Christmas present/s

My new handbag arrived on Christmas Day.

It's pale baby pink - the word frivolous comes to mind.

Wm received hers too - in a more practical chocolate colour.

Christmas

Still in a Christmas mood.

From the top - mixture of dark/white turkey meat with lotsa gravy, brilliant emeralds of sprouts, marinated mushrooms - an Italian recipe, roasted potatoes, glazed carrots and raw cucumbers/red peppers, sausages and stuffing.

Sick for a record breaking 5 days and slightly wobbly, I will venture out of the house for the first time in 3 days. Mighty fine way to end the year.

Sugarush's Cupcakes

SUGARUSH'S CUPCAKES

Aren't these the cutest? Gorgeous little morsels of cupcakes.

My favourite is the Carrot & Walnut Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting. It's filled with grated carrots, chopped walnuts, sultanas, a hint of lemon zest, spices and the topping is a rich yet light whip whirl of cream cheese, with a slight lemon tang. Heady stuff!

Second favourite is Fluffy Coffee & Walnut Cupcake with Coffee Frosting; a little package of a dense rich light bite of a cupcake scented with coffee/walnut, topped with coffee frosting.... (a tad too sweet for someone with a non-sweet tooth - I will ask for kurang manis frosting next time).

My kids loved the Double Chocolate Surprise with Chocolate Frosting. It's real chocolate chocolate - if you know what I mean - all smooth and cocoa-ey - none of those grainy brown-coloured artificially sweet paste which some bakeries try to pass off as chocolate.

The cakes were thoughtfully glued down with double-sided tape to avoid mishaps during transportation.

Want more? Head over to Sugarush's website for more photos and info.

(This post is un-sponsored).

Christmas Lunch

Was in the kitchen at 5 am, preparing the turkey stuffing; the turkey went into the oven at 5.45 am and was ready by 10.30 am. I carved it at around 11.30 am - this year, I got wiser, I sat down for the carving which usually takes almost an hour, quite backbreaking when you don't have an electric knife.

Christmas lunch - Huge platter of sliced turkey, gravy (painstakingly made from pan juices and real stock and not a Bisto bottle in sight), potatoes, sausages, stuffing, marinated mushrooms, sprouts with bacon/roasted almonds, glazed carrots and cucumbers/red peppers (to replace peas - can you believe that SS did not have my favourite Birdseye Petit Pois this year or any other peas for that matter - bought some Waitrose tinned peas which were teeny and yellow so they went into the fridge to turn into soup tomorrow).

After lunch, the children launched into a traditional Christmas by playing Scrabble and Monopoly and other card games. I don't know why Hazel was wearing a pink floppy hat indoors - I really don't know.

Hello, what's this?? hehe - it arrived today after a 24/28? hour journey and was delivered to my front door! It's very, very candy baby PINK with matt gold hardware, has a sweet heart shaped mirror, dangly stuff, and phone pouch - it's just too cute!

And what kind of Christmas did you have? Even though I am still sick, I had a lovely one with family and friends and most of all, my kids/family enjoyed their lunch very much and all their presents. Bed for me now - Merry Christmas to one and all! With no other excuse left, this extremely rotund person here will start her diet in the next few days. Even my pyjamas are TIGHT... grrr.

Grav Lax

My grav lax was a success - here it is as a starter which we had once I was confident that the kitchen and all the preparations for lunch were in order.

The second plate was taken out at around 6 pm.

More preparations

I've just made some marinated Italian mushrooms - the smell of this permeated to every corner of the house, scents of garlic, balsamic vinegar, onions, mustard, bay leaf, olive oil and more.

The turkey is in the oven, stuffing made, carrots cut, sausages rolled, breadcrumb mixture made, sprouts prepared, garnishes ready, potatoes waiting to be roasted, peas on standby, turkey stock made - I think I am pretty much organised.

Breakfast anyone?

Christmas Day - Thurs, 25th Dec 2008

For all who are celebrating, have a joyful and blessed Christmas. And for all who are not, enjoy the luxury of a day off today and the long weekend ahead!

Skipping off to the kitchen I go.....

Table setting

The Christmas table looks like this - it might be changed slightly tomorrow - linen instead of paper napkins, and perhaps I will remove the mats from the middle and lay more decoration there.

I think this year the food will be kept in the dry kitchen instead of on the table as usual; and we will simply pop in the kitchen to help ourselves from the buffet 'line'.

Side table.

Hazel made a valid point this morning while she was helping me - "Why do we need candles when we are eating at lunch time and there is light?" It was a lightbulb moment for me - but the candles are staying.

Off to bed now as I have to be up by 5 am and HOPEFULLY this vise around my head and eyes will have miraculously disappeared overnight.

Next post - SUGARUSH'S CUPCAKES. Come back tomorrow. For now, to all of you still with me, here is an early wish for a wonderful Christmas!

Grav Lax after almost 24 hours

Here it is after almost 24 hours.

You can see that quite a lot of liquid has been released from the fish. (This morning, I poked some 'drainage' holes in the clingwrap). I've now put the rolled package on 3 pieces of kitchen paper to absorb more liquid which will be released tonight.

It has started to take on that slight translucent 'rubbery' colour/texture. (I once had an unexplained grav lax disaster using good quality salmon I thought - the grav lax developed a 'cloudy' appearance and the whole lot had to go into the bin). Expensive disaster; and what is most frustrating is I used the same recipe, same method of preparation, same hygienic handling. That will remain an unsolved cooking mystery ;-)

p.s Still sick :-(

Christmas preparations

I've made the stock (half a skinless chicken, onion, celery, carrot, garlic bulbs, parsley stalks, bay leaf, turkey giblets and neck). I will make the gravy tomorrow using pan juices from the roasted turkey, the fond, and a bit of flour to thicken and thinned down using this delicous homemade rich chicken/turkey stock. For now, once it has cooled down and strained, it will be kept tightly closed safe and sound in the refrigerator.

Low simmer to obtain a clear clean stock.

and the herb butter with a hint of garlic seasoned with salt and black pepper (this will be eased under the skin of the turkey and rubbed all over the bird tomorrow paying particular attention to the thigh and breast meat).

Merry Christmas Eve

Preparations steaming ahead for tomorrow's lunch.

What do briefcases have to do with food? :-)

The inside!

The blue briefcase has 2 layers of cutlery; a setting for 8. This is 17 years old.

The black has 3 layers; with a setting for 12. This is 11 years old.

I keep them in pristine condition, drying and polishing after each use.

This set of brass cutlery with mother of pearl in lay is beautiful. I'll use the carving knife and fork only this time. Here you can see serving spoons, gravy spoon and a cheese knife and cake server. There are 4 settings consisting of spoon, fork, knife and teaspoon not shown. Each setting is individually wrapped in a gold/blue silk pouch. This is very old too.

Drinks tray and grav lax tray/ table mats / various candle holders (will decide which to use later).

And the star turkey plate. Off now to see how Nigella, Martha and Delia garnish their turkeys.

p.s still sick........