For some, entertaining takes a lot of effort. They agonize over everything. For others, it’s intuitive.
Alvenia Rhea Albright falls into the second category. “I just do it. I make everything myself … from scratch. And I don’t use recipes or store-bought mixes. I cook intuitively,” she says.
For her annual holiday party, which she calls “my way of giving back to my family and friends,” Albright transforms her home into a wondrous woodland populated with lavishly bedecked Christmas trees.
Each has its own theme. The angels on the tall tree in the foyer are dressed in gowns made of African textiles, while a mid-sized tree in the living room wears an elegant demeanor, thanks to angels outfitted in opulent gold, red and white frocks.
A petite children’s tree sports lots of Santas and is fancifully surrounded by a sprawling electric train. The piece de resistance–a towering live evergreen in a multi-story great room–is adorned all in cream and gold, with angels to match.
Albright began the holiday tradition of collecting angels and staging her payback party 15 years ago, when she built her Naperville home with her husband, Arthur Albright. “I didn’t grow up in this kind of home and never had so much space before. Living here has let me do something with my love for Christmas, which I’ve had since childhood,” Albright explains.
Her childhood also shaped her entertaining habits. “I’m a coal miner’s daughter from Pocahontas, Va. There were eight kids in our family, and even though we were poor, there was never a time when we didn’t have plenty of food and have everyone over during the holidays. We celebrated with wonderful home-cooked meals, not giving gifts and doing the materialistic stuff they do today,” she says.
A payback party was clearly the perfect vehicle for Albright, a management consultant who travels extensively for the three businesses she runs. “I miss the opportunity to be in touch with the people I love during the year, so I have to take the time to do this during the holidays. Plus it’s a great way to catch up with all the people who count in my life at one time,” she points out.
Getting ready for those childhood feasts gave Albright the cooking know-how she uses today. “I learned to do it all by following my mother around and helping her. Hardly anyone cooks this way anymore today. It’s a lost art,” she maintains.
But Albright is doing her part to carry on this tradition and further it. She begins baking for the holiday season months beforehand, making plenty of pound cakes to give as gifts and a wide range of other treats for the dessert buffet she serves at her annual holiday open house for 100 or so family members, neighbors, colleagues and friends. She makes a hearty soup in 10-gallon batches beforehand too, because she believes you have to “give people a cushion that is nutritious before they eat all those sweets.” And she lets anyone who wants to learn join in. Last year, Stephanie Hatchett, a neighbor who is now a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh, followed Albright around the kitchen to absorb her techniques.
Her decorating know-how was honed by trial and error once she moved to her current home.
“It all started with black angels, which I would buy whenever I found interesting ones. But now it’s a multi-cultural collection that I get all over the world . . . Africa, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean islands.”
This year Albright is just about to break out decorations for the coming holiday season, which will be more special than usual. Her family matriarch, an 82-year-old aunt from Detroit, is coming to stay for the holiday with her entire family of five children and their children, so Albright is already cooking up batches of soup and pound cakes so she’s ready for all the action.
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HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE MENU
“TUMMY-WARMING” OPENING ENTREE
Alvenia’s hearty bean soup*
Mango salsa with corn chips
Cornbread muffins
DRINKS
Wine
Hot apple cider
Coffee
DESSERT BUFFET CAKES
Chocolate rum cake
Chocolate layer cake with chocolate icing
Lemon almond pound cake
Old-fashioned creme cheese pound cake
Pineapple upside-down cake
Yellow layer cake with chocolate icing
PIES
Chocolate bourbon pecan pie
Banana-split pie
Sweet potato pie
COOKIES
Rum balls
Brownies
Holiday sugar cookies
ALVENIA’S HEARTY BEAN SOUP
Makes 7 to 8 quarts
Serves 25 to 30
2 20-ounce bags “15 Bean Soup Mix,” such as Hurst’s HamBeens
Water for soaking beans
1 large smoked turkey leg
12 cups water, plus 10-14 more cups
1/2 small onion, minced
2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 5 cloves)
1/4 cup of dried Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons Jamaican jerk seasoning
1 tablespoon seasoning salt
1/2 cup dried lentils or 1 15-ounce can of your favorite beans, drained (optional)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 pound ground turkey
1 or 2 18-ounce bottles Bull’s-Eye BBQ Sauce (original style)
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 pound smoked turkey sausage, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cooked rotisserie chicken (or 2 to 3 grilled chicken breasts), boned and cut into bite-size pieces
1. Remove seasoning packet from dried beans. (Save for another use.) Soak beans 2-3 hours in enough water to cover by 2 inches. Rinse, drain and set aside.
2. While beans are soaking, in a large soup pot (10- or 12-quart) bring turkey leg to a simmer in 12 cups of water, cooking until meat is tender, about 1 hour. Remove turkey leg, cool, shred or coarsely chop the meat and set aside. Discard bones and skin.
3. Add onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, jerk seasoning and seasoning salt to the water. Mix in drained, dried beans and another 10 cups water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high, partially cover and cook until beans are tender, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Stir pot occasionally to prevent beans from sticking. Add canned beans or lentils, if using. Simmer 30 minutes more. Add water a cup at a time as needed to allow beans to get tender.
4. As beans continue to cook, heat 2 teaspoons oil in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the ground turkey, breaking up the chunks of meat, and cook 5 minutes. Drain.
5. When beans are tender and broth is thickened, reduce heat to a low simmer. Stir in 1 bottle of barbecue sauce and brown sugar. Add shredded smoked turkey, ground turkey, sausage and chicken. Adjust seasoning. Add second bottle of sauce, if desired. Simmer an additional 20-30 minutes.
Note: Soup’s flavor increases on the second day and thereafter. It also freezes beautifully.
