What is it about holiday meals? Why are they so often the last resort of the hackneyed, the familiar, the tried-and-true?
Is it because of Great Aunt June's harping on politics? (What is it with her and Grover Cleveland? Did they have a thing back in the day?)
Is it because someone's bound to bring up something uncomfortable? ("Dear, I remember fondly those lovely daffodils that I gave you last year and that you managed to kill.")
Or are we just so jangled in this modern world, so made-nuts by bloviating pundits and know-nothing wags, by bail-outs and world-wide collapses, by wars compounded on more wars, that we finally succumb to the ordinary, if only to (as Annie Dillard once wrote) "stick a nickle's worth of sense into our days"?
Whatever the cause, I'm here with a cure. For the Easter doldrums. (Other things will have to wait.) This Chinese-style leg of lamb will turn the table on its head and offer something new among the staid traditions: the pastel hats and foofy dresses.
Or you can fix this wonder anytime and be glad of it.
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