Another Maritimer and my Holiday Traditions

Karen introduced me, through blogland, to another Maritimer Linda H and she has a giveaway... for her 300th post. Congratulation Linda.. Click here to enter...

As part of the CGQC activities for November/December Kelly has asked us to share some.......

On Christmas Eve the whole family attends the Christmas Eve mass at our church

in Saulnierville. Following mass we all meet at one of the Children's home, either Yvelle's Liette's or Adrien's to unwrap our Secret Santa gift. On our (Canadian) Thanksgiving we draw names for this Secret Santa. The gifts are all wrapped in the same paper and placed in a large garbage bag in the garage or entry before we actually come into the house, so no one can identify which gift we brought in. Then one of the grandchildren is chosen to pick the gifts from the bag and we get three chances to guess who drew our name. #1 When we first get the gift.. (Usually examine the wrapping technique) #2 when it is unwrapped and #3 another guess after everyone has unwrapped their gifts...

Then on Christmas day.. we all gather at our house for Christmas dinner. Santa still comes to our house even though there is just Gerald and I, so after dinner we gather in the family room and we get to see what he left at our house for everyone.

On the menu:

Lobster and various salads ...

Meat pie ....

and Rappie Pie.

What is Rappie pie you ask? It is an Acadian dish made of Chicken and potatoes. (The recipe is quite long as is the procedure to make it. You can find the full details of the recipe here

This is packaged grated potatoes. ( we used to have to grate our own but now they can be bought locally already grated)The stainless steel pans ( custom made to fit a big rappie pie) are well greased...This is the chicken broth with onions, salted shallots and pork fat.. which has to boil....

The broth is poured .. two cups at a time on the potatoes until about 28 cups of broth has been added and stirred well after each additions. The texture and color is never appealing to a new comer but I guarantee we Acadians do not see the color.. it just makes our mouths water..in anticipation for the finished product.Gerald needs to do the stirring. (This is where a man is really handy in the kitchen) A layer of potatoes goes in the bottom of the pan and the cut up chicken in the middle . ( Some people use other meat.. beef, wild meat and clams). Our preference is chicken)

And another layer of potatoes on top...And into the oven it goes at 400º for about 2½ hoursand voilà! Beautifully crusted ... Everyone wishes for a corner so they can get more crust...and it is served with pickles.. cranberry sauce and some like molasses on it...

So this is a traditional dish in most Acadian households at Christmas time and other occasions. It feeds a lot of people and everyone is sure to like their meal.

Good health, good food, good friends and lots of love is the tradition I hope will be kept alive in all our households for years to come...