Well, Christmas is well and truly over, now, and we even have some frost on the ground, at last. The Yorkshire forced rhubarb growers will be pleased with this, since the rhubarb needs that cold ground temperature to make it grow.
Our Christmas tree was decorated very tastefully, of course, and enhanced no end by a beautiful flower arrangement a friend sent us (thank you Katie!)
Following her emigration to Brisbane, this year was the first time for ages that the aforementioned Katie had not joined us on Christmas Day, so we had to find an alternative to the joint of ham she would traditionally bring with her. We found a honey glazed Gammon and, after some excellent ideas from a few Tweets, I decided to stick a few cloves in it and make up a glaze of more honey and some of our Orange & Mace vinegar. I'm delighted to say that it turned out really well! The ham was really succulent and the mixture of the Orange, honey and spices added well to the flavour of the meat.
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| Honey with Orange & Mace vinegar glazed Gammon |
We also opted for a Turkey Butt(erfly) joint for our Christmas dinner again this year. Turkey can be dry if you don't take good care about the way it is cooked, so I decided to wrap it in foil until 30 minutes from the end of the cooking time, and I also glazed it with a liberal helping of our Lemon, Basil, Bay & Juniper before putting it in the oven. WOW! Amazingly, the flavour and texture was perfect; so much so, that even the frozen slices are still making for delicious sandwich fillings.
I have to admit we are not great ones for going overboard on decoration at Christmas time, but these twig reindeer adorn our kitchen windowsill. These are very special to us, being a farewell gift from Katie and her husband, Stephen.
Some tasty treats we got for Christmas included these divine chocolates from Stow-on-the-Wold chocolatiers, Miette. They are made by Katherine Abel in a shop which used to be the baker's on Digbeth Street, just off the Market Place. Last year, Silvana de Soissons visited and wrote a lovely article on her beautiful blog site, The Foodie Bugle.
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| Miette chocolates |
Of course, NO Christmas would be complete without my fix of Kiwi goodies, so many thanks to my darling mother-in-law and father-in-law for these two staples. Peanut slabs may be shrinking over the years, but they still taste as good as ever. Want to try for yourself? You can buy them from SANZA online, along with lots of other tasty Antipodean treats.
Lastly, my darling wife, Jani, does make a really good Christmas cake (laced with Brandy) and this year our daughter, Laura, did the festive decoration: it has all gone now!
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