My family actually had many traditions while I was growing up. Christmas Day was my absolute favorite day of the entire year. Actually it is still my favorite day and I'm almost fifty years old! I never realized until I got to be a parent myself how much work my mother put in to the holidays. No wonder she was just plain exhausted. NOW I get it. I only wish she were still alive so I could tell her how very much I appreciated all she did. My mom did a whole lot MORE cooking for the holidays than I ever do. But that's a post for a different day. Christmas morning was always UP EARLY, then we did stockings, then presents. Somewhere in there we grabbed a quick breakfast and got ready for church. After church we'd come home to a HUGE Turkey Dinner with all the trimmings. Honestly, I do not know how my parents did it all. And, looking back, it all seemed so perfect. Until some of my siblings began drinking. Ah, the curse of booze. Not good natured glass of wine. Nope. This was down and dirty GET REAL MAD and curse each other out MAD!! The not speak until the following year mad. But, I'm not going to get into that right now. I am going to tell you about my mom's terrific Banana Mousse which we prepared each and every Thanksgiving and Christmas because my brother came home on those two holidays. And, it was a very big deal to her to see her oldest son come home. She would cook for days knowing how much he enjoyed home cooking. He still enjoys home cooking. He is still single and 58 years old. Says he has seen too many of his friends get all strung out after divorce. So, he's happily single. Which is good. Now. To get back to the mousse...
Ingredients
About four ripe bananas 250 ml (1 cup) brown sugar
4 Tablespoons orange liqueur
2 cups whipped cream
A piece of bittersweet chocolate for grating
Purée the bananas in a blender;
Add the brown sugar and the orange liqueur; continue processing until smooth;
whip the cream in a large chilled bowl; gently fold in the banana mixture;
place into attractive serving dishes and refrigerate for one hour before serving.
Deborah over at the humblehousewife is hosting Fun Monday this week and this is her assignment:
I want to hear about or see a holiday tradition, recipe or event. It can be any holiday you like or that is special to your family. With Thanksgiving and the Winter holidays coming up, those would be especially apt, but anything that is special for your family is fine. If you have pictures - it's a bonus! Whether it's your Mom's famous stuffing recipe, going caroling on Christmas Eve, Diwali dances, or even the inevitability of Great Aunt Polly having one too many brandies and knocking over the Christmas tree - I want to hear about it!!!
Since the blog world is so global this might be a learning experience too - exposing us to other cultures and traditions - something I always welcome!
24 comments:
The mousse sounds delicious.
I know exactly what you mean about "How much work mother did!".....
Our mothers. Sometimes I just don't know how they did all they did!!!!
yep. those moms. exhausted all the time. my mom cooked a huge thanksgiving, then a huge christmas, and then a huge new year's dinner, three big feasts in the space of about six weeks, and each time for 12 people. amazing.
i also know what you mean about the drinking and the fighting. we had some of that, too, of course. holidays bring out the best and the worst, i guess because thre's so much stress.
good of you to concentrate on the happy memories instead of the fretful ones.
Yum, I bet the mousse is delicious!
I can't remember my mother slaving away in the kitchen during holidays but she would help my grandma prepare Christmas dinner. Those are the holiday meals I remember, a table full of every food imaginable (for a kid) over at Grandma's house.
The mousse sounds so yummy. I am going to have to try this one out. :D
That mousse sounds yummy.
I don't know how Mum's do it either, how is everything on the table at the same time and still hot?? I can't do it. I'm hoping when I have a child I'll get initiated into some secret!!
Erma Bombeck once wrote that the reason for all of the turkey basting that moms used to do was so that you could hide from all of the "joyousness" that ensued once the kids started arguing over the gifts. Maybe she was right!
They're getting drunk on your mousse!
And I agree - until I had to "do" the holidays with my own little family, I had NO clue why my mother always liberally cursed during the holiday meal preparation-process.
The mousse sounds delicious! I buy my kids all special ornaments every year (Angels for the girls and glass cars for my son) for them to keep and take with them when they move on. Have a good day. See ya.
Yum, that mousse sounds really good!
Aren't we lucky to have so many shortcuts these days? I don't know how our mother's did it.
I am printing out that mousse. I love banana desserts!
I agree, that mousse sounds fantastic. I love (LOVE) a good mousse recipe!
Like everyone I think that mousse sounds delicious. As I get older I find myself getting more panicky about getting everything cooked to perfection on Christmas Day. I used to spend all my time in the kitchen and miss a lot of the fun and I won't do that any more~ hence the panic but our meal always seems to turn out OK regardless!
The mousse sounds yummy and easy enough for someone like me!
The mousse looks yummy and easy.
There's nothing like a turkey dinner with all the trimmings.
And the fights that can go with them!
Thanks for stopping in.
Wow - that banana mousse looks really easy to make too!
Last Christmas at my house - my mom said, "Oh I don't want you to have all those people there, its too much work"....and I said, "You did it all the time"...and she couldn't remember. too funny.
You are right; our parents must have been exhausted. My parents too did quite a bit of cooking in years gone by. Going to church on Christmas was part of our tradition too.
mmmm the mousse does sound good.
I can relate to the everyone getting mad at everyone thing although with my hubbys side there was never any alcohol involved just a bunch of cranky people.
I may just have to try the banana mousse. It is my Punkin and I's favorite fruit.
My mother also does way more cooking than I do on the holidays. I'm happy with the basics - or basically the things I like!
Mmmm the mousse sounds delish. And Christmas is my all time favorite time of the year!!
Oh man...booze makes so many good times go bad. Sad to see.
The moose...uh mousse sounds wonderful!
The banana mouse sounds really good, even though I am not huge on banana flavoured things. I think the orange liquor helps me have an appetite for the mouse. A very nice post for Fun Monday.
Mousse sounds amazing! I know what you mean about all the work your Mom put in. Thanks for sharing!!!
I am so going to try that mousse! Sounds yummy!
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