I just finished a yearly project. Each day of the month I posted on a pre-determined theme. During the month of November, I'll post a collage of all my photos on the daily theme from the past year. The theme for the twenty-fourth day of the month was "Family."
**************
Gratitude - Thanksgiving.
A Day to Remember - Christmas Eve.
Old Things - Family heirlooms to be cherished.
Birthday Cubed - Gifts for niblings.
Another Birthday Haul - More shopping.
In This House, We Share Fur - Zelda is so pretty.
More Book Recs, Please - More shopping for nibling gifts!
Four Years of Hannah the Dog! - Four more years! Four more years!
In the Mail - I bought postcards.
A Bevy of Postcards - I bought some more postcards.
Fur Sisters - Zelda plays with a toy.
Iowa Lost - I stayed home while my husband went to Iowa.
A Day to Remember - Christmas Eve.
Old Things - Family heirlooms to be cherished.
Birthday Cubed - Gifts for niblings.
Another Birthday Haul - More shopping.
In This House, We Share Fur - Zelda is so pretty.
More Book Recs, Please - More shopping for nibling gifts!
Four Years of Hannah the Dog! - Four more years! Four more years!
In the Mail - I bought postcards.
A Bevy of Postcards - I bought some more postcards.
Fur Sisters - Zelda plays with a toy.
Iowa Lost - I stayed home while my husband went to Iowa.
**************
Hannah count: 1
Zelda count: 2
Library count: 1
Books count: A lot.
**************
This may be the first time real themes came out. Buying presents and sending postcards. I am nothing if not predictable.
**************
Yesterday we drove to Iowa, worked on a jigsaw puzzle, ate a giant meal, and then headed back home. I particularly want to draw attention to the Jello pretzel salad, which we've talked about, but many of you were unbelieving about.
I explained to my sister-in-law that my blog friends had lots of questions about the dish ands he just went down quite the rabbit hole telling me about how different versions work (regular cream cheese is the way to go; low-fat cream cheese will still taste good, but that layer will fall apart). Look, I didn't need a dissertation it, but you better believe I ate it with gusto. (Note that what is next to the Jello salad is a concoction that everyone called "strawberry fluff" and I have no idea what that is, but I did not try it. Sorry to let you down. If it's offered at Christmas, I will try it and report back.)
If I had turned around the plate, you would see that half of my plate was corn and the salad that I made, so it's not quite as beige as it looks here.
**************
Does your family have a dish that's a bit unconventional for family gatherings?
I like strawberry pretzel salad, once a year, maybe. In our case it is a summer holiday, like the Fourth or Labor Day, addition to the table. I don't think of it around this time of year.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow! It's exclusively Thanksgiving and Christmas for us. It has never been served at Fourth of July or Labor Day get togethers. LOL.
DeleteMIL is from Iowa, and we were just talking about the candied carrots her mom would make (and the reason she still dislikes carrots). I like jello and would eat what you have on your plate... and strawberry fluff is tasty, but the texture is not my favorite thing.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a great thanksgiving!
The midwestern term "salad" is hilarious to me. Even people from other parts of the country are giving us the side-eye for this nonsense. It is delicious, though, RIGHT?
DeleteStrawberry fluff is an Easter offering for our family here in NEO. The first time I ever had the pretzel "salad" was when a neighbor lady was talking about it and I was astonished by it. She laughed and couldn't believe I had never heard of it, let alone had any. She made some and brought me a piece. It's okay, and definitely NOT a salad, like most jello things called a salad.
ReplyDeleteI like the amount of stuffing/dressing you have on your plate. My only addition would be gravy, which is my favourite Tgiving food. Turkey gravy--mmmmmm.
Yes, I laugh that this is called salad. I think it's really good, actually!
DeleteI like gravy, too, but there are two reasons I didn't have any. One, I'm trying to be mostly vegetarian, so the gravy would have messed that up for me. Two, the salad was pretty heavily sauced and I didn't want the two sauces to mix. LOL. I'm like a small child.
