Feast of the Seven Fishes

Tonight, I will partake in my favorite holiday tradition: The Feast of the Seven Fishes. (read a bit about it here)... Which means you caught me. I actually do like certain aspects of the holidays, although I will say that all of the parts I like seem to miraculously revolve around food and alcohol. Shocking.

Despite my outward appearance, I am 50% Italian (my dad is 100% Italian). So whenever I am home visiting Dad for Christmas, we always head over to our Cousin Linda's house in South Philly to join my Italian half of the family for this traditional Christmas Eve feast. It is just what is sounds like-- a full-fledged feast, course upon course upon course of different types of fish (at least 7, but sometimes more), meats, cheeses, pastas, breads, salads, and desserts. And of course, wine. And beer. And whiskey. And more wine.

What's not to love?

This year will be slightly different because all of my cousins (Larry, Richard, and Jimmy) have had kids in the last couple of years, totaling 7 kids in all. So what used to be a meal at which I was the baby, suddenly I am one of the adults and am no longer banished to the kiddie table. Yup, I'm all grown up.. at least compared to a room filled with screaming infants. This should be interesting...

Anyway, I'll be festive for a moment, and say that I love any excuse to eat, drink, and be merry with my crazy family. Sure, I'm the black sheep-- I mean hell, I'm a redhead at a table filled with Italian-looking Italians-- and I generally only see these people once a year. But when we get into a room filled with Cousin Linda's home cooking and enough alcohol to knock out a cattle farm, suddenly we all have something to smile about.

So cheers to eating, drinking, eating, and drinking. And family. Merry Christmas Eve, peeps.

Love,
Erica