Christmas Eve Feast

Where to begin? Well, we went to Zio Mimmo’s brother’s house, Peppino (that’s a nickname for Guiseppe (Joe)-weird I know but cute and fitting). We were joined by another 21 family members. When we arrived, I headed straight to the kitchen with all of the other women to get cooking and preparing for the feast while Dan followed Zio Mimmo to the living room with all the other stallions. I loved being in the kitchen getting my hands dirty. All of the older women seemed to love it, I mean I did get my cheeks pinched for the first time since arriving in Italy. I have a love-hate emotion when it comes to cheek pinching. So once everyone arrived and the sound level got a few decibels higher, it was time to let the eating begin. Here’s our menu.

Pre-antipasto

A variety of olives, cheese, nuts (including ceci -Enzo, we found them but no one put them in their orange juice!)

Martinis

L’antipasto

Fruit skewers of grapes, kiwi, cantaloupe, mandarin, pineapple

Baked brie cheese (one 3 inch diameter wheel per person)

Lox on orange slices

Seafood salad served in scallop shells

Ribs

Vino

Il primo

Ravioli in noce sauce (creamy walnut sauce)

Vino

Il secondo

Scapece (small type of fish)- served whole, eyeballs and all.

Vino

Il contorno

Spinach salad with pomegranate and walnuts

Potato salad

Coleslaw

Mixed vegetables

Vino

Il dolce

Frutti

Nuts

Caragnole ( a special dessert originated from Casacalenda!

Torroncini

Panettoni

Pandoro

Scrapelle (also originated from Casacalenda!)

Chocolate

Champagne

Needless to say, we were the guests and we didn’t really have much of a choice whether we ate or not. Aldo made sure our plates were always full and by midway through our 3 hours meal, our stomachs were in pain but our mouths were happy. I hope on our next visit, I will not be considered a guest. The rest of the evening was filled with a visit from Babbo Natale and 2 hours of opening gifts. Everyone was so sweet and made sure we had a few packages to open up. We cleaned up the kitchen and then ate again…I know, I know! It was a night to remember.