My Favorite Christmas Shopping of All

Today is truly one of my favorite days of the year and as I think I've established myself as something of a geek in this regard, it won't surprise you to learn that my excitement rests in going grocery shopping. But much as I enjoy my weekly excursions, this one is special because today's the day I collect the goods for the Christmas Feast.

I can enjoy the bustle that will be on the streets today because my engagement in it is transitory. I've got my shopping done. Most of it is even wrapped. Except for bleaching and ironing the white dinner napkins, the house is pretty much ready. The halls and mantle will be decked tomorrow, when the tree goes up, but that is an all-family project anyway. No, I'm pretty much ready for Christmas, so all I have to do is quest for okra.

There is a scene in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" that describes the shoppers out on Christmas Eve and the scene in the grocers shops. I'm a sucker for any book that describes food in detail and this is no exception. The description invokes a mood of bustle and eagerness, of night falling and Christmas coming and that is how I feel today. Or will once I get out there in the shops myself.

It has been our tradition each Christmas to feature the cuisine of a different country or region. We've done French (Parisian and Provencal), Italian, German, Czarist Russian, English, Spanish, and Mexican. We've done New England and the South. That's 11 and this is going to be our 15th Christmas together so I obviously can't even remember everything. We've thought about doing something Scandahoovian but balk in the end because really, how excited can one get about salted cod? Although to be fair we're probably going to have to eventually. Not to mention that we're pretty much running out of "Christian" nations.

This year we were really stymied. We didn't want to go the salted fish route, we didn't really want to start repeating. I had suggested Scottish because I'd found some very groovy recipes in Saveur magazine but The Spouse wasn't so sure. People kept asking, "What are you doing this year?" and I had nothing. Then suddenly, one night while watching the Food Network, it came to me with all the clarity of a big, resounding "duh". This year we're doing New Orleans.

No, we will not be making people sit on our roof drinking dirty water.

I will share the menu even though at least BBB will be seeing this before the party. She can skip this part if she wants to be surprised:

i

New Orleans Nectar Cocktail

Deconstructed Gumbo

(don't ask me what that is, exactly...I'm still working on it)

ii

Crabmeat Salad

iii

Creole Tomato Soup with Goat Cheese Dumplings

iv

Cranberry Glazed Turkey

Wild Rice & Cornbread Dressing

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Fried Okra with Tomato Marmelade

Nutty Green Beans

v

Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

That sounds pretty, good, doesn't it? And we'll gather around the candle-lit table, listen to zydeco, drink red wine and be thankful and loving and funny. (Assuming The Spouse and I don't get in each other's way in the kitchen...that's what the mistletoe is for).

But first I have to find some okra.