If Willie Wonka and Sailor Moon had an illegitimate love child, it might resemble the Eldo Candy House, the coolest sweets shop in the Boston area. Don’t expect jellybeans and atomic fireballs, though. The Asian palate prefers treats such as lychee-flavored gummies, Hello Kitty honey balls, and plump candied . . . olives?! Yup. Olives.
Stock up on boxes of Pocky, crispy matchstick cookie-things covered in chocolate and coated in various fruit flavors, or sift through countless bins of brightly colored confections. (Unless you’re feeling particularly adventurous, or know someone who is, skip the crispy puffed prawns. Or, at the very least, don’t pair them with chocolate.)
How many times have you sat through an awkward holiday meal with relatives you barely know, or, worse, relatives you can barely stand? At least the Brazilians have a sense of humor about it. Their holiday treat olhos de sogra (“mother-in-law’s eyes”) pays homage to that icy glare of the woman you love to hate. The Winter Hill area of Somerville is home to many Brazilian bakeries that stock these prune-and-coconut treats.
No laughing matter is the traditional Brazilian turkey, which is marinated overnight in cachaça, a light rum that also makes for a hell of a cocktail. Again, you can pick it up in Winter Hill. Molho apimentado is the hot sauce of all hot sauces, and a holiday meal doused with this stuff will make for one feisty holiday. Again: Winter Hill.
All this talk about Christmas, but what about the Jews? Hanukkah celebrants deserves cool food gifts, too. While not the biggest or most important of the Jewish holidays, the Festival of Lights has some delicious culinary traditions of its own, namely fried foods such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts). And rugelach. Mmmmm. Rugelach. Anyone would cross a desert for one of these buttery, flaky pastries. Cheryl Ann’s bakery in Brookline has an entire glass case filled with the delicate stuff, in flavors like chocolate, raspberry, apricot ... too many to count. Fried foods are consumed during Hanukkah because oil is an integral part of the holiday’s history; post-rebellion against the Seleucid king who had defiled the Temple of Jerusalem, the temple was lit by a menorah that miraculously burned for eight days with enough oil for only one day. A gift of kosher oil would be religiously significant. And, of course, can be used to fry up some tasty goodies. Try Coolidge Corner in Brookline for all your kosher needs. Or theirs. Whoever.
Do you really need a reason to buy a bottle of Irish whiskey? Nothing is better on a freezing December evening than hot coffee spiked with a shot of Jameson or Bushmills or Tullamore Dew or Crested Ten or . . . sorry. Got distracted. Anyway, the Irish know their booze, and they use this sage wisdom to one-up the Christmas cake to an exalted status. The traditional Irish Christmas cake is made weeks in advance. We’re talking November. Maybe October. The cake is baked, then wrapped in cheesecloth and dipped in whiskey. Then it sits. A few weeks later, it’s dipped again. Then it sits. By the time Christmas rolls around, the cake is as drunk as a ruddy-faced uncle, and it melts on the tongue into a puddle of sugary bliss. You can buy Irish whiskey at pretty much any liquor store, but in keeping with the neighborhood theme, head to Southie or Brighton for the authentic Irish experience. Because there are Irish people there. Did ... did you know?
