A New Family (Final)

One of my favorite dinners I've had occurred the night of Oct. 30, 2010, my mother and stepfather's handfasting. Their handfasting consisted of a reading from a priestess (almost the same thing a priest would read using goddess instead of god), the blessing of the rings using the fire elements (fire, water, earth, air and spirit), the couples spoken vows, and then tying the couples arms together with a cord made with colors of their choice (red, black, and white in my parents case). Not all handfastings are the same and tend to vary with the cord colors and readings from the priestess. the ceremonies might be different but they all seem to end with a celebration just like my parents had a big, family dinner afterwards. For our dinner my stepfather, John, choose a few of our favorite dishes and brought a Latvian tradition of his own to it.

The appetizers of the dinner were mussels and garlic dip with crackers. The mussels were cooked in white wine, garlic, and butter. The garlic dip was made with garlic, yogurt, chives, bread crumbs, white wine, peppers, cream cheese, and more that we cannot remember. The dip was served with wheat thins, multi grain crackers, and ista rupjmaize (one of the most popular dark rye breads of Latvia). During this time, everyone who came to the dinner talked about how beautiful the ceremony and the creek it took place at was. My great grandmother Mary, Jan (a family member I do not know much about), John's mother Carol, and my sister Chrissy were all talking while my mother Jennifer, my stepfather John, and I were in the kitchen cooking the main course. We were trying to remember what we put in the food last time but could not so, we never seem to eat the same thing twice.

Throughout the main course, an Italian Bricco Riella Moscato D' Asti dessert wine was served. Individually pieces of stuffed chicken filled with spinach, onions, peppers, garlic, and Swiss or goat cheese were the main course. The sides were mashed potatoes and green beans. The mashed potatoes were freshly mashed and mixed with a lot of garlic and butter. The green beans were sauteed in olive oil and garlic. Almost everyone stuffed themselves so dessert was eaten later but it did not stop everyone from continuing to drink the beverages made by John and myself.

There was a variety of beverages made including White Russians, martinis, and a few people even just had shots of apricot schnapps. The most memorable drink was called a Niqualaska (traditional Latvian drink but I'm not sure about the spelling) were you drink a shot of cognac and then suck on a sugar coated lemon. The closest name I could find for this drink was called a Downtown. These drinks were also served with the desserts (once they came out) which were German chocolate cookies (made by Chrissy) and multiple flavors of cheesecake from Cheesecake Therapy (flavors such as peanut butter, pumpkin, blueberry, etc.).

This day and dinner seems to be my favorite because it was the only time when my distant family was not trying to stab us in the back or tell us what to do. This dinner who brought Neo Pagans, Wiccans, and Christians together for an event without to many complications. The handfasting did not have religious restrictions like most weddings I've been to, making that day enjoyable instead of an unbearable family get together. Even now my family has these kind of dinners minus the extra people. From this meal, I've found that food is one of the few things that can bring people together despite their religions or lifestyles.