannot speak the language (maybe a little). It is not latin based like mine. It is Finno-Urgic andd it is very very hard to learn. Very very hard.

If you can speak Spanish, French, or Italian you could understand Romanian because they are the four romance languages and latin related.

Somewhere on my Dad's side there is Greek ancestry but sorry guys I don't do buttsex. Lol.

Rachel Varga
onlyfans.com/rachelvarga
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[Funmonger]

Ha Ha, Rachel, since you went to the "dark" side with your last comment you opened the door for my response. Are you sure these are not some kind of breaded "dick rolls" ?

[logcabin]

Rachel, When my grandmother was still alive (she only spoke Hungarian - not English) we were forced to speak Hungarian - I used to be able to speak short phrases and understand pretty well - however - she spoke very fast & it was tough to understand for us kids. Now after not hearing or speaking it for 50 years it is lost. I felt bad because anyone who is bi lingual, I admire. Just like in the USA - different parts of Hungary had different dialects & different culture & foods. If you remember your history, Hungary had a caste system of Upper Hungarians & Lower Hungarians. My Grandmother was Lower Hungarian & Grandfather Upper Hungarian. Grandfathers side of the family was dead set against marriage to the Lower side but that's a whole different story.  Our meatballs were cooked in a pan with lots of layers of cabbage & sauerkraut - so were never put on the table like in your picture. We have a Hungarian Restaurant in Toledo (Packo's) but it just doesn't taste the same as Grandma's. You have a great Holiday Season. Stay Safe.

[rachelvarga]

Rachel, When my grandmother was still alive (she only spoke Hungarian - not English) we were forced to speak Hungarian - I used to be able to speak short phrases and understand pretty well - however - she spoke very fast & it was tough to understand for us kids. Now after not hearing or speaking it for 50 years it is lost. I felt bad because anyone who is bi lingual, I admire. Just like in the USA - different parts of Hungary had different dialects & different culture & foods. If you remember your history, Hungary had a caste system of Upper Hungarians & Lower Hungarians. My Grandmother was Lower Hungarian & Grandfather Upper Hungarian. Grandfathers side of the family was dead set against marriage to the Lower side but that's a whole different story.  Our meatballs were cooked in a pan with lots of layers of cabbage & sauerkraut - so were never put on the table like in your picture. We have a Hungarian Restaurant in Toledo (Packo's) but it just doesn't taste the same as Grandma's. You have a great Holiday Season. Stay Safe.

I got something to show you. I got this book from a fan. I don't want to say their name without permission. Here is the thing I was talking about. It's got so much Rom/Hungarian food because it is centered around the Carpathians. I can send or post any recipes you may remember and want.

[img width=600]http://rachelbomb.com/wp-content/upload ... scaled.jpg[/img]

[img width=600]http://rachelbomb.com/wp-content/upload ... scaled.jpg[/img]

[logcabin]

Thanks for the idea Rachel. My Grandma favored making nut rolls, Kifflie, Cinnamon rolls. As you well know (I found out the hard way) that after years of perfecting it, my grandma used very specific brand name products to make her pastries / main dishes. For example in making the pigs-in-a-blanket, sauerkraut is used. Not just any sauerkraut, but a mixture of Bavarian sweet kraut and regular kraut made from a company in Fremont, Ohio. Just an example. You know, we were stupid, because we never wrote down her recipe(s). Really miss those goodies this time of year. Have a great Holiday Season!