Christmas Roundup! I've had a lot of fun over Christmas this year. I'm not religious at all, but I do love all the secular aspects of the holiday season, all the ritual and tradition: the food, the gifts, the food, the decorations, the food, the time off work, the food, spending time with family and friends... and the food! (That was shamelessly quoted from the latest episode of
Miranda!)
Of course, I'll still be doing my Unblogged Files for December (I'm pretty proud of myself for keeping that up the whole year, by the way!), as well as a "2012 in Review"-type post, summarising my blog this year... but to try and keep December's Unblogged Files to a reasonable length (and because I clearly love round-up posts!) I've decided to do a little Christmas round-up post too!
The Christmas season started with
a party at a friends' house, to which I brought
my mince pies. I loved the spread of baked goods - super cute!
 |
| Christmas Spread |
I did get teased for requesting a cup of tea at 10pm on a Saturday night - how very Miranda of me! - but you just can't have mince pies and shortbread without tea!
That evening we were also treated to a fabulous Christmas pudding made by a friend's aunt. It was flambéed and served with a crème anglaise, made by another friend who is a professional trained chef. (Obviously this is where we got the idea to serve our
own pudding with vanilla crème anglaise!)
 |
| Pretty flames! |
 |
| Pudding with custard |
As you know,
my Christmas Cake this year was
Nigel Slater's Christmas Cake. That's another thing I love about Christmas: dried fruit and spices galore!
 |
| Nigel Slater's Christmas Cake |
We had a fab
picnic in the Botanic Gardens - it was perfect weather too! (Yay for a Southern Hemisphere Christmas!)
 |
| Botanic Gardens |
We had a great afternoon, drinking rosé, eating picnicky food (cheese, dips, salami etc.) and generally soaking up the atmosphere. Love!
 |
| Spread |
I brought a tray of milk chocolate and salted peanut blondies to share - they were super fudge-tastic! (Blogpost and recipe to come!)
 |
| Milk chocolate and salted peanut blondies |
Mmm... gooey...
 |
| One piece |
And of course, there was
our big Turkey dinner, held on Christmas Eve at my parents' place.
 |
| Christmas Dinner |
I also wanted to show you some of the
cool foodie gifts I got! These cute and pretty ceramic pieces from Kikki K's new home range (I love the little bowl so much - it really makes me smile!), these fab "Delicup Lunch" containers from my brother in Japan, and
The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook!
 |
| Gifts |
I bought this cute
Hario Mini-Mill Slim Plastic Coffee Grinder from
Sensory Lab for Sandra, as well as a bag of Chompy beans. The guys at Sensory Lab were so nice and helpful when I went to buy it - despite being busy, they gave me loads of time and advice, and even ground up a few samples of coffee for me to take home, so that I could see what the different grinds are supposed to look like for different brewing methods. How nice is that? Thanks guys!!
 |
| Coffee Grinder |
Christmas also means
Christmas leftovers. Breakfast on Christmas day was leftover Christmas pudding, fried in butter (eep!) and served with a little quenelle of creme fraiche.
 |
| Leftover Christmas Pudding |
I also used the leftover Christmas pudding to make
Christmas Puddini Bonbons again. I've been whipping them out whenever people pop in. (As well as some fancy German Christmas biscuits that my Dad bought us, and some coconut rough that I got at the newly opened
Yarra Valley Chocolaterie).
 |
| Sweetmeats |
I made a couple of fun things with the leftover turkey, including the Best Sandwich Ever! White bread, turkey, crispy bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato and cranberry.
 |
| T-BLAT Sandwich |
And because sometimes even I can get tired of Christmas food: I made Fuchsia Dunlop's claybowl chicken, using leftover turkey. Essentially it's just cold cooked turkey, dressed in a mixture of sesame paste, soy sauce, black vinegar, sesame oil and loads of chilli oil, tossed with crunchy roasted peanuts and sesame seeds and topped with pungent coriander and spring onions. Spicy, low-carb and punchily flavourful - it's the antithesis of Christmas food, and totally delicious.
 |
| Claybowl Turkey |
Last night, we had
a lobster dinner at our place - I do hope this becomes a yearly tradition! Essentially it was a rehash of
last year's lobster dinner, but I improved on the lobster salad recipe (blogpost and recipe to come), and I baked my own challah for the bun. (Yes, for realsies!)
 |
| Lobster Salad in Challah (And yes I do realise how wrong that sounds!) |
And finally, today we had a little
latke party at my friend Jess' house. I know we were a bit late for Hanukkah, but there's never a bad time for latkes!
 |
| Potato latkes with applesauce and creme fraiche |
Jess made fab potato latkes, and we had a go making
apple latkes too. I'll blog them in more detail soon - you all need fried potato pancakes in your life! Jess does her latkes very simply: just potatoes, flour and egg. So delicious! Just quietly, I like them better than
Nigella's latkes from How to Eat!
Hope you all had a great festive season and enjoyed some good food and quality time with those nearest and dearest!! What are your favourite things to do over the break?
