[rfloz]

The wife bought 20# of pork and 5# of beef. Had these rough ground together by the butcher, added copious amounts of smoked paprika and garlic and a bit of salt and a few other spices.

About 1/3 of the above was combined with partially cooked rice to make sarmali (sp?), the Romanian version of stuffed cabbage leaves.

The rest of the meat was put through the hand cranked sausage machine and into real casings (which seem to have tripled in price since last year). Then hung to dry for a day and night and finally cooked and served with home made sauerkraut (from 20 heads of cabbage!). All of this is washed down with a homemade plum brandy of about 160 proof.

My holiday diet plan went straight to fail. Luckily, we give a bunch away to family and friends every year.

When my wife's family first immigrated the sausage recipe started out with: "Take one large pig . . ."

Sadly, the ensuing 35 years have thinned the family a bit and a whole pig is no longer an option. Still, it's good to have the remaining kin gather at the house for Christmas dinner with an old world menu.

Cheers!