When I was growing up, my mom made a pistachio salad for Thanksgiving. I think it had Cool Whip, mandarin oranges, coconut shreds, and marshmallows, and it was a very pale green. It must have had pistachios in it, too? It was amazing. I haven't had it in decades but my memory is that it was soft and fluffy with little bits of juiciness from the oranges.
ReplyDeletePistachio salad is a CLASSIC. So delicious!! I should make some for my book club next weekend.
DeleteMy mom did a mandarin salad that was canned mandarin oranges, cream cheese, and orange jello. I loved that. I'll have to ask her if she still has the recipe and I can make that.
I love Jello salads of all kinds. I'm envious. ❤️😘
ReplyDeleteFeel free to come to Christmas dinner and you can have it then!
DeletePretzel jello salad SOUNDS gross, but is it a pretzel crust, then cream cheese layer, then strawberry jello? Because that sounds good - sounds like a variation on a dessert my mom has made for years with graham cracker base, ice cream and pistachio pudding middle and whipped cream top.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have turnips at every holiday meal - not unconventional, but I always ate it but never liked it. When I discovered butternut squash I nixed the turnips forever after.
Yes, those are EXACTLY the layers and they are delicious! I mean, it IS a dessert, but it gets served right next to what we call the "lettuce salad" in our family dinners. Then we have actual dessert after the meal.
DeleteButternut squash > turnips all day, every day. You have made the correct choice!
We always have rainbow Jello at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's Jello, made in layers, which takes all day because you have to let each layer partially set before you add the next layer. The past few years it has been the 11 year old's responsibility to make it. The funny thing, though, is we use the recipe from my mother in law's recipe box and the recipe card calls it "Ribbon Salad". When I first started going home to Indiana with my then-boyfriend/now-husband, I was a little taken aback that it was served up with Thanksgiving dinner as a side dish. There are many other Jello salad recipes in that recipe box...
ReplyDeleteMy MIL used to make that layered Jello thing. No one ate it, though, but her. I think it's because there's nothing there buy Jello - no texture or anything. I'm happy to hear we're not the only ones doing crazy things will Jello, though.
DeleteWe have fluffy jello— jello and cool whip, ice cubes, lots of stirring.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I wonder if that's what this strawberry fluff is. I'll have to find out who made it and ask them next time.
DeleteIt sounds...odd...but also very delicious (even though I'm not a huge fan of either pretzels or Jello); I wonder if it's more of an American thing? I've never had a Jello salad in my lunch.
ReplyDeleteThanks for including a picture! It's not what I had envisioned. What a bright, festive colour!
So, Jello salads are a Midwestern American thing. This is NOT getting served at a Thanksgiving in, let's say Alabama or New Mexico. They can be surprisingly tasty and this one really is. I should have taken some home for leftovers, in retrospect.
DeleteI am sorry but I cannot imagine trying the Jello salad NOR the Strawberry Fluff... but please do report back at Christmas :)
ReplyDeleteLook, San, you're missing out. The strawberry pretzel Jello salad is So Good!! Don't knock it until you've tried it.
DeleteI've never had pretzel Jello salad but once the layers were explained, I think it's something I'd enjoy!
ReplyDeleteIt is quite tasty, Stephany. You'd like it, I'm sure!
DeleteI still remember last spring when I was at a school event and someone mentioned their aunt's jello salad (a green one, but not pistachio, that I recall). I made some comment like, "Well, as long as it doesn't have lettuce in it..." (LONG PAUSE) "Yes, it does have lettuce in it - that's why it's so popular." (Cue me trying to hide behind the chair I'm sitting on...)
ReplyDeleteNot a jello person, not a jello salad person, but I'm not here to yuck on anybody's yum. More for you!
Such strange sounding dishes. Very American. You would not find anything like it in Germany. At least I can't come up with anything comparable. I am not sure i would like it to be honest.
ReplyDelete