Bowman West

Family Differences

I see that everyone has posted about their Thanksgiving meals, so I'd like to say a few things about mine. I'm including pictures of some past Christmas dinners for illustrations. I know it's not Christmas yet, but the meals are nearly identical to the Thanksgiving ones so it'll work.


Ok, let's take a look at what we have here. The picture on the left is of the traditional Forest dinner. We don't put much effort into making things look nice because (1) We don't like washing dishes, and (2) As long as it tastes good we're happy. A few things to note: It's inappropriate to mash up the cranberries after sliding them from the can. Just dump it in the bowl and leave it in the shape of the can. Also, if you move your attention to the top of the picture, to the left of the sweet potatoes, you will note a unique item--the black olives stuffed with spray cheese. Sometime in childhood we were messing around with the spray cheese and we came up with the treat. It stuck and now it's here forever. Outsiders are fearful of this dish but the Forests love it. Just deal, ok?

Now, the picture to the left is of the Bowman meal. Equally excellent but different from the Forest meal. Note the china and Rosepoint glasses. We also have "green rice" which is the rice, cheese, and broccoli casserole. There's also a nice layered Jello dessert. There's "burned beans" which is green bean casserole. The Bowmans have their own names for things, which is at first difficult to learn, but I've been around for a while so I know most of the language. They also have "Christmas Soup", which is stew (and very good) from what I can tell. There are also "pink things" which are little raspberry treats. This is just the tip of the ice berg, but I'll use the special names with glee--you know why? 'Cause the food is awesome and so is the company! I'm part of the club and I speak the language!

My last story: The first Thanksgiving Andy and I had after we were married was at his parent's house (actually at his sister's family's house). I was a little sad because I missed my family. Andy walked in with a grocery sack containing...wait for it...black olives and spray cheese! He wanted me to feel more at home. I got teary-eyed and commenced to making my cheese-stuffed olives. The bad part was when I actually had to show up at his sister's house with my dish and everyone thought I was insane. It was good times anyway and just another event to prove how wonderful my sweet husband is!