Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf

It is that time of year again, Easter.

Not only is it a solemn time for the church, but it is also the time we start planning and plotting family get-togethers, and that means cooking Easter dinner.

For some, Easter dinner is easy. The family dines out. There is also tradition. Each family usually has their traditional Easter dinner.

In my family, our traditional Easter dinner my mom cooked at my grandmother’s was ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and — of course Jello — red Jello with whipped cream on top.

Occasionally we would have apple slaw. There would be cute bunny cupcakes, too. Chocolate, of course. And we can’t forget the colored Easter eggs. We also had Hi-C to drink — red Hi-C — and an apple pie.

At my other grandmother’s house — or I should say uncles’ house, because after my grandmother died my uncles took over the cooking — we dined on duck, dressing, baked beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, and I don’t remember what we had for dessert.

You could guarantee what we would have each year. There were no surprises.

Let’s fast forward to 2017. I will serve a traditional Easter meal to my family if they decide to grace us with their presence. We haven’t heard if more than one will be joining us. Since I love tradition and, well, I have to confess, ham is my favorite meat, we will definitely have my mother’s side of the family traditional meal. Except, I will substitute the baked beans from my dad’s side of the family because I love baked beans. Then I will whip up a fruit salad added to the Jello salad, because I would be the only one eating the Jello. Loving Jello now fits for me, since I am one of those Jello-loving Lutherans.

I would guess that in the years I grew up, most households that could afford it followed the ham tradition. However, in 2017 I suspect Easter dinner might be a little more creative, such as lasagna or tacos or whatever the families’ favorites are. I don’t know if today’s young families stick so much with the traditional meals.

I finally figured out why cooking isn’t my favorite pastime. I love cooking the old meals out of the old cookbooks, but I find myself experimenting with new dishes and trying to be creative like the television chefs and my children. I don’t know why I do this, because I am still an old-fashioned meal person and should stick to what I know. So, perhaps I should step out of my cooking box and try a non-traditional meal and change my plans and shock my family.

I did an internet search for traditional Easter meals and here is what it came up with: braised lamb shank; roasted leg of lamb with traditional beets, carrots and sweet onions; garlic herb roasted chicken; and — of course — ham.

I deduced that maybe what I thought was tradition in most households isn’t, because I don’t know anyone in my circle of friends that has lamb for Easter. Maybe my mom shared my taste for ham. And of course, my uncles loved duck. Maybe tradition is whatever your favorite meal is.

I found ham was a traditional Easter food because meat was slaughtered in the fall. There was no refrigeration and the fresh pork that wasn’t consumed during the winter months was smoked and cured for spring. The curing process took a long time, so first hams were ready for Easter.

All this thought processing about Easter dinner has made my dinner planning more complicated.

Maybe I will ditch tradition and take my family out for Easter dinner. That can become a new tradition. Jake can order noodles, Matt can have hamburgers, I can order ham and keep my tradition, and Mark can order whatever meal was tradition with his family.

The downside to eating out? I will miss doing the dishes and washing the pots and pans. After all that’s a tradition, too.

Happy Easter.

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send email to her at hermionyvidaliabooks@gmail.com.