Snow Melt

A Feast for Two

Writing/Blog Prompt for Tuesday, November 13, 2012: “What is your idea of the perfect holiday feast? It doesn’t matter what holiday you’re celebrating.” By Prosperous Snow celebrating for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" .

Fixing an ideal holiday feast for two people is difficult. Especially, since I never learned to cook for two. I learned to cook from my mother and grandmother, both of whom fixed holiday means for nine or ten people. That's how I still cook holiday meals and any other meals I cook. I think that's why I like frozen dinners and going out to eat.

I don't fix turkey any more because it's too complicated to cook a turkey in a microwave. I have fixed turkeys in microwaves in the past, but not any more. To fix a decent sized turkey in the microwave you have to cut the bird up first and nuke it a piece at a time, which takes several hours to make sure the bird is completely cooked and safe to eat. The last time I fixed a turkey in a microwave I had leftover turkey for a full year. I swore then I'd never do another turkey in a microwave.

The turkeys that I fixed in the microwave were given to us, so I didn't have a choice of sizes. If I buy the turkey myself I usually buy the legs because that's enough turkey for Mom and me. I prefer a small honey baked ham because it's already cooked when I buy it and I can removed enough meat for the meal and freeze the rest. The one thing I cook from scratch every year is black eyed peas. When I fix black eyed peas I usually season it with ham hocks, pigs feet, or the bone from a honey baked ham.

On New Year's Eve, I put the washed black eyed peas in a slow cooker to soak and let them soak overnight. The next day I plug in the slow cooker and put it on high. The black eyed peas are usually done about noon. It doesn't take them as long to cook if you soak them overnight. That's how I learned to cook black eyed peas and any other beans, so that's how I cook them. My grandmother didn't use a slow cooker, but sometimes she used a pressure cooker.

Almost everything else I buy already cooked. All though, I have been known to make an exception with cranberries. I sometimes cook the cranberries myself. However, most of the time I buy them in a can. I like homemade food for holidays, but I don't have time to fix it. If I cook when Mom's home, then I have to keep running back and forth between the living room and kitchen because Mom can't be left along very long. I would like to take Mom to a restaurant for a holiday meal, but that's out of the question any more, so we have our holiday meals at home.