Merry Christmas Eve! As a Roman Catholic, Italian-American from New York, Christmas Eve is always a much bigger deal than the Day. When I was a little girl, I remember Christmas Eve as the night we got dressed up in fancy Christmas outfits while Christmas Day was slightly more casual and we kind of just lounged around.
On Christmas Eve, Italian Americans celebrate the feast of 7 fishes, which has religious meaning since the number 7 is important in the Bible and fish is also a semi-religious symbol. You can have whatever 7 fishes you like, and sometimes people have more than that... you just need to make sure you have 7!
This year, my mom is making: steamed mussels, fried shrimp, baked clams, fried calamari, a crab sauce, and then other fish will be in a fish salad she makes. It's so delicious and I'm salivating thinking about it.
Along with the fish, we have pasta -- that's where the crab sauce comes in and a delicious antipasto which is basically a charcuterie board.
As for dessert, that is where I come in... I am always in charge of dessert because I'm kind of the only one that truly cares. My mom and sister aren't big bakers so for the past few years, I've taken over as the resident baking specialist when it comes to the holidays.
I try to switch it up every year and experiment with new flavors and types of desserts. This year, all of the dessert mixes came from Trader Joe's and I'm pretty pleased with myself. I spent all of yesterday baking (which you will see in an upcoming vlog) and it knocked me out but everything turned out delicious.
This year on the dessert menu:
- Chocolate peppermint cupcakes with vanilla frosting
- Gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting
- Peppermint chocolate chunk cookies
- Stroopwaffe loaf cake
- Citrus Christmas Cocktail
- Rudolph's Tipsy Spritzer
- Christmas Margaritas
- Pomegranate Champagne Margaritas
- The Grinch Cocktail
No matter what you celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
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