Happy 4th of July!

This is from the Southern Living Progressive Farmer (as opposed to?) Holiday Cookbook, from the mid-60's. Not to be confused with my favorite Southern Heritage series. This one has a 3 page lecture on how having family reunions are so important to children and how Southern families have them on the 4th.

"Shouldn't your children have the opportunity to experience all the wonderment of a family reunion at least once in their lives?" Um, it's not Disney World. Also, some families are better experienced long distance, from what I understand. Lots of murder mysteries are set at family reunions... My family is pretty great, and we are now all in the Chicagoland area, though at one time my siblings were both on the East coast.

Suggested menu for these sacred family reunions in this book?

Anchovy stuffed eggs, green tomato pickles, spit-roasted ham, hearty potato salad, and jellied cranberry sauce cut into stars. That is seriously no reunion any child is going to want to attend. If they served the award winning cherry pie pictured, now, that's another story. However, as I paged forward, I learned that the pie is actually the 'State Fair Cranberry-Apple-Nut Pie'. Gross. Let's pretend it's cherry.

It's no wonder they also proved two pages of drink possibilities. I had to ask my Mother what a jigger is for measurement:

Sangria

2 jiggers unsweetened grape juice

2 jiggers pineapple juice

Dash of lemon juice

1 tsp. sugar syrup (?)

Soda water

No I've been to Spain, and I think that recipe is missing something. Something that would improve family get togethers.

I think I'll spare readers the recipes for the rest of that menu, and also for the Firecracker Cheese Jalapenos. Let's hope those reunions were not held outside with no access to washrooms...

Let's hope everyone reading this is eating better than this.

I finished Coulter's latest FBI thriller, and it was pretty good. I do like more scenes featuring the Savich-Sherlock husband-wife team, and it always amuses me that there babysitter is available to watch their 6 year old for days on end while they track down killers. But she has lots of humor and fast pacing, even if I forgot the name of the book...