Month: January 2019

Missmas 2018

| Chris Riley

If you’ve read my last blog you’ll be aware that I’ve stolen a new word from Jonno and Jo-anne who write a great blog called Jwalking. They invented the word Missmas for their Family Christmas celebrations, which for various reasons, aren’t usually celebrated on Christmas day.

2012
Checking out the camera
Must have been a good year

When we lived in Perth we always celebrated Christmas Day with our Perth family (all four of them).They celebrated Christmas with the other side of their family on Christmas Eve.  I’m sure it was always a bit exhausting for them, as it is for most people who have two sides of their family all wanting a share of their time during the festivities. Alice, Paul G and the two grandees always spread themselves around without complaint, but I’m sure it became easier for them when we hit the road back in 2014.

We’re no longer on the road and have re-settled approximately three hours south of where our daughter lives. They spend their Christmas day however they choose, and a day or two later come down this way. We get to have our family celebrations a little after the 25th December, which thanks to Jonno and Jo-Anne, will from now on be called our ‘Missmas’ celebrations.

First thing – drinks

We start off with drinks. This year Paul treated us all to pre-dinner cocktails. In case it gets confusing – There’s two Paul’s. My Paul who is just plain Paul, and Alice’s husband Paul G (Green).

Then onto the gift opening ceremony.

Grandson Josh and his girlfriend Amber
The gift opening ceremony complete –  onto the food
This years feast – our grazing table

We did justice to the grazing table with repeated visits to replenish plates over several hours. In between times we told the usual corny Christmas cracker jokes, and played a couple of new Christmas games.

The first game this year was one called, Fake News. Two news events are read out, one is real, the other fake, and the contestants have to choose which is the real news item.Then with replenished drinks we moved outside for a game of Jenga. What a great game that is. I think the photos will be self explanatory.

Paul looking for a possible loose block to dislodge safely from the stack
Successfully removed and added to the top
And finally the block that topples the tower – it seems to go in slow motion

Some people love Christmas, some people don’t. We’re lovers of Christmas and everything that goes with it. All of the Commercial and hedonistic practices, all of the glitzy and tacky decorating, all of the shopping for pressies and feasting….. Our house is always decorated as soon as we reasonably can, usually around the 1st December. Menus are decided, and the food lists made well in advance. Whether we celebrate Christmas, or Missmas together with our family, the effort put into preparing for the day is never to much trouble. That’s how it is in our household, and I know it’s the same at Alice’s place. Fortunately, the grandees are now young men, and guess what – they love Christmas too. How lucky are we! What’s Christmas like at your place?

 

Mr Tilley’s 2nd Christmas

| Chris Riley

It’s already well into January and I haven’t posted photos of Mr Tilley’s 2nd Christmas. I’d better not let that go unrecorded!

We’d had gifts wrapped under the trees for weeks and he hadn’t showed any interest. But when handed his gift on Christmas morning he needed very little prompting before he started ripping the paper off with gusto.

He tore into his gifts with great delight
New tug toys – note the tennis ball held within the rope
Note the ball is gone – it lasted around 5 minutes before he had it shredded
This boy loves his toys and kept his new ones (minus the tennis ball) close all day

It was just Paul, myself and Mr Tilley on Christmas day – the family were to arrive two days later to celebrate Missmas with us. Do you like that word – ‘Missmas.’ I stole it from Johnno and Jo-anne who write a blog called JWalking. It’s a word they coined for their family Christmas celebrations that are often celebrated after the actual day. I rather like the word, so Missmas is the name our post Christmas day family celebrations will be known by from now on. More on this years Missmas a little later.

On Christmas day Paul and I shared a camembert and cranberry roast chicken dinner. We only ate the legs, so Mr Tilley was treated to the roasted breast meat all covered in delicious home made chicken gravy. Roast chicken is definitely his favourite food, and one he rarely gets, so it was a Christmas feast for him. Doesn’t he just look the  picture of someone who’s thoroughly ‘stuffed’ after playing with his new toys all day, and then pigging out on his Christmas dinner.

Eventually he succumbed to a much needed nap

So that was Mr Tilley’s 2nd Christmas day. He seemed to get into the spirit of the day and made our day very pleasurable indeed. He’s such a delight!

