Or anything other than what I made for our “Heritage Potluck”
When it was announced that we were supposed to bring a “dish that reflects our cultural heritage” I knew I had a ton of options… my family being what it was and my personal kitchen history being fairly prolific. I tried to think of something nice (preferably vegetarian), fairly easy to eat, yummy and that I’d be able to make enough for 20 people to have a taste. I had options from Ukrainian, German, Jewish & Scottish/Metis… while not all known for their gastronomic prowess there are some good solid options in each culture that can be shared successfully.
I was more than happy to contribute and thought about getting creative… however in the end I decided to go with a dish I’d already successfully prepared for guests (well the quilting girls). I decided to go with a Roasted Beet Salad (those Ukrainians sure love their beets, so do the Germans for that matter!) that I found in the fall Food and Drink magazine… it’s sweet, hearty and settles surprisingly light. I roasted the beets in advance and prepared it all last night, settled it into my reusable sopping bag in the fridge and focused the rest of my attention on finishing up some Christmas presents to send home to Winnipeg.
This morning when I actually remembered to grab my bag I was happy… the train wasn’t packed and I was happily reading the paper when I caught the whiff of rice wine vinegar – it took only a second for my brain to process that the scent was from my salad dressing. It took another couple of seconds to realize that must mean that I was leaking salad dressing… and indeed when I looked down there were what looked like little drops of blood on the floor of the train - the beet salad was attacking me!
I now have a red stripe on part of the butt on my winter coat (that’s light green and cream – of course), my reusable bag is stained a fetching shade of pink and sadly I became “that guy” because it looked like I dripped blood all the way from Spadina station to Queen… it looked like I had a head in a bag or at best was carrying a bunch of fresh steaks that I didn’t know how to wrap properly. I should have known better because the dish leaked a little on the way up to Collingwood, clearly I’m either dense or incredibly optimistic.
So if no one likes the salad I’m switching over to latkes for potlucks, they travel well and with a food processor are easy to make. If they do like the salad (and chances are they will) then I’m taking suggestions on how to prevent another massacre on the TTC.
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