Perhaps more than any of our other senses, taste and smell have a mystical ability to ground us. They root us in our current time and place, but also transport us to times and places long distant—places of memory and story, of warmth, friendship, and love.
Food nourishes our bodies and our souls. Making and sharing food is in our DNA and is central to our very humanity. It helps us understand ourselves, each other, and the beautiful diversity of our world.
At Touch, we love getting around the table and sharing food and drink, but above all, we value time together: building friendships, deepening our shared sense of belonging, sharing our stories and memories.
This year, while we can’t be together as we’d like to, we thought we’d share some of our favorite recipes along with a few stories from our kitchen (and drink cart) to help stay connected. We hope it helps bring joy, laughter, and cheer to your home this (and all future) holiday seasons.
HOT BUTTERED RUM
Every holiday season, I look forward to establishing a new tradition. Last year, it was “Drinking a Cold Beer with the Family Cat after Christmas Eve Dinner.” The year prior, “Bourbon and Half-Watching Thanksgiving Football.” Putting aside the fact that I’ve failed to maintain any of these annual traditions for longer than a year, I look forward to this year’s iteration: “Hot Buttered Rum and Complaining about the Current State of Things with My Extended Family.” I feel I’ve really hit the mark this time, as we truly love to lament over global issues during family gatherings, and I’ve found rum to be a short-term solution to most of them. Cheers to a new holiday tradition (for now). Find Sam’s warming Hot Buttered Rum recipe here.
Sam Veatch, Film/Video Director
STONEHOUSE SPICE
The year was 1998; the place, the coast of Brittany, France. Friends had gathered for the Christmas holiday, but you wouldn’t know it by the look and feel of the drafty stone house. A holiday concoction was in order. It started with a tree and an Allspice Dram cocktail, and escalated to hand-crafted papier-mâché ornaments. Things really got out of hand when Celine Dion started belting “Holy Night” in the background, and a tradition was born. Find Dean’s merry-making Stonehouse Spice recipe here.
Dean Hart, Creative Director
BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
I’m the Soup Queen! I love soup. I love making soup. I love eating soup. I love sharing soup. I love soup as a metaphor—bringing things together to create something that’s greater than the sum of its parts (right?!). Each vegetable is admired in gratitude—texture, fragrance, color—then chopped as desired and tossed in the pot. Bless the land, and bless the farmers. Good soup happens on Sunday afternoons, stirred slowly between short walks, long naps, and phone visits with distant family. Usually it’s simmered rich and thick, then spooned into sturdy bowls. It’s best served with a thick chunk of bread, a glass of wine, and at least one good friend. Find Jennifer’s perfect Butternut Squash soup recipe here.
Jennifer Steenstra, Director of Strategy
BRUSSELS SPROUTS
A few years ago, my husband and I volunteered to bring a vegetable to Thanksgiving dinner. We decided on Brussels sprouts, but then we ran into that age-old dilemma: how do we make something delicious out of one of the most controversial Thanksgiving vegetables? People either love or hate Brussels sprouts. The answer is bacon and cheese. Even the most staunch Brussels sprout despiser was smitten with this cruciferous dish. Since that year, we’ve been annually elected to bring the same item. To be honest, my husband is the Brussels sprout genius in the kitchen. I’m mostly the shallot slicer and taste tester. We have a big family, and this recipe makes enough for about 15 to 20 people, but the recipe can be easily adjusted to suit your socially distant celebration. Find Mary’s famed Brussels Sprouts recipe here.
Mary Daisey, Director of Media Services
GRANDMOTHER DOROTHEA’S CABBAGE ROLLS
Growing up in Calgary, Alberta, the holidays were incomplete until my mom made these cabbage rolls. I have many fond memories of my mom and my grandmother preparing cabbage rolls together in the kitchen. I remember realizing that this was one of those amazing generational transfers of kitchen knowledge. That my mom was inheriting something precious, straight from the Old World: Austria, Germany, Poland, the countries where my grandmother Dorothea lived as young girl. Cabbage rolls are likely to inspire thoughts of YUCK from kids, given the ingredients: steamed cabbage, stewed tomatoes, ground beef, rice. And as a 10-year-old they probably weren’t my favorite. But by the time I became an adult, I was ready to cancel Christmas if my mom had suddenly announced she was not making cabbage rolls this year. She inevitably, and graciously, relented every year. Find Mike’s beloved family Cabbage Roll recipe here.
Mike Quinlan, VP Client Service, Sales & Marketing
MARY LOU’S CHICKEN/TURKEY POT PIE
This pot pie is a classic in the Goss household. It is warm and savory—the perfect comfort food. I have many happy memories of this dish, because almost every time I came home from WSU for a break or a long weekend (Go Cougs), my mom would send me back to school with a pot pie. For a college student, having a home-cooked meal that lasted a week was exciting all on its own, but what made it extra-special was that my mom would carve something on the top of the pie each time she made it. “I love you,” “Go Cougs,” a Christmas tree, or a heart were her go-to’s, and one time she even carved the WSU cougar logo! We’ve continued this tradition post-college, and I look forward to each and every pie. Find Courtney’s savory Pot Pie recipe here.
Courtney Goss, Associate Project Director
GRANDMA MOLLIE’S ITALIAN PIZZELLE COOKIES
This holiday pizzelle recipe comes from my grandmother, Amalia (Mollie) Furia, a first-generation Italian American from Philadelphia. She passed the recipe on to her three sons: Ed, Bill, and Rick. Growing up, my dad, my brothers, and I made pizzelles (traditional Italian waffle cookies baked in a pizzelle iron) every holiday season and mailed them in cookie tins to friends and family. It just never truly felt like the holidays until we had made at least one batch. Since you can only bake two cookies in the pizzelle iron at a time, my challenge was to make them faster than my dad could eat them. Because once our kitchen filled with the sweet buttery aroma of these cookies, it was nearly impossible to fend him off! Buon appetito e salute! Find Katie’s mouthwatering Pizzelle Cookie recipe here.
Katie Furia, Senior Project Manager
Find more Touch staff recipe favorites here.
Remember to take time to share your stories with loved ones this year, whether it be in person or virtually. Just because we can’t be together, it doesn’t mean we can’t find ways to create new memories, shape new stories, and above all enjoy the simple, sacramental pleasures of a home-cooked meal.
WISHING YOU A HAPPY, HEALTHY HOLIDAY SEASON,
FROM ALL OF US AT TOUCH