"It's. A. Famil-y... tra-dition!"

"...when that doctor asked me
Son how did you get in this condition
I said hey sawbones I'm just carryin on
an old family tradition!!"

- Hank Williams Jr.

So this year I have been elected by the heads of state (My mom, sister and Auntie) to take up a family tradition that was lost with the passing of my Great-Aunt Jenny a few years back. A Christmas staple in our household was Auntie Jenny's Carrot Pudding with hard sauce and lemon sauce. It was de-li-cous!!!

Last year was a very emotional Christmas for us all because it was the first we spent without Poppie. We tried out best to bind tightly together, to keep the hole that his absence created from splitting our hearts apart. It was difficult. We cried... a lot but the we laughed... a lot too. I am sure this Christmas will be no different. Let me be honest... I am crying now just typing this! But that ok... because I am smiling too. So this year keeping family traditions alive is more important than ever....

Where was I?

Ah yes! The Carrot Pudding. Here is the thing. I have no clue how in the heck to make Carrot Pudding. I knew it involved some kind of boiling? Tin foil wrapping procedure? And to top it off... I am the type that gets performance anxiety...

So.... I reached into my family cook book and pulled out the recipe that I had written down long before I ever actually considered making it... and long before Auntie Jenny passed. The ingredients looks a little wacky, bread crumbs, carrots...etc... but I figured I could handle that. Auntie Jenny used currents (which I hate) so I quickly cut them from the list and thought of adding my own touch with a little orange zest... just 'cause.

And then...as I neared the end of the list.....my eyes widened in horror!!! There.... at the bottom of the page....a single solitary line......where the long list of detailed instructions should be... my heart stopped!... my breath came short! Where. Were. The. Directions?

Here is a pic of the actual recipe:

For those of you who cant read my chicken scratch... that would say "Stir together. Boil for three hours. Phone Auntie Jenny to find out how."

When I wrote that recipe out, Auntie Jenny would have been in her early 90s! I am....Brilliant!

So I figured... Hey! No worries. Mom will have the recipe! Right!?

I call Mom up on the phone. I explain the situation. She laughs. And then laughs some more (she is laughing AT ME by the way!!) "Oh Chelsi! You are funny!" She says.

"Yah, great Mom, thanks. Do you have the recipe or not?"

So I listen to her mumble while she fumbles through her cook book. I can see it in my minds eye, the same as it has been since I was a little girl.... A big red binder splattered in batter with dozens of full scrap loose papers dangling out the sides in a jumbled disarray. (I love my Mom).

And then she exclaims, 'Whoooop! Here it is! Here it is!!!"

We run through the list of ingredients. Its the same recipe. Great. "Directions?" I ask.

"Lets see what I have written here...." Mom starts reading them aloud...."It says......

tin foil

grease on

boil 3 hours

put lid on tightly..."

For those of you who missed those end quotes... you didn't miss anything!!.... THAT is all my dear mother wrote down for directions!!!

So.... as it would turn out... I really am carrying on a "family tradition"....

Now I am off to try to make this bloody carrot pudding. Merry Ho-Ho!

*********************

Update:

Mom wrote in my comments:

"HO....HO......HO

LOL! I laughed until I cried Chelsi.....I can't dispute anything here....every single comment you made is true, but, I will say how much trust I have in you being able to pull this off no matter what the circumstances are.

Just think about the glass being half full being that you did get all the ingredients even if the execution was missing, all the more fun. Now truly, what would life be if everything was carefully laid out for us to follow?"

My reply to that would be:

What would life be like if there were simple directions??? Oh....I dont know! Easy!!! LOL Yah, yah, yah, you are right (as always). I will do my best.

I guess the proof will be (literally) in the pudding!!!

*******************

Update:

Well, I have a large, heavy hunk of cake that vaguely resembles the carrot pudding of my memory. It is moist and smells like cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg.... this is good! I cant tell you if it takes like Auntie Jenny's version until Christmas day.

I have to admit though.... about half way through cooking this darn thing, I remembered that I never did like the actually cake part of carrot pudding.... I just loved the hard sauce (icing) and lemon sauce (lemony goodness) and would drown my cake with it until I could taste nothing but lemony sweetness. So... I made extra sauces!

What can I say, I've always been a saucy (sassy) wee thing! *she says in a swedish accent*