Lullabelle
Midlands, England
TVC and I don't have a traditional dinner as neither of us are keen on turkey. This year we are having beef rib, roast potatoes etc... What is anyone else having this year?
depends on where we are, but in years gone by it was usual a big piece of homemade Christmas Cake with a cup of coffee (whilst sitting dug into a snow drift), so given I can't yet climb/walk any great distances yet, I have no idea unless we manage to find a snow drift at a lower altitude, much depends of the weather if we go away or not.
Some years have been a pesto & cheese sandwich with christmas cake and a coffee (Christmas day 2005) whilst sitting in the middle of a river in the middle of nowhere in scotland, just watching the world go by. (We had to ford a frozen river (or burn as I grew up with them called) and found a large rock in the middle and given it was in sunshine decided it was the perfect place for Christmas day lunch... see this link http://www.treknature.com/viewphotos.php?l=3&p=45276 for the picture.)
The one thing I can guarentee is that it will not be conventional and may well have us in a tent again!
I'm not sure any of my family or my husband's family think either of us are conventional anymore. I think we proved that a long time ago camping over Christmas and New Year in temperatures down to -18C in the valley bottoms (colder on the tops) and reminded them 2 years ago when we announced we were quitting well paid jobs in a secure industry with a secure future and sold everything we owned to go off and cycle around the world. I doubt any of them will ever consider us to be conventional ever again! So this year's Christmas, Wedding Anniversary (27th), my birthday (29th and the four zero for me) as well as my brother-in-laws birthday (also the 29th), followed by Hogmany and New Year's Day are all going to be spent hiding somewhere as far north as I can find, sitting in tent or cycling no doubt in the rain! Why party when you can run away! (Hate parties if you didn't pick up on that one!)Why should Christmas be conventional? As long as the day is fun and all are well, do whatever you so please
Was talking to my Mum earlier, and we were thinking beef for dinner this year. As long as there's plenty of everything, we'll all be happy. Christmas dinner tends to be the time we push the boat out - three different types of veg, posh meat (roast beef is a bit of a luxury for us), oodles of everything.
And hopefully, leftovers for supper.
I'm not sure any of my family or my husband's family think either of us are conventional anymore. I think we proved that a long time ago camping over Christmas and New Year in temperatures down to -18C in the valley bottoms (colder on the tops) and reminded them 2 years ago when we announced we were quitting well paid jobs in a secure industry with a secure future and sold everything we owned to go off and cycle around the world. I doubt any of them will ever consider us to be conventional ever again! So this year's Christmas, Wedding Anniversary (27th), my birthday (29th and the four zero for me) as well as my brother-in-laws birthday (also the 29th), followed by Hogmany and New Year's Day are all going to be spent hiding somewhere as far north as I can find, sitting in tent or cycling no doubt in the rain! Why party when you can run away! (Hate parties if you didn't pick up on that one!)
TVC loves cooking so every Christmas he serves at least 6 courses, (we usually agree on 3 but as I am barred from the kitchen I don't always know what I am going to get), small but delicious. He has a real ball creating and he dresses everything so beautifully. This year he has agreed to keep it simple, no starter just a full on beef roast and trimmings them M&S salted profiteroles for dessert. One of the reasons I love him so much is the fact that he makes so much of an effort with all the meals he makes, I am truly lucky and spoilt
You are indeed lucky.
I enjoy cooking, if I have time to do it properly. I like the challenge of managing all the elements of a big meal. Day to day I just throw simple pasta and stuff together, because it's cheap and quick, and I'm tired after work.
When I was talking to Mum about the meat for this year, I offered to chip in some money and she said oh no, my contribution always turns out to be getting on and cooking the whole dinner! Last year, NT helped, and carved little Christmas tree carrot slices...
I've seen a lot of 'salted' stuff this year, it seems to be the in thing. Salted caramel especially. Not had any myself.
A few years ago we went to Barcelona and Jim tried a dessert of chocolate and salt, strangely enough it worked... the salt just took the sweet edge off the choc so the flavour was accentuated.
Oh yes, I've known that salt gives chocolate a different (nice) flavour since I was at primary school. Why? Because our 'home from school snack' was a saucer with a few crisps, a few chocolate buttons and a piece of cheese. I always ate the crisps first, then enjoyed the weird taste of the first few chocolate buttons.
Roast leg of lamb with roasted onions, parsnips, potatoes, brussel sprouts, a big salad to go with it.
Profitteroles in chocolate sauce.
Happy eating everyone!