Food of my LIFE!

Growing up my family was always made happy by our stomachs!  With certain family holidays or habitual events the first thing that comes to mind is the food that will be there.  The only real event or weekly occurence my family had with food was always breakfast on Sunday.  Not so much now that my sister and I are young adults, but growing up it was a small tradition for my family to make breakfast on Sunday morning.  Not cereal or yogurt like every other busy day during the week but it was the day for us to relax as a family and look forward to doing together within all the chaos of the rest of the week. The first holiday I can think of with a food tradition is Easter.  Every year my mom's mom makes a pastry called Banbury Tarts.  To be completely honest I have no idea everything in them but they have almost a pie crust outside with sugar coating and stuffed with a warm raisin, dates and nuts filling. Its strange how a food item can only be limited to eating one day out of an entire calendar year but that tart is only made for Easter dessert like clock work!  Another food tradition my family has, like many others I'm assuming, is corned beef and cabbage on St.Patricks Day.  Granted my family does not have a bit of Irish in us my mother likes to experiment with a different recipe on how to make it every year.  Each year better than the last... or maybe just because I remember it the most vividly.  It shows how food in a way is a tradition because it brings people together.  It creates a common place (dining table) and joy we can all share together and look forward to taking part in that day of the year.  Even with the foods I'm not a fan of that are made every year (Minced Meat Pie at Thanksgiving... nothing beats Pumpkin :) ) I still expect it to be on the table waiting for me to avoid.  Eaten or not it wouldn't be the same without those wonderfully avoidable traditions my family has and shares together every year.