December 21, 2007

3 days to go...

Hmmm - only 3 more days 'till the big day and despite poring over Christmas recipes for weeks I still haven't decided exactly what to cook. And a visit to the market today has made me a bit panicky as judging by the loads of fresh food people were buying I'm the only one who hasn't.

Since there's no way I'm carving a whole turkey, I've pretty much settled on stuffed turkey breast, but with 16 people coming we'll need some other kind of meat as well. So will I do Terry Durack's rolled turkey breast with chestnut stuffing from last week's Good Weekend, and delicious mag's pancetta, sage and onion rolled loin of pork? Or would we prefer Donna Hay's roast lemon thyme turkey breasts that I've done before? Then again Bill Granger's stuffed turkey breast looked great when I saw him doing a Christmas lunch on the cooking channel the other night. I could do that, and maybe break with tradition and have Donna's coriander, rosemary and garlic lamb? And do we have them hot or cold? It's going to be 25 degrees so either would be ok. One hot and one cold?? Such big decisions. And that's just the meat.



I find other people's Christmas food choices fascinating. Here are some of my Christmas food questions:

1. What's with ham? Who says ham is such a treat we should buy one at Christmas? It doesn't even keep. My late dad loved to buy the Christmas ham. He always bought a great big one, and no matter how you cosseted it and wrapped it daily in a fresh damp teatowel, after a few days it always went a bit slimy and we had to throw it away. Every year. But he always bought one.

2. How come people plan a big hot Christmas dinner before they've heard the weather forecast? What if it's 40 degrees? Or are we the only ones without airconditioning?

3. Why do old people ring up talkback radio with recipes for "economical xmas cake/pudding"? I hear them every year. There's no post-war rationing any more. It's time they looked for a new recipe.

4. Apparently Americans have never heard of plum pudding. I wonder what they have instead?

Whatever you choose to eat at Christmas, I hope it's a good one.

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