The Best Meal, Ever!

Thanksgiving is over - traditional food devoured (sorry about the stuffing). Pumpkins, orange tablecloths and lights now line my storage bins in the basement. A momentary reprieve of cooking and preparations then shortly onto the next celebration.

As I explore potential meals to create for the Christmas holidays, my mind wandered on a little memory trip recalling The Best Meal I've eaten.

The Siberian wind rushed over the Ural Mountains in Perm, Russia, where we stayed while waiting for our children's adoption and paperwork to be completed. The January blizzard was sharp as we searched for a food kiosk where we would purchase lunch.

Our meals were sparse due to the constant activities our visit required - so we were particularly hungry. The bitter cold made us visibly quake to the elements and shiver with hunger. Our small family of my husband, young daughter and I were surrounded, warmly, on the streets with Russians wisely wrapped in traditional fur hats and coats - we Americans wore inadequate zippered coats and ski hats.

Finally - a kiosk - where our interpreter ordered pizza. Not the typical pizza we grew up with as this pizza offered a crust … a flattened round piece of chewy dough … topped with a heavenly mixture of sour cream, mayonnaise, cucumbers and tomatoes. No familiar red sauce graced this white meal.

Biting into the pizza brought a mixture of an exquisite stinging liquid enhanced with mellow, sharp and creamy - very chewy and substantial with pops of sweet cucumber and tomato. Our moans of pleasure over this delicious meal were doubled as we topped off the food with warm Faygo common to this region.

The most delicious meal – ever!  A Russian feast on a little round plate.

Back to the present, I search for something old and something new in our menu selections. Would love to hear about your favorite dish reserved for the Christmas holidays. Please tell...