If you peek into the kitchens of most observant Jews you will see a
double sink. Don’t ask me how over 2,000 years Jews took “don’t cook
a calf in its mother’s milk” and created a set of rules that
necessitates at least two sets of dishes, crockpots, and strainers, but
there you have it. Meat and dairy products are kept strictly apart
under Jewish dietary law. To ensure that never the twain shall meet,
usually one side of the sink will be dedicated to dairy dishes and the
other to utensils used for meat. And that’s where you can learn a lot
about how a family likes to eat.
One of my closest friends uses both sides for dairy. She likes meat, but she doesn’t like to cook it. My grandparents only had one sink. Let’s just say that once my grandmother proudly waved a single spoon in front of my newly married mother’s face shouting proudly “See! I do have dairy dishes!” Being ever so balanced, my sink usually has a few dishes stacked in both sides.
Is everyone familiar with panettone, a sweet, Italian bread loaf, full of candied orange peel and raisins? It comes in a very tall, lofty box we only see at holiday time. 
Still looking for the perfect Christmas gift that is easy, inexpensive, and loved by all?
When I worked in a gourmet retail store as a teenager, I got a chance to try many delectable things. I sampled high quality chocolates imported from Europe, pistachios from Iran, 
The “old timers” in Maine always eat salmon and peas for their fourth of July family feast. This tradition was started a long time ago when salmon still came “up river to spawn” and people still rushed in the Spring to plant their peas so they would have the first peas of the year, hopefully by the 4th, if the weather was good. (I still have customers that plant their peas in the fall so they sprout when they are ready come Spring.)