Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Xmas Highlights

Wow...as usual all the stress leading up to Christmas and blink and its suddenly over! Here's how it all unfolded for our family.

Christmas eve was spent with my side of the family all meeting at my place, ten of us in total. My little brother prepared the entree, while I made us lunch and pud.
I was keen to try some turkey this year after watching all the northern hemisphere cooking programmes leading up to Christmas. Not convinced I could pull off a whole bird I went for a "Tegel Turkey Breast Roast with Cranberry Stuffing". It was surprisingly delicious and moist after cooking it in roasting bag. To go with it I made Jamie Oliver's roast veges. The best roasted potatoes Ive ever made. For pudding I made us an "Eton Mess". This is a mix of munted up meringues, whipped cream, syrupy strawberries with fresh strawberry on top. All served in a brandy snap basket. So yum!  And apparently one of Prince Williams favourites!


We did all the usual fun stuff,  opening presents and hanging out together. Good family time.

In the afternoon we did some deliveries to help get the children giving before all the receiving.  Then we went and checked out the City Christmas lights. By the time we got home it was 10pm. I was pooped, but in true procrastination style we still had presents to wrap and load into sacks!



The kids only slept in a measly half an hour more despite the late night before. They found their sacks and brought them in to our bed. We read the Christmas story and prayed thanking God for the best Christmas present of all, his Son Jesus. The kids then tore in to their presents. It was fun watching Zak zak doing it for the first time. Yuss! he must think, permission to destroy something!

We drove over to hubby's family to have brunch and then later in the afternoon we drove out to Wellingtons Bay for a BBQ at the beach. It was lovely to see so many others who thought a relaxing day at the beach is a great way to do Christmas.




Pasta Maker!

Check out hubbys new gift from me! Its the gift that keeps on giving! He gets a cool kitchen gadget...and I get dinner done! But seriously, the italians have got it right. Taking the time to hand create something like this makes you savour it so much more. My brother helped prep the tomato based sauce and we all concluded it was the best pasta we had ever eaten! We are already looking forward to making some ravioli and other Italian morsels.




So good!

I hope you are yours are had a great Christmas!

8 comments:

Leonie said...

wow Jackie, what a busy Christmas you;ve had, lovely!

lesmondj said...

Best Pasta ever!!!

Rachel Kate said...

Mmm that pasta looks amazin!! Will have to visit sometime hehe xo

PaisleyJade said...

Looks like you guys had a fab Christmas! Loving the pasta making... mmmmm.

Brigitte said...

Wow Christmas on the beach?! I forget what that feels like...! Looks like you had a busy time but with lots of family fun.
Oh yeah I'm SO hearing you with the homemade pasta, totally from the Lord! ;) Enjoy x

Cat said...

Love the pasta making tea towel ::))
Christmas on the beach is the best xxx

banban said...

That pasta looks delish, merry Christmas, sounds like you had a lovely one. I must try the biscotti too!!! :)

Tall Pipi said...

Wow sounds like you had a super lovely Christmas! I have always wanted a pasta maker - what a great gift. All the best for a fantastic 2012!