This salad has pretty much been served at Christmas dinners all my life. I have no idea where the tradition came from, but it is my grandmother's favorite thing.

In truth, the concept is sweet and meaningful. There's a beautiful gold candle set up in a golden stand with fire gently flickering and wax dripping down the sides. Translated: a half of a banana inside the hole of a slice of pineapple. A marachino cherry mimics a flame and drips its juices like candle wax.

I have a friend in Germany whose father teaches English to seniors. He has asked that I post simple stories about a traditional Christmas menu as a way to teach English and a little about American culture at the same time.

I would say that our traditional Christmas dinner menu is very similar to our traditional Thanksgiving menu because they are about one month apart from each other, and therefore are in the same season with the same fresh produce.

Another picture from last weekend in New York. We already blew up a few photos, framed them, and hung them downstairs. Just glad we weren't there this weekend!

Some of these jars of dehydrated rosemary are actually part of Christmas gifts. So, I'd better share a few ideas for using them. At first, I wondered how anyone could ever use up so much, but now I realize I had too limited of an imagination. However, first, I'd better tell you how I dried them.

VegCooking has a great selection of vegan recipes with fabulous photographs to make you want to try every recipe they throw at you. The recipes are categorized by I love the thought of adding cranberries to green beans. I found it ironic that the side dish was recommended to go with hazelnut and rosemary encrusted seitan, which was the entree that sounded the most tempting to me.