Christmas Roundup! I've had a lot of fun over Christmas this year. I'm not religious at all, but I do love all the secular aspects of the holiday season, all the ritual and tradition: the food, the gifts, the food, the decorations, the food, the time off work, the food, spending time with family and friends... and the food! (That was shamelessly quoted from the latest episode of
Miranda!)
Of course, I'll still be doing my Unblogged Files for December (I'm pretty proud of myself for keeping that up the whole year, by the way!), as well as a "2012 in Review"-type post, summarising my blog this year... but to try and keep December's Unblogged Files to a reasonable length (and because I clearly love round-up posts!) I've decided to do a little Christmas round-up post too!
The Christmas season started with
a party at a friends' house, to which I brought
my mince pies. I loved the spread of baked goods - super cute!
|
| Christmas Spread |
I did get teased for requesting a cup of tea at 10pm on a Saturday night - how very Miranda of me! - but you just can't have mince pies and shortbread without tea!
That evening we were also treated to a fabulous Christmas pudding made by a friend's aunt. It was flambéed and served with a crème anglaise, made by another friend who is a professional trained chef. (Obviously this is where we got the idea to serve our
own pudding with vanilla crème anglaise!)
|
| Pretty flames! |
|
| Pudding with custard |
As you know,
my Christmas Cake this year was
Nigel Slater's Christmas Cake. That's another thing I love about Christmas: dried fruit and spices galore!
|
| Nigel Slater's Christmas Cake |
We had a fab
picnic in the Botanic Gardens - it was perfect weather too! (Yay for a Southern Hemisphere Christmas!)
|
| Botanic Gardens |
We had a great afternoon, drinking rosé, eating picnicky food (cheese, dips, salami etc.) and generally soaking up the atmosphere. Love!
|
| Spread |
I brought a tray of milk chocolate and salted peanut blondies to share - they were super fudge-tastic! (Blogpost and recipe to come!)
|
| Milk chocolate and salted peanut blondies |
Mmm... gooey...
|
| One piece |
And of course, there was
our big Turkey dinner, held on Christmas Eve at my parents' place.
|
| Christmas Dinner |
I also wanted to show you some of the
cool foodie gifts I got! These cute and pretty ceramic pieces from Kikki K's new home range (I love the little bowl so much - it really makes me smile!), these fab "Delicup Lunch" containers from my brother in Japan, and
The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook!
|
| Gifts |
I bought this cute
Hario Mini-Mill Slim Plastic Coffee Grinder from
Sensory Lab for Sandra, as well as a bag of Chompy beans. The guys at Sensory Lab were so nice and helpful when I went to buy it - despite being busy, they gave me loads of time and advice, and even ground up a few samples of coffee for me to take home, so that I could see what the different grinds are supposed to look like for different brewing methods. How nice is that? Thanks guys!!
|
| Coffee Grinder |
Christmas also means
Christmas leftovers. Breakfast on Christmas day was leftover Christmas pudding, fried in butter (eep!) and served with a little quenelle of creme fraiche.
|
| Leftover Christmas Pudding |
I also used the leftover Christmas pudding to make
Christmas Puddini Bonbons again. I've been whipping them out whenever people pop in. (As well as some fancy German Christmas biscuits that my Dad bought us, and some coconut rough that I got at the newly opened
Yarra Valley Chocolaterie).
|
| Sweetmeats |
I made a couple of fun things with the leftover turkey, including the Best Sandwich Ever! White bread, turkey, crispy bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato and cranberry.
|
| T-BLAT Sandwich |
And because sometimes even I can get tired of Christmas food: I made Fuchsia Dunlop's claybowl chicken, using leftover turkey. Essentially it's just cold cooked turkey, dressed in a mixture of sesame paste, soy sauce, black vinegar, sesame oil and loads of chilli oil, tossed with crunchy roasted peanuts and sesame seeds and topped with pungent coriander and spring onions. Spicy, low-carb and punchily flavourful - it's the antithesis of Christmas food, and totally delicious.
|
| Claybowl Turkey |
Last night, we had
a lobster dinner at our place - I do hope this becomes a yearly tradition! Essentially it was a rehash of
last year's lobster dinner, but I improved on the lobster salad recipe (blogpost and recipe to come), and I baked my own challah for the bun. (Yes, for realsies!)
|
| Lobster Salad in Challah (And yes I do realise how wrong that sounds!) |
And finally, today we had a little
latke party at my friend Jess' house. I know we were a bit late for Hanukkah, but there's never a bad time for latkes!
|
| Potato latkes with applesauce and creme fraiche |
Jess made fab potato latkes, and we had a go making
apple latkes too. I'll blog them in more detail soon - you all need fried potato pancakes in your life! Jess does her latkes very simply: just potatoes, flour and egg. So delicious! Just quietly, I like them better than
Nigella's latkes from How to Eat!
Hope you all had a great festive season and enjoyed some good food and quality time with those nearest and dearest!! What are your favourite things to do over the break?
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