34
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2013
U
ntil about fifteen years ago, our
traditional Christmas Eve was
always a big Italian feast that took
nearly a week to prepare. Pa would make
a huge pot of spaghetti with red gravy,
meatballs and veal or pork
daube
. There
were seafood frittatas, Granny’s stuffed
artichokes, and hot anchovy flatbread, a
Sicilian specialty. My dad, Tommy, would
bring a redfish that he caught, which my
grandfather would serve whole, roasted
with onions and fennel, to represent the
Sicilian tradition of the Feast of the Seven
Fishes, which commemorates the wait for
the midnight birth of Jesus, or the
Vigilia
di Natale
.
My grandfather’s sister, Aunt Anna Mae,
lives inMarrero, where my grandfather grew
up. She always brought stuffed mirlitons
(two kinds, ground beef and pork and
shrimp and crab) and the fig cookies that
are so popular around St. Joseph’s Day. A
few years ago, she started teaching my sister
Rachel and me how to make the fig cookies,
but try as I might, I’ve never been able to get
her mirliton recipes.
—“Aunt Anna Mae
doesn’t use recipes; she cooks strictly by
‘feel.’ When she feels something is done,
it’s done.” – Tommy Rouse
Hide and seek is a Rouse Christmas
tradition. My grandmother is famous for
her Italian pecan cookies, called cocoons.
She bakes them and hides them so they
don’t get eaten before Christmas Eve. My
dad and Uncle Donald were notorious for
finding them, eating them, and putting the
empty tin back where they found it.
—“Therewere some years whenwe didn’t
find them until AFTER Christmas.”
– Donald Rouse
Our extended Rouse family is pretty large,
and as the number of people outgrew the
seats at the tables (dining room, kitchen
and card), my grandparents started making
big pots of gumbo instead of
spaghetti. Pa would always
make seafood gumbo, and my
mom, Karen, would bring a big
pot of her chicken and sausage.
My grandfather passed in 2009,
and we moved Christmas Eve
next door to Aunt Cindy and
Uncles Tim’s house that year.
Everyone cooks. Uncle Tim
makes my grandfather’s famous
oyster dressing (he used to
serve it on Christmas Day).
—“My wife and kids gave me a green egg
for Father’s Day so I’m also smoking a
turkey and ham this year.”– Tim Acosta
Aunt Cindy makes her sweet potatoes with
pecans. My mom brings crabmeat dip, rice
dressing and cornbread dressing. Dessert
is an assortment, but always includes a
birthday cake: my cousin Caroline’s birthday
is Christmas Eve, and her brother Blake’s
birthday is Christmas Day. Donny’s mom
Sue makes peanut butter fudge. And my
aunt Jeaneen is also charged with a dessert
(usually her delicious cheesecake) because
she is always the last to arrive and no one
wants to wait for her to start!
Ali Rouse with her grandmother, Mrs. Joyce Rouse
Christmas Eve Traditions
by
Ali Rouse
Mr. &Mrs. Rouse with grandchildren
circa 1986
