When I walked into Aunt Bert's house this morning (heated to a tropical 90 degrees), I came across her in the kitchen, already in an apron, the stove humming, the oven putting out heat like a boiler in a steel mill. OK, that's always a good sign if Bert is cooking--that means the food items will be bountiful and a little sinful too. But what was she cooking up on the stove top? Could it be...sweet Jesus. Pierogies! I knew this was going to be a very good day.

The good thing about Christmas is that the leftovers from the previous night's Wigilia (the Polish holiday celebration) are often dished up along with the Christmas dinner. This meant kapusta (sauerkraut) with kielbasa, the aforementioned pierogies (three varieties), some red cabbage and chicken cutlets. On top of this superb spread was baked ham, boiled potatoes, stuffed cannelloni (because Aunt Fran likes them) and three different kinds of boiled root vegetables. The table was so full, there was nary a space to accommodate another platter. Prior to eating, we share a piece of oplatek, which is a piece of unleavened wafer imprinted with some religious scene and sent from relatives in Poland. The tradition calls for the taking a piece from each persons wafer, kissing them and wishing them good health and prosperity before consuming the portions you've taken. It's quite a lovely tradition. Then we eat.

I really did my best to be disciplined, but I always overdue it with the pierogies and kapusta. It was delicious. And what's worse, Bert always sends me home with a big bag of leftovers. Good Lord, I'll never get the rest of this weight off.

The conversation over dinner is lively, usually touching on current topics in the news. For some reason, someone brought up the issue of Dick Cheney's gay daughter and her pregnancy. Bert said she thought it was inappropriate that the Vice President and his wife felt compelled to announce it to the media. Which oddly, but not surprisingly, ventured off into a dialogue about artificial insemination. Needless to say, the conversation ended when Aunt Fran said, "Well, I've heard there is an awful lot of sperm in a sperm bank." Hmm.

My job is to wash the dishes, which is my pleasure to do, especially after all the trouble the Aunts have gone to to prepare such a feast. But I have to tell you, the combined heat from the days cooking and the extreme position of the thermostat made me feel like a woman in the full bloom of hot flash hell. I was wearing a light silk blouse, but had to borrow a T-shirt from Barbara to insure I wouldn't fall over in a heat related faint in the middle of scrubbing pots.

Everyone liked the cake. As expected, they thought it was a very patriotic gesture to create a Polish flag cake. Well, I do what I can for the mother country.


I hope your holiday was wonderful.