My first ever Grazing Table

| Chris Riley
The feast

Firstly – I’m back. It’s been a long, long time between posts – way to long. It’s a new year now, and the plan for the new year is to be more diligent with my writing in 2019. Enough said – now onto our family Christmas feast, and my first ever Grazing Table.

Christmas day was a quiet affair with just Paul, myself and Mr Tilley. The family arrived for our family get together on the 27th. Having noticed that Grazing Tables are gaining in popularity, I thought I’d give one a go. Here’s how it played out…….

First came the shopping with a trip to the Bunbury Farmer’s Market. I must tell you all about the Bunbury Farmer’s Market one day – it’s an awesome place, and my ‘go to place’ for food shopping for any special occasion.

Next I laid out a rough plan of my 120cm round table with the placement of all the components. For height I chose a round thermos pot in the centre topped with a perforated place mat which supported a cake stand. I froze big discs of ice for the thermos pot to keep the cake stand of charcuterie cool and fresh. I also froze two pyrex dishes with ice which I placed under a large oval plate of seafood. Large ice discs last hours longer than small cubes of ice.

Hessian table covering, plates laid out, and a selection of crackers waiting to be opened

I purchased some hessian to cover the table which I secured to the table with random pleats folded into it. The idea was to create a rustic look. A big bucket of gum leaves was sitting in the laundry tub ready for garnishing. The plan was to completely fill the table with colourful food and garnishes.

Then came putting together the components.

For the cheese board I chose one each of a blue, white, orange and a green cheese (the Farmer’s market has a lovely green sage cheese), and I garnished this with black and green grapes, fig cake, fresh figs, and strawberries.

Cheeses with fresh fruits

For the seafood platter I kept it very simple with a cream cheese and smoked oyster roulade topped with black lumpfish caviar and thinly sliced lemon (a dish that never fails to wow and literally takes around five minutes to make). On one side of the roulade I placed boiled egg halves topped with red lumpfish caviar, and the other side I filled with smoked salmon slices. Cucumber slices and crackers completed this dish.

simple seafood garnished with eggs and cucumber

The charcuterie was packets of sliced leg ham, mixed salamis etc on the top tier, and smaller chorizo slices on the lower level.

Charcuterie took centre stage

With the main players sorted next came all the supporting dishes, these were:

A big wooden fruit bowl lined with lettuce leaves and topped with whole baby cucumbers, a mix of different coloured cherry tomatoes, snow peas, and fresh blanched asparagus.

A small dish of hard boiled eggs in mayonnaise.

A platter with some more blanched asparagus, sliced melon and slices of proscuitto.

A dip

Green and black olives

Parfait glasses with celery sticks, spring onions, and cheese straws

Baguettes, whole grain sour dough, and a walnut loaf.

Several different types of crackers, pork crackle and even a tube of pringles.

Garnishes included gum leaves, whole pears, whole capsicums, and halves of oranges, kiwi fruits, and pomegranates. Then all the remaining gaps were filled with dried apricots, walnuts in their shells, as well as piles of shelled mixed nuts.

Completed with gum leaves and all the garnishes

The ice lasted for several hours and managed to keep everything cool, and with a light table cloth used to cover everything between the several trips everyone made to replenish plates, I was satisfied there was no danger of anything being less than fresh.

A dessert grazing platter followed (apologies – we forgot to take photos). The platter consisted of jam jars with individual trifles, a pile of meringue nests, a bowl of mixed berries and a bowl of whipped cream. All the gaps on the platter were then filled with broken up bars of white, dark and milk chocolate, chocolate covered almonds and fruits, white coconut covered chocolates, fresh cherries, strawberries and blueberries, and then some mixed jelly sweets for additional colour of green, red, orange and yellow. It was a huge, spectacular platter which I thought was completely over the top. Was I ever surprised though when we nibbled our way through more than half of it throughout the evening.

It was all a huge success.

I think I’ve found my hostessing niche, but be warned it’s not cheap to completely fill a table. and the table does need to be full. The idea of a Grazing Table is to mimic a medieval feast with a table brimming with food and colour. We were careful to clear the table before anything started to deteriorate so as to maximise left overs.  The grand children were happy to go home with a big hamper of goodies to go towards their New Year’s Eve celebrations, and we will have cold meats, chocolates and crackers to last us for many weeks to come.

This was my first ever Grazing Table. I can’t wait for another excuse…….