Flan

Happy Three Kings Day! If you’re not familiar with Three Kings Day, it’s also called the Epiphany and you can read about it here. To summarize though, Three Kings Day is the 12th day of Christmas and it’s when the three kings (or wise men) found Jesus and brought him the gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It’s a holiday celebrated by lots of different cultures, especially in Latin America.

To celebrate this year, I decided to have a dinner party for 10 people in our tiny apartment. I invited three of my former coworkers, their significant others, my parents, and my brother. It was a tight fit (Charlotte and Craig had to bring chairs and a table), it was a little hot (I had to open the sliding door), and we used every single dish we own – but it was a blast and I’m so glad to have thrown a little party to catch up with friends and family.

Apple Pie with a Crumb Crust

Authentic pie my mom made

This apple pie is my favorite dish during the holidays. I will eat this pie for dessert, breakfast the next day, and then again for lunch if there’s any left. I want to make sure I get as much of it as possible so that when the slices run out, I have no regrets. I am jealously possessive of this pie in a way that goes against the holiday spirit.

When I was a kid, my mom would make an apple pie for me and a pumpkin pie for my brother. Dessert time would come around and she would ask, “what do you want?” Sometimes, Eric said apple and I would boil with rage. That was my pie and he was doing this on purpose to infuriate me because he knew I wasn’t going to eat his pumpkin pie. I have no evidence to prove this is true, but it’s how I felt at the time.

Annabelle’s Breakfast Sandwich

Annabelle is my mom. And when I was a kid, and I saw my mom eating this sandwich I’d say, “Ewwww. That looks weird.”

And she’d look at me, in the smug way parents do when they know better, and she’d say, “yeah, I said the same thing to my mom when I was a kid.”

But then, the other day I had a craving for that very sandwich.

It’s definitely a sign of getting older when you realize you’re like your parents. I mean I’m not exactly like my parents but it’s sort of weird to notice the habits I have because of them. Both my brother and I hoard napkins in the glove compartment of our cars just like our father does. Because you just never know when you’ll need a ton of napkins while driving.  And I see my parents sometimes in the way I say a word, or the way my brother makes a gesture. As I’m saying something or doing something, I get this wave over me of, “whoa, that’s Mom.” or “whoa, that’s Papa.”

Fried Chicken

I think I lost my mind the other day. So, I’m working a real full-time job now so I don’t have the leisurely cooking time I used to. But, I got it into my head that I wanted to make fried chicken (which I’ve never done before) after work. And I was also going to make a vegetable (easy no prob) and skillet cornbread (also never done before). Who decides to take on all that after work? I think it’s a crazy person who does that.

Now not only was I going to make an extensive new meal, I didn’t even have all the ingredients. When I got home I put my stuff down and then walked to the grocery store. And then, after looking around a bit, walked to another grocery store because I didn’t like how expensive things were at the first place.  At 7:30pm my mom called me to ask how it was going. I had called her earlier in the evening to ask for the recipe. This recipe is actually my grandmother’s, and it’s one that my mom recently started making again. My grandmother was a great cook and made most things from scratch. My memories of her are often in the kitchen cooking us up something warm and delicious. And so, my mom was passing on the recipe to me. It has been over two hours since I had called her, so it’s understandable she expected me to be done.