Growing up in the 50th, the Tatsumoto ohana didn’t really get into the holiday
season. For starters, to get into the spirit, it needs to be cold. Like Seattle
winds blowin’ thru your jeans, duckin’ into every Eddie Bauer store to find the
right size thermal underwear that you can wear RIGHT NOW cold! Somehow
temperatures that simply drop into the low 80s just doesn’t cut it. And I never
really believed in Santa Claus as everyone knew he entered the house through
the chimney. Not very many houses in the 50th come with fireplaces
so Mom explained that Santa simply came through the kitchen door. Nope. Dad
always checks the doors to make sure they’re locked once it gets dark. And even
as a child, I could always distinguish the “Santa” with the black hair at
Windward City Shopping Center versus the “Santa” with the brown hair at the
Kailua Times Supermarket versus the Asian “Santa” in front of Payless
Drugstore. And the Tatsumoto ohana
never hosted the annual family Christmas dinner, which was the domain of the
Uchimura clan. The Tatsumoto’s hosted the annual Thanksgiving dinner.
For starters, I grew up in an era where cooking and cooking
philosophy was vastly different than our current world. Pork had to be cooked
until it was brown and well done lest you chance a bout of trichinosis. Turkey
was only cooked one way, oven roasted whole to present that perfect Norman
Rockwell bird to your guests. No farm to table, no farmer’s markets, and
produce usually canned with non-traditional side dishes not seen stateside like
macaroni salad, kim chee and somen salad. Along with packaged
powdered gravy.
And every family member had their usual holiday dish
whether it was for the Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s feast. Auntie
Itamura’s fried noodles and homemade kim
chee. Auntie Corinne’s mochiko
chicken and macaroni salad (with a special container made just for me without
celery as I detested celery as a youngster), cousin Donna’s candied yams with
browned marshmallow topping, Obaachan’s
hot crab and potato salad and the list goes on and on. Those were holidays of
the past when the elders simply consisted of the six Murai siblings, their
offspring and the 3rd generation. As time marched on, families got too large to
host family dinners at a single residence along with the increasing family
holiday commitments with newer generations of relatives. But we can still get a
taste of the past.
The Old
Grandma always made her hot crab and potato salad for the
family holiday dinners so I assumed it was something she created until I was in
graduate school. Back in the day, she would watch family and friends making
their mealtime plates always making sure they took a portion of her hot crab
and potato salad. When someone complimented her on the salad, she would say she
knew it was good “Because I made”. Not one bit shy to pat herself on the back.
I guess that’s where I get “that” from… But it was a shock when I finally
realized that it wasn’t Obaachan’s
recipe at all but from the Honpa Hongwanji Cookbook series. But it’s still very
good eatin’.
Hot Crab and
Potato Salad
4 cups boiled salad potato, peeled and cubed
About 1 cup of frozen Bay shrimp
2 cans (about 6oz each) crab meat, drained
2 cups mayonnaise
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon Aji-no-moto
2 cups diced celery
2 cups diced sweet round onion
Chopped parsley
Mix all ingredients and place in a 13” x 9” baking pan
and bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes then place under a broiler for a few
minutes to brown the top if desired. The Aji-no-moto
can be omitted. The salad can also be baked at 350 degrees for 20 minutes if
you desire “softer” celery and onions.
The Traditional
Because the Tatsumoto ohana
wasn’t exactly a “Norman Rockwell” family, our holiday dinner table didn’t look
like a Rockwell painting. Yes, there was a whole roasted bird on the table but
the mashed potatoes were replaced with rice. The green bean casserole replaced
with somen salad. No stuffing or
Brussel sprouts or tureen of soup. But there was cranberry sauce that was
served simply as is… straight from the can complete with the can ring markings
on the side. And because this was the only cranberry sauce I knew as a child, I
consumed my fair share. Until I sampled freshly prepared cranberry sauce. That
canned variety has never made an appearance since then… This recipe is from
Sunset magazine that we discovered in 2002 and is the only cranberry sauce we
now make… It’s the perfect balance of tart berries, sweet honey and pears
balanced with the sweet and savory flavors of cinnamon and star anise…
Anise
Pear-Cranberry Sauce
2 Bosc pears (about 1 lb. total)
1 orange (about 8 oz.)
3/4 cup sugar
1 star anise or 3/4 teaspoon anise seeds
1 cinnamon stick (3 in. long)
1/2 cup honey
3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (12 oz.)
Rinse, peel, and core pears; cut into about 1/2-inch
cubes. Grate enough peel (orange part only) from orange to make 1 & 1/2
teaspoons. Ream juice from orange; measure, and add enough water to make 1/2
cup.
In a 3- to 4-quart pan over high heat, stir orange juice
mixture, grated peel, sugar, star anise, and cinnamon stick until sugar is
dissolved, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in honey and pears and bring to a boil; reduce
heat to medium and stir occasionally until edges of pears are barely tender to
bite, about 3 minutes.
Stir in cranberries. Cook, stirring occasionally, until
cranberries begin to pop and pears are tender when pierced, 6 to 8 minutes. Let
cool. Pour into a bowl. Serve cool or cold.
The New
As I mentioned, rice was the usual starch during the
holiday feast. Unless the somen salad
is also counted as a starch. But there were no mashed potatoes or stuffing to
accompany the roasted bird. After I finished graduate school, I attempted to
serve stuffing complete with chestnuts and fresh rosemary and sage that never
really passed the taste test of the Murai sisters. “What’s this?”, “Is this
herb in here?”, “Me no likey”… It’s probably that bread wasn’t the favored
starch for the first generation relatives and strongly flavored herbs like
rosemary and sage was a new but not-very-welcome flavor sensation for the
old-timers. But I bet this rice based dressing will work with your older
relatives this season.
Sweet Rice Dressing
One package (12oz) of lup
cheong, halved lengthwise then sliced to ¼ inch sections
One can bamboo shoots, drained then cubed approximately
the same size as the lup cheong
One can water chestnuts, drained and cubed as above
10 pieces dry shiitake,
soaked overnight then cut as above
Roughly one cup of peeled chestnuts cut as above
5 cups of sweet rice (rice cooker cups, not the actual
measuring cup)
1 bunch of fresh cilantro roughly chopped
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
2 tablespoons shoyu
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