Christmas and its immediate aftermath

Well, Christmas has come and gone - and I never got on here to blog in the leadup to it.  The leftover roast pork is gradually being eaten up, as is the pudding and remaining Christmas baking.  Had a lovely Christmas day with just the three of us.  Up early as Ginger rose at her usual 5am.  Awestruck by her presents!  Played with the wrapping paper rather than the toys but has spent the last two days giving them a thorough working over.

Ginger heads for the pile of presents (I hasten to add not all intended for her).

All for me!

Made it to church and then DH baked a lovely roast and made his final pudding and brandy custard preparations.  Lunched at 12 and the roast pork (free range, don’t you know) was a definite hit with Ginger! 

DH also did potatoes a la Jamie Oliver’s Christmas with butter, Clementine juice (in our case orange) and sage.  Yummy. 

Pudding was a success – despite it not being his Grandma’s official recipe.  We asked her for her recipe as we had so enjoyed a pudding she made a couple of years ago when we spent Christmas in England, she posted us one and the pudding was made; only for her then to tell us that she didn’t follow any particular recipe in making her puddings.

Pudding with garden variety Holly  – homegrown cherry tomatoes and rosemary

Grandma's Christmas Pudding

(makes a huge quantity – we made a third of this amount )

225g raisins

225g currants

225g  sultanas

200g mixed peel

225 shredded suet (we used copha )

500 demera or muscova sugar (we used brown sugar)

225 fresh bread crumbs

75g  plain flour

1 teaspoon nutmeg or cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

40 blanched chopped almonds

1 carrot grated

1 cooking apple, grated

2 lemons, grate the rind and squeeze the juice

3 eggs, whisk with the brandy

150 mls brandy

knob of butter

Add all to a large bowl.

Mix very, very well and leave to stand for a while.

Butter the pudding basin and line the base with paper.

Tip in mixture top with disc of paper and pleat foil to cover the top, tie on.

Cook in the top of a steamer or on a trivet for 5 hours.

Check regularly to make sure it doesn’t boil dry

Store for a month.

Cook for a further 2 hours before eating !!!

Wintery weather made it perfect for a hot midday meal.  The rest of the day, boxing day and today have been occupied with reading (Christmas loot), knitting, planning for the year ahead, playing with toys, bread baking, general pottering and watching the rain streaming down our window!   A delicious way to conclude the year. 

 

Easter Decorating

This is the final Easter post for this year - I promise. I do like decorating a bit for each of the holidays/seasons. I think my time at college in the US gave me the bug. I just loved the Easter flags that everyone had hanging of their letterboxes and the fact that the whole town seemed to be at church on Easter Sunday. If we ever get a US posting I am having an Easter Flag!

I think Australia has become a lot more secularised and Easter here is celebrated mostly as just a commercial holiday. Church attendance is certainly up on Easter Sunday, but not dramatically.

Anyhow, I decorated a nook in our dining area in the Easter Spirit. I was very disappointed not to be able to put up the decorated eggs we bought in Austria a few years ago, but they are delicate and this room attracts a fairly strong through breeze.

On Mangoes

Spring is truly here in eastern Australia as we are starting to see the first mangoes of the season. We are very fortunate to have mango growing areas in the Northern Territory and far north Queensland.

I love mangoes. The pungent sweet aroma when you sniff to check if a mongo is ripe is such a treat. And then, you cut the tough, oozing skin to expose the tender golden flesh. Yummy. The best way to eat a mango straight is to slice a cheek of mango, cut a fat dice into the flesh and then bend back the skin and dig in!

Another option is to blend mango and milk to create a milkshake. Or as we discovered in Singpore to mix shaved ice, sweetened condensed milk and diced mango. My mouth is watering at the memory. And now, Karen has given me another option....I think I might try this soon.