Family Traditions

Every food tradition my family has is always during a holiday. For New Year's, we always have a homemade three course fondue meal. My favorite would have to be the dessert fondue. I love chocolate! Since my mom's side of the family has some Irish roots, my dad makes corned beef and cabbage every St. Patrick's Day for us. For Halloween, we always have grilled cheese sandwiches and Campbell's Tomato Soup. It sounds really random, but my mom used to always make it for me and my siblings before we would go out trick-or-treating. Thanksgiving is by far one of my favorite holidays though, because my dad always prepares a couple of smoked ducks and turkey for everyone that comes over to our house. I can remember several years where we've had a turducken, which is a chicken stuffed in a duck that is stuffed in a turkey! Or something like that...we also have mashed potatoes, cranberries, ginger candied yams. And for dessert, my mom and I make pumpkin, cherry, and pecan pie. And last but definitely not least is our Christmas tradition: more duck :). My dad makes three ducks and then lots of little appetizers that everyone snacks on all night! I don't think I could pick a favorite tradition, because I love the food that I've grown up around!

For my paper, I'm going to be talking about the cheesecake my mom makes every year for my birthday! I can't remember I time I haven't had cheesecake on my birthday. My mom makes New York cheesecake and puts lemon zest in it. She revamped an old recipe a long time ago, and it is my favorite dessert. I'm sure it is super unhealthy though, and I'm a huge health freak so it's nice to pig out on it once a year!