This combination of dishes and flavors is a rendition of a Brazilian holiday feast that the Zucca Family finds an interesting alternative to the traditional holiday turkey (adapted from Great Dinners from Life, 1969, Time/Life Books). Try it if your family is adventurous. It includes:

1. White rice: make according to the package instructions.

2. Black beans: you can make them from scratch but they take forever and too often taste like BBs. Use a can and heat.

3. Glazed Roast Pork
One 4 1/2-5 lb loin of pork (10 chops)
1-tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 cup orange juice
1/2-cup light brown sugar
1-tablespoon ginger
1/4 tsp powdered cloves

Preheat the over to 3250F
Place pork, fat side up, in a roasting pan, insert thermometer, cook and heat to 1700F. While heating pork, mix the following together in a small saucepan: orange juice, sugar, ginger, and cloves. Simmer for 30 minutes. Brush glaze over pork 2x during the last 1/2 hour of roasting time.

4. Baked Bananas with Rum
1-cup sugar
1/2-cup fresh lemon juice
1-tbs butter
2-tbs white rum
6 medium-sized under ripe bananas
Preheat over to 400oF. In a small saucepan, mix sugar, lemon juice, butter and rum together and simmer for 10 minutes. Peel bananas and slice in half lengthwise. Place them, cut-side down on a buttered baking dish. Pour the hot syrup over them. Bake for 15 min., turn and bake for the remaining 15 min.

5. Onions in Hot Sauce
1 large onion
3-tbs olive oil
3-tbs red wine vinegar
1/4-tsp salt
3-tbs Tabasco
Peel onion and slice very thin. Cover with boiling water, drain and rinse with cold water. Mix the oil, vinegar, Tabasco, and salt in a bowl. Add onion slices and marinate at room temperature for 3 hours

6. Sliced oranges

7. Heated smoked sausages

8. A bottle of ZMV Merlot