It started off with the mushroom-and-onion ravioli served in clear broth beetroot soup simmered with red wine; Borscht is a signature Polish dish though the Russians would claim otherwise.

On the dinner table,

A friend’s mom who was over to visit her daughter, she added a nostalgic touch to the whole affair. Amongst the two brothers who took the lead in the kitchen, one has an exterior of a sailor, the other is the older one. You could tell that both are chefs in real life by they way they slit off the thighs from the rest of the token turkey. A recent addition to a household of eight is one who hates mushrooms and only eats halal, he claimed to prefer fish but would rather have red than white in his glass.

One main course after another, a glass that led to never too many, somewhere in between I almost expected somebody to pull out a gun, then a Santa song broke out and they all sang in hearty Polish.

I imagined myself as the daughter sitting with the family of a mafioso league, with much love spread and shared, with all the differences set aside.

Merry Christmas everyone..

*This is ‘to your health’!