Frying Zeppoles

I woke up this morning and realized that it is December 15th! Are you serious?? When the heck did that happen??  Ok, so in the next 9 days, I must finish up Christmas shopping, wrap all gifts, figure out what to serve to 22 guests on Christmas Eve, clean up, then reset for even more guests Christmas Day! Lots to do!

I LOVE to entertain, so I intentionally and purposefully bring a lot of this stress upon myself.  However,  I categorize this as good stress.  Nothing makes me happier than having my family and friends over to hang out, eat, and drink some wine by the fire (even if it means a flurry of cooking & cleaning -- seriously, I'm Italian -- this is what I was born to do.) 

I hosted Christmas Eve two years ago -- it was our first Christmas in the new house and we were honored to have "borrowed" the holiday from my Aunt Maria.  She was nice enough to let us "borrow" it again this year.  (It's really her holiday and in an Italian family you know better than to mess with the hierarchy of who can host what, when and where without asking--lol).

I was so nervous that I was going to run out of food that I think I cooked enough for a small army that year.  I refused to run this risk of having any of my uncles or aunts talk about the "lack of food" at dinner.  So I made the following (and I am not kidding):

1.  A serious assortment of appetizers, (there were so many that I cannot even remember) - however, I can confirm that my cousins Donna and Jenn made stuffed mushrooms and crab cakes, respectively.

2.  Escarole and White Bean Soup (one of my favorite things to make in the winter)

 

3.  Five (5) Pounds of Fried Calamari (all kidding aside, my Aunt Maria was frying calamari for 3 hours straight....this was even too much food for all of us to handle - this year, we vowed to only buy 2 pounds!)

4.  Zuppa Di Pesce over linguine.  (The Zuppa had clams, muscles, shrimp, and 5 special mini lobster tails-which were a total hit (everyone was fighting to get one - maybe I'll add a few more this year)

5.  Sole with lemon and butter sauce

6.  Ray's Traditional Baked Macaroni and Cheese (a Soares family contribution)

7.  Red Leaf Lettuce Salad with Red Grapes, Pistachios & Gorgonzola Cheese

8.  There may have been some vegetable somewhere on the table, but really, does it matter?.

9.  The only thing I recall about dessert was the sound of dough frying in my kitchen, (i.e. Zeppole)  which were then covered in copious amount of powdered sugar.  It is my version of heaven.  Oh wait ! How could I forget Jenn's perfect little rainbow cookies that send her into a frightful state of panic as she layers red, then yellow, then green marzipan in neat rows? They are worth every ounce of sweat pouring off the girl's forehead. 

After all was said and done, I sent my guests off with simple parting gifts.  I took basic pretzel rods and dipped about 2 inches of each in chocolate -- I then dipped the chocolate covered pretzels into various types of sprinkles, nuts etc. I packaged them in clear cellophane bags which I bought at Rojay's and then tied them with a pretty ribbon for some extra pizazz.  I loved them, and I think my family did too.

We'll see what happens this year.  I think 2007 was overkill, but it was a very memorable event, and in the end, that's what matters most.  Interestingly, I recently read an article that conducted a study on children and what they remember most about the Holidays -- despite what we might think, the children could not remember any specific gift that they had received over the years, rather they recalled the smells coming from the kitchen, the people with whom they spent the Holiday with and silly traditions such as when/where they got their tree, or what their Advent calendar looked like.  They remembered the most important and simple things about Christmas.  It makes me think that all my kids really need is the sound and smell of frying Zeppoles coming from the kitchen.