Polish buffet. Some strange things on the menu such as blintze and potato latke's (Tamara will correct my spelling),
Sorry, can't oblige; those are not the terms we use in Poland :) I've finally figured out what "latkes" are (placki kartoflane), but to this day I wouldn't know a blinz if it bit me on the nose <g> Some of Polish and Jewish cuisine overlaps and, when it does, usually the Yiddish term is used as being easier to remember in an English-speaking country.
but there was one thing on the salad bar that looked pretty revolting. It was two inch squares of some kind of meat in jelly.
If the meat was chopped, then it was probably either pig's or veal/beef knuckles. If it was sliced, then it was probably beef tongue. I love both, though haven't had the tongue in ages -- it's not a staple in Lexington stores (either smoked or fresh) and, when it does show up, it's much too fatty (the cows are fed differently) besides being expensive. Or, it might have been fish (carp) -- de-boned, thin steaks are sometimes prepared that way, though, usually, for Christmas. Don't like those, because the jelly is sweet-ish.
We had the usual turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and green bean casserole
Be thankful, then :) None of these (nor the pumpkin pie) are traditional Polish dishes. Poland didn't start eating turkey until about 10 yrs ago or less, and we still don't even have a *name* for either "sweet potato", or "casserole" :) As for pumpkin, we pickle it, or use it in stews; vegetables are never, but never, used for sweets (no carrot cakes either).
And, of course, we do not celebrate Thanksgiving, or not as it's understood here. There's a Thanksgiving (a religious holiday) but I don't even know when that happens -- it wasn't one for which everything closed (the way it did for Christmas and Easter/Easter Monday). And there's a Harvest Festival but the timing of it varies from locality to locality (though always in September) and there are no particular dishes associated with it, except for freshly baked bread (originally made from the flour ground from the "gleanings").
So, for me, Thanksgiving has always been a holiday I could do without, though I did enjoy it when Severn's mother was still alive and at home (rather than in a "home"), and we'd go to Norfolk and spend a couple of days with his sister (including the Friday shopping <g>). We sometimes have it here, if one of the kids comes to spend it with us -- we had it 2yrs ago, when Severn's daughter was living in Maryland and brought her family for it. Otherwise, it's a day like any other, except the bank, the PO and most of the stores are closed.
And, for me it's also a day of mourning; 14 yrs ago, at 6AM on the after-Thanksgiving Friday, I got a phone call telling me that my Mother had died. We had my middle stepson and his brand new bride spending the Thanksgiving with us (they were to spend Christmas with her parents) but, since I was poor company, they went home earlier than planned. And called us on arrival to say that her father and mother, coming home from the Thanksgiving dinner with her brother's family, had a car accident -- father dead, mother in critical condition. She was still in critical condition when I left for Poland on Sunday. I've never liked Thanksgiving after that.
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
