Prepping continues for holiday company and nothing says welcome like a big bowl of fresh fruit...right? I like to have fresh fruit on the ready, for guests grab without hesitation. There's nothing worse than being at someone's house, feeling hungry and not wanting to search through the refrigerator or cupboards for a snack. Of course, I will also have a basket of chips and nonsense out for those not interested in a healthy snack. A big bowl of apples always reminds me of Christmas. My mom use to fill a bowl with red delicious apples and cut holly in the bowl making it a beautiful edible centerpiece, the original edible arrangement. This may be the reason I still love a crisp delicious apple, although one of my sons says it's the worst apple in the running and prefers a honey crisp or fuji. Clearly he's only going by taste not the dark red beauty but for him, my centerpiece is less vibrant. I'm still working on my dinner menu, may be one of those crazy folks shopping in the wee hours of Christmas Eve morning. My mother is joining us for our festivities and making her famous Rappie Pie, an old Acadian family recipe. It's delicious, tedious to make and brings a touch of French Canadian tradition to our table. It's not a pie at all really, shredded potatoes and chunks of chicken it's more like a casserole so one side dish, done! Years ago I brought Tim to a family gathering in Maine with my mothers side of the family. He was hungry after the long drive and delighted when we were called to dinner. As he approached the buffet line, uncovering dish after dish he found a line of Rappie Pies from each family. Having never eaten it, he searched to no avail for a hamburger or other American dish. He tasted each family's recipe for Rappie Pie and decided my mothers was the best, but still jokes about uncovering one Rappie pie after another, with his best impression of a French Canadian accent. One of these days he and I will travel to Canada to visit my relatives, there's lots of them. They had huge families so I have relatives scattered throughout. Farmers in Canada had built in farm hands by having lots of children and my great uncles sure did. My great uncle Fred had nineteen children, imagine feeding that many kids?? The Rappie pie was also a way to stretch chicken to feed so many mouths, shredding it and filling them up with mostly potatoes. Uncle Fred had fields of blueberries right in his backyard and each visit, if our timing was right, we would pick blueberries all morning, filling our bellies as well as baskets for pies. My grandparents both immigrated to Maine from Canada, Grandmere coming from New Brunswick and Grandpere from Nova Scotia, they met in Maine, married and only had six kids. Neither could speak any English, but learned quickly. Although Grandmere spoke French when she didn't want you to know what she was saying, she insisted her children only speak English. It will be nice to have a touch of Acadian traditional food at our table, honoring my grandparents journey to America. Fruit bowls and old family recipes make up long standing traditions and wonderful memories of childhood. I imagine some day my kids will fill a big bowl with apples and clementines, not knowing why, they are urged to do so, they'll think of me, maybe they'll even buy a red delicious apple in my honor!
🥰❤️😘T
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