This is the culmination of an entire year of pickles. 15 jars to be exact. As we finished each jar of half sours I cleaned and stowed the jar away for the sole purpose of refilling it with some sort of delectable for the holidays. I love glass jars. There is just something so authentic about them don't you think? Tupperware just doesn't hold the same feeling of substance.
Every year we give edibles for the holidays. This is a simple gift, relatively inexpensive, and folks seem to really enjoy them. Roasted tomatoes, chocolate truffles, homemade ice cream sundae fixings, are some of the yummy treats of years past. Food, good food, is a gift I venture to say all people enjoy.
Speaking of good food, check out this spread....
Now that is a full spread if there ever was such a thing. Lil' Bit, The Sprout, Gan Gan and I went to have tea with Santa at a particularly swanky resort here on the island. The incredible feast of little petifores, mini sandwiches, scones, chocolates, and desserts galore was a low calorie dieters nightmare, but a dream come true for my toddler.
It was the girls' first time sitting on Santa's lap for a picture, and they both kept it together pretty well. The Sprout almost lost it, but the photographer started to jump and frolic about throwing toys in the air. The sight of a grown man in a suit hopping and shrieking shocked her into a half smile for the photo.
As we waited for Santa and Mrs. Claus to read A Night Before Christmas I looked out over the feast of gorgeous handcrafted delicacies and I thought to myself...what are they going to do with all of this beautiful food now that the guests are done. I asked a member of the staff and she said with head lowered "We have to throw it away. Company policy. Sometimes we can take a little "to go" box home."
The woman was obviously ashamed to admit it. Having come from a small country in Central America, I can only imagine how she felt as she dumped all that food into the garbage every weekend from Thanksgiving until Christmas. It is a terrible waste, but the real tragedy is that it was such beautiful food. Food that when you sit in front of it you feel as if you are in the presence of something special, a piece of art. Food that leaves you awestruck because it is specifically crafted to be absolutely splendid in every sense of the word. Food that changes your perception about food.
It says a lot about a culture that throws away huge quantities of food in order to protect certain private interests, while millions of its own people are suffering food insecurity. It is blows the mind. Just thinking about all those little petifores piled up in a black garbage bag is sickening.
I wonder if they would let me come with my pickle jars and fill them to the brim. They would probably have me arrested. They would drag me out of the resort in handcuffs in true Christmas form. I am not a Christian, but I do believe the teachings of Jesus to be about generosity, charity, and peace. Over the next few weeks as we gear up to celebrate his birth story we should really take a hard look at our own culture and ourselves and think about what we can do to better emulate his life's work.
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