The Green Salad!

 The holidays... fraught with tension.  Memories of old good times, old not so good times, possibility of new good times, new not so good times.  Everyone goes in slightly keyed up, on edge, already frazzled from the planning, shopping, spending, baking.  I am the planner of the food in my family and I arrive at other family members homes with coolers of pre planned and prepped food; ready to go....
I designate who is in charge of what meal or what part of a meal.  My sister took care of all of the lunches, I took the dinners and Christmas dinner.  My Mom was on breakfasts, green salad and  Christmas dessert.

A few days before the holidays official began, we were invited to very close friends for dinner.  My friend was reminiscing about when he was young and his parents would have friends over before Christmas and everyone would bring a childhood memory food. He asked for us to all do the same.  Now,  my childhood was a mixed bag of different locations, foods and ways of living: everything from the Yukon, smoked salmon and bannock to New Mexico and chile rellenos.  So what to do that represents my childhood memory food?  I sent a message to my Mom and sister asking that question and my sister immediately replied with "The Green Salad of course".  Of course I should.  The Green Salad perfectly encapsulates  all my childhood memories.  My Grandmother used to make it for my mother and then my Mother has made it for all of my life's Christmases.   No one really likes it but without it Christmas might not even be Christmas.
The Green Salad is a retro 70's jello salad.  It is sweet, cream cheesy, fruity, limey, nutty and greeeen.  It is in a mold and 30 minutes before we eat, my mother anxiously turns it over  onto a platter and waits for it to drop. Fraught...
My Mom sent me the recipe and I made the thing for my childhood memory food.  I did not have the proper jello mold that my grandmother and now mother has.  I used a new bundt cake pan instead.  It worked out just fine.

It was exactly like my mother makes, minus the iconic green mold.   Its funny how memories get all mixed together.  How a taste or smell of something can remind you of so many other things not related.  For instance, the green salad to me is a lot like my relationship with my mother.  Its kinda strange, not a lot of people would understand it, sweet and very very necessary to my happiness.




All my friends brought their childhood memory foods.  There was Swedish meatballs, a Norwegian potato pancake called Leftsa.  Ukrainian garlic meat coil and Antipasta.  And The Green Salad.  As per usual, not a lot of the salad was eaten, but I could not have been happier with my choice.  There was no other choice.

A few days later I ate The Green Salad again at Christmas dinner, this time made by my mother.  The Green Salad was and is a constant low hum amidst the cacophony that is the holidays.

The Green Salad Recipe:

2 small cans of crushed pineapple
1 pkg of lime jello
8oz cream cheese
1 cup cream
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup fine chopped celery

Directions:
Heat crushed pineapple to boil.  Add jello and stir until dissolved.  Chill till partially set.  Soften cream cheese and add to gelatine mix, blend completely.  Whip cream and fold into gelatine mix.  Add chopped pecan and celery to the mix.  Pour into a mold and chill till set, usually overnight.  To unfold, either let sit inverted over a platter for 30 minutes at room temp until it drops or can quickly dip into hot water and then invert.