The airing of grievances...

Tradition. 

The holidays are wrapped in it.

"how did this tradition start? i don't know. but it's a tradition"

Every year for 39 years (that I know of) my entire family has gathered on December 24th, Christmas Eve, to share the opłatek, feast on 12 courses of seafood and open gifts. All of them. On Christmas Day, when everyone else is eating turkey, my mom and I go to Chinatown for dim sum. 

That was our tradition. 

'tis the season to be jorry

This year, the family has decided to go rogue. 

Apostles who? 

Seafood what?

This year, the family has decided to start a new tradition.

Christmas chicken.

While I was reticent at first (who, exactly, wouldn't be reticent about passing on 12 courses of seafood?) I am excited to start a new tradition. 

This year, Christmas Eve will be spent enjoying a réveillon with the beau and his family in Trois-Rivières and Christmas will be spent feasting on chicken (and other seasonal merriment) with my family in Montreal.

A Festivus for the rest of us.

the festivus pole. It's made from aluminum and has a very high strength-to-weight ratio

The origin of Festivus was the result of one man (Seinfeld's Frank Costanza, to be specific) and his refusal to conform to the growing commercialism of the holiday season. And I quote:

Frank Costanza: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.

Cosmo Kramer: What happened to the doll:

Frank Costanza: It was destroyed. But out of that a new holiday was born... a Festivus for the rest of us!

In a nutshell, Festivus involves a pole instead of a tree, starts with the airing of grievances and finishes with feats of strength. Also, there are the Festivus miracles... of which there are many.

The Festivus pole is the ultimate anti-Christmas symbol as it remains unadorned (Frank finds tinsel distracting) and can be kept in a crawl space the rest of the year.  

The airing of grievances is pretty much what it sounds like; complaining. Once the family is gathered around dinner the head of the household tells everyone how they've disappointed him over the past year.

 is it just me or is that Jack Black?

As a child, what was most exciting about the holidays was obvious; the presents. As I get older (and more like Frank Costanza) spending time with family and friends becomes much more important; as does eating copious amounts of chicken. 

But still. Let's not forget the Human Fund.

   

Fiesta for one

As yesterday was a Monday, and thus the beginning of another long no-carb (read: no-cheeseburger) week, I decided to recreate a particularly tasty taco salad I had the pleasure of trying at a baby shower last week. 

I substituted ground meat for chicken breast and, sadly, left out the tortilla chips entirely. Despite the lack of carbs it made for a surprisingly delicious, and filling, Monday meal for one.

The beau and I visited the Jean-Talon Market last week and thanks to a quick visit to El Rey del Taco (the taco king, I'm assuming) I had a couple of authentic ingredients, like Mexican crema, which made the salad even more tasty than I had imagined.

Lucky me!

I started by seasoning the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, cumin, ground coriander and ancho chilli pepper. After quickly browning them in olive oil I baked them in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, turning them over once mid-way.

While the chicken was in the oven, I started building my salad. I started with arugula lettuce, added diced tomatoes, avocados and cheddar cheese, and finished with coarsely chopped fresh coriander.

Once the chicken was fully cooked, I removed it from the oven, cut it into bite-size pieces and let it cool. 

While it was cooling, I made a quick dressing composed of Mexican crema, olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper.

I tossed it all together and wished I was enjoying it on a beach in Playa del Carmen rather than on a sofa in Cote-St-Luc. One can dream... of carbs and beaches.

this salad is on fire

Oddly enough, the overall flavouring of the salad, and evening, reminded me of Girl on Fire by Alicia Keyes... and so, here it is: