Christmas Day 2012

This will be my last post for this year and I thought to myself, why not end on a good note?!? Let's talk about the lovely day I had on Christmas.

I had lunch at E and N's place this year, and N's side of the family joined us for the celebrations. It was a strange weather day. Normally Christmas is warm, sunny and hot. This year it was cold, grey and wet. How bizarre! It wasn't a day to be out in the backyard pool or horse around playing cricket.

But we still had a lovely lunch filled with a few salads, glazed ham, chicken rolls stuffed with apricots and herbs, roast potatoes, home grown cherry tomatoes. Of the salads, there were 2 new types that I had not seen or tried before. There was the mango, avocado, rocket leaves salad served with caramelised balsamic vinegar. And there was a kale salad which was finely chopped and served with a balsamic vinegar dressing, shaved almonds and grated cheese. Both were delicious.

Early Christmas Lunch 2012

This year, EF's side of her family is hosting the lunch. As it is the year that the lunch is to be on a non Christmas Day, it was decided that the lunch would be held in early mid December.

We all congregated at L and P's lovely home. A long, long table was already prepared at the patio. I have been to their home before, it was 2 years ago but that time it was on Christmas Day itself.

We started with a cheese platter which comprised of a French brie (Fromager D'Affinois), a New Zealand mature cheddar and Cambozola. The cheese went down quite well, good sign!

Then we eventually adjourned to sit down for the spread. There were salads, beautifully cooked ham, sausages on the barbie (very Aussie indeed!), and bread rolls. There were also lots of conversation going on with the annual catch up with other family members.

First Meal at the M's

This is not a blog post about a meal at a restaurant but rather it is about a home made meal at the M's. it is the first time I have been to their new apartment, a rather nice looking one at that!

I finally got to know their dog, Buddy, who is just adorable. I think he and I fell in love instantly....

I brought a cheese platter together with Prosciutto from Italy so the M's could try it and tell me what they felt was the difference between the prosciutto made in Australia and this one that came from Italy. I think they see a huge difference and understand why I extol the virtues of my oh so favourite Prosciutto Di San Danielle. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the platter.

For mains, CM cooked Chicken Breast topped with a Honey Mustard dressing and served on a bed of salad. She also roasted some sweet potatoes topped with grated cheese, this was served with the chicken. It was quite tasty, I liked that it was a fast cooking dish and the dressing could be made beforehand. The chicken was moist and tender and not verging on the dry side. Which means CM did not overcook it.

Meeting Baby E

It had been many months since I had seen my lovely friends B and T. Not since they had baby E. So the chance to meet up finally came around and I was so excited to meet baby E.

He is so cute, with gorgeous blue eyes and the wickedest smile ever! Except I wasn't successful in getting the wicked smile in my photos or getting him to look directly to the camera. We did try...

Throughout our catch up time (and there were lots to catch up on), we had appetisers to nibble on. B's tomato and basil bruschetta is good! They are quite addictive actually.