Eat Like Kings
Tonight is Christmas Eve, and it's the night everyone gets together for supper. It's the day for family reunions, much like Thanksgiving in the United States. Already last night on the news, they ran a story on arrivals and reunions at the airport in Madrid. Just about every family has relatives living elsewhere. The luckiest come home for Christmas.
Tonight's supper, in this crazy, commercialized world, would be late by any Anglo-Saxon standard. It's normal to start eating past ten at night. This year, doubly so, because stores are open today, and some will close at eight. The employees will probably get to go home at eight-thirty or nine. Supper will be even later in those families.
For the past few weeks, people have been stocking up for this special supper. First and foremost is the seafood. And since everyone plans to serve at least one seafood dish, prices react accordingly. Crab at twenty euros a kilo, prawns at over a hundred. Let's not even get into tiny angulas, which can run to a thousand euros in a bad year. Those are baby eels, so tiny that a kilo gives four people just a taste of them. Yet, they're so popular, that the surimi substitute, anguilas, can also be expensive, at around three to five euros for a packet for two people. Then there are percebes, barnacles that grow on the most dangerous rocks where the ocean waves break in their torment upon the land. Percebeiros are the fishermen who, armed with a special spatual and a wetsuit, clinging to black rocks, and running from the breaking waves, harvest these morsels of the sea. Quite a few have lost their lives. It's no wonder that the biggest percebes, the ones that grow on the most dangerous rocks, are harvested only at Christmastime, and cost accordingly.
That's just the first course. The main course can be either fish or meat. The more special cuts and types are also more expensive. This past week, in Vilalba, was the Christmas market for specially bred capons, which are usually sold at over a hundred euros. Those birds have been fattened for weeks before market, being fed a special mixture of mash laced with bourbon. Those birds live their last days in a fog of well-being. Their meat, dark and rich, will grace the tables of those able to afford them. Then there are other birds, like the ones my mother-in-law raises, that, while not specially fattened, still have flavorful meat.
Dessert is the usual mixture of Christmas variety that has been on sale in supermarkets since October. Yesterday, when I went to buy some, most kinds had already been sold out. They tend to be rich, made with pork fat, almonds, honey, and chocolate. Christmas tummies have been making their appearance ever since these desserts appeared, because they're tempting to pick up, and impossible to resist. I resisted by refusing to look at the tables and shelves they're placed on. Though I did succumb to the panettone. This Italian specialty made its appearance a few years ago, and is quite scrumptious, especially for breakfast with coffee. And it makes a nice break from yoghurt sprinkled with nuts.
If one wants, Christmas Eve supper can be an expression of hedonism the ancient Greeks and Romans would approve of. One can also spend the bank on it, with appetizers, all kinds of expensive seafood, meats, and desserts. The food half of the holiday has become as commercial as the present side. Stores, television, and neighbors' boasts try to convince you that it can't be a proper Christmas Eve without mortgaging the house. I will stick my tongue out at them and do my own thing. We're eating at the in-laws' house tonight, and we have already bought them some things for the supper. It won't be spilling over in a cornucopia of abundance, but it will be enough for us. We'll be together, especially our little trio, my husband and I with our daughter. That's enough for us.
Tonight's supper, in this crazy, commercialized world, would be late by any Anglo-Saxon standard. It's normal to start eating past ten at night. This year, doubly so, because stores are open today, and some will close at eight. The employees will probably get to go home at eight-thirty or nine. Supper will be even later in those families.
For the past few weeks, people have been stocking up for this special supper. First and foremost is the seafood. And since everyone plans to serve at least one seafood dish, prices react accordingly. Crab at twenty euros a kilo, prawns at over a hundred. Let's not even get into tiny angulas, which can run to a thousand euros in a bad year. Those are baby eels, so tiny that a kilo gives four people just a taste of them. Yet, they're so popular, that the surimi substitute, anguilas, can also be expensive, at around three to five euros for a packet for two people. Then there are percebes, barnacles that grow on the most dangerous rocks where the ocean waves break in their torment upon the land. Percebeiros are the fishermen who, armed with a special spatual and a wetsuit, clinging to black rocks, and running from the breaking waves, harvest these morsels of the sea. Quite a few have lost their lives. It's no wonder that the biggest percebes, the ones that grow on the most dangerous rocks, are harvested only at Christmastime, and cost accordingly.
That's just the first course. The main course can be either fish or meat. The more special cuts and types are also more expensive. This past week, in Vilalba, was the Christmas market for specially bred capons, which are usually sold at over a hundred euros. Those birds have been fattened for weeks before market, being fed a special mixture of mash laced with bourbon. Those birds live their last days in a fog of well-being. Their meat, dark and rich, will grace the tables of those able to afford them. Then there are other birds, like the ones my mother-in-law raises, that, while not specially fattened, still have flavorful meat.
Dessert is the usual mixture of Christmas variety that has been on sale in supermarkets since October. Yesterday, when I went to buy some, most kinds had already been sold out. They tend to be rich, made with pork fat, almonds, honey, and chocolate. Christmas tummies have been making their appearance ever since these desserts appeared, because they're tempting to pick up, and impossible to resist. I resisted by refusing to look at the tables and shelves they're placed on. Though I did succumb to the panettone. This Italian specialty made its appearance a few years ago, and is quite scrumptious, especially for breakfast with coffee. And it makes a nice break from yoghurt sprinkled with nuts.
If one wants, Christmas Eve supper can be an expression of hedonism the ancient Greeks and Romans would approve of. One can also spend the bank on it, with appetizers, all kinds of expensive seafood, meats, and desserts. The food half of the holiday has become as commercial as the present side. Stores, television, and neighbors' boasts try to convince you that it can't be a proper Christmas Eve without mortgaging the house. I will stick my tongue out at them and do my own thing. We're eating at the in-laws' house tonight, and we have already bought them some things for the supper. It won't be spilling over in a cornucopia of abundance, but it will be enough for us. We'll be together, especially our little trio, my husband and I with our daughter. That's enough for us.
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