esrosedotblog

TRADITION

I went and got my holiday fruit stollen today.

They don't do it right.

It is puffy. But it has the fruit.

Since I ordered it ahead I stipulated powdered sugar which they find preposterous. No icing?

No.

I haven't had the kind I grew up with for a few years.

My dad brought an A&P stollen home every christmas. Actually as many as he could get from the day-old.

Then they were gone along with A&P.

When I was first married and had the wherewithal, I made a pretty good copy of stollen. It was braided which most are not.

But I gave up baked goods along with cholesterol and butter and the stollen went into eclipse.

Ever since, it has been a sort of sad version of the original until just a few years ago, a guest came for the holiday and brought the exactly correct stollen which he got in a Jewish bakery! Cross cultural.

In Long Beach. A long way to go to get a stollen.

We have invited the friend back repeatedly and once he forgot the stollen and then the bakery was gone.

Eventually everything passes. Even stollen.

I suppose that, if I wanted it badly enough, I could make it again. But as much as I relish it, I do not like it that much.

So I will do with the puffy stuff. If I let it sit a day it will stale a bit and get appropriately dry. But it is only a gesture.

Stollen. Powdered sugar.

Here is the real thing. Close up. Made in Europe. Too far to go.

Labels: cooking, holidays