It's Almost Christmas!!

Celebrating Christmas in the heat of the Australian summer is obviously completely different to the Christmases we celebrated in the cold winter in Scotland, don't get me wrong, we LOVE the fact that we can spend the run up to Christmas enjoying picnics and BBQ's on the beach watching the kids on their floats bobbing up and down in the ocean, the endless warm evenings sitting in the garden sipping wine, but I find it's the little things from spending the best part of 39 years celebrating Christmas in Scotland I miss....

-picking Holly for decorations

-brussel sprouts for Christmas lunch veg

-frost patterns on the windows

-the possibility of snow

-heating up your hands on a steaming mug of hot chocolate

-a roaring fire

-chestnuts

-switching on the Christmas lights in the afternoon and getting the benefit due to the early dark evenings

-hot toddies

-snuggled up in warm blankets early evening to watch Christmas movies

-shopping in the dark afternoons with the Christmas lights sparkling in the streets

But all this aside, Christmas in Australia is great. We love the fact that we don't have to stay indoors most of Christmas day, we can eat our dinner outside on the patio, the doors and windows are open, we can barbecue our Christmas lunch.

We have even spent Christmas day at the beach in the past which was

great fun when the kids were younger, we would pack the esky with delicious treats for a picnic lunch, don Santa hats and decorate a Christmas tree whilst listening to Christmas music, then the kids would play in the sea, collect shells and make moats in the sand.

Below are some photos of Christmas day 2011 at the beach, the year George and Margaret came for Christmas.

Hope you all have a fabulous Christmas with family and friends.

Comments

Aussie Pie Floater

With Australia day fast approaching, I had to share this Aussie icon. The pie floater is a meat pie submerged in thick pea soup, the pies are traditionally turned upside down sitting or sometimes submerged in the pea soup. The first time I had ever heard of this was while watching an episode of Billy Connolly's Australian tour. He was doing a show in Adelaide and indulged in one of these south Aussie icons. We tried a similar thing called a tiger pie from Harry's Cafe de Wheels on the Sydney harbour, the Tiger is a meat pie served with scoop of mash a scoop of mushy peas and a scoop of gravy, it was really delicious. A pie floater put simply is a meat pie on top of or covered in green pea soup with a choice of sauce squirted on top, the usual being ketchup, brown sauce, mint sauce, gravy or bbq sauce, some people also enjoy vinegar over their floater, I suppose the options can be endless, whatever 'floats' your pie!!. I searched a few variou...

Hickory-Honey Ham...Christmas With The Kranks

I got this Christmas movie cookbook during our 2022 holiday to LA see here and I still haven't made anything from it, so for our Christmas in July, I thought I would try the Hickory-Honey ham from the movie Christmas with The Kranks. Scenes from the movie where Nora is running towards the last ham in the store, only to be outsmarted by an elderly lady. I managed to get a couple of reduced shoulder hams from woolies back in May so this gave me an excuse to try a recipe from the book. We also got some Hickory smoking chips for the BBQ. It is a ham that has been smoked over Hickory wood chips for several hours, served with a honey gravy, not out of a tin which it is in the movie. Ingredients 8 cups hickory or other hardwood chips 2 large aluminum foil pans 1 (4kg) fully cooked bone in ham 1/4 cup salted butter 1 shallot, minced 1/3 cup honey 1/4 cup dark brown sugar 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard 1 tsp ground ginger 1/...

Wha's Like Us?....Damn Few And They're A' Deid!

While sorting through things I came across this Scottish poem that my mum gave me years ago, my gran loved this one...so here it is.... Wha's Like Us ? The average Englishman in the home he calls his castle, slips into his national costume ---- a shabby raincoat...patented by.... ...Chemist Charles Macintosh from Glasgow, Scotland. En route to his office he strides along the English lane, surfaced by.... ...John Macadam from Ayr, Scotland. He drives an English car fitted with tyres invented by.... ...John Boyd Dunlop, Veterinary Surgeon of Dreghorn, Scotland. At the office he receives the mail bearing adhesive stamps invented by.... ...John Chalmers, Bookseller and Printer of Dundee, Scotland. During the day he uses the telephone invented by.... ...Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland. At home in the evening his daughter pedals her bicycle invented by.... ...Kirkpatrick Macmillan, Blacksmith of Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He watches ...

Daisy Chains and Picnics

Search This Blog