curiouswombat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
curiouswombat) wrote2013-12-26 07:57 pm
curiouswombat) wrote2013-12-26 07:57 pm
Entry tags:
So That Was Christmas...
I hope everyone who celebrates has had a lovely couple of Festive Days, if you are lucky enough to be in a country that regards one day off as much too stingy, and a good day if you are one of the unfortunate ones!
If you are interested in how my Christmas went just click the link to
D-d came home to sleep for a couple of nights, and she and I went to church on Christmas Eve to sing carols and listen to the readings we know so well. Then home for mulled wine and the last of the preparations; chop the cabbage, apple, and onion and put it on to start cooking, prepare the goose, peel parsnips...
Christmas day was bright and calm - the first day without gales for ages.
D-d may be a grown-up advocate these days but she still had a stocking to empty before breakfast then we put the goose in the oven, got dressed and went to church for another of my favourite services of the year - much joy and sharing of greetings with friends and family.
When we got home there was a turkey crown to also put on to roast - S2C feels it isn't Christmas without turkey... Thank goodness for a double oven.
We had coffee and opened our under the tree presents - mine included the Extended Edition of The Hobbit P1, new gloves, some Isle-of-Man specific cookie cutters, a couple of Oxfam gifts that mean other people benefit...
Dinner should have been proceeding nicely. But there seemed to be much less fat draining out of the goose than expected - the foil roasting tin, above which it sat in its rack, should have had at least an inch of golden fat in it - but there was almost none...
The problem was solved when I went out to the kitchen and saw a pool of fat forming under the oven door!
I had managed to put one foot of the rack through the foil - and the goose fat had melted and pooled in the base of the oven until it had started to leak under the door.
Major panic. We whipped the goose out and put it on the bench, switched off the oven (which is well sealed so no fat had come into contact with the electrics or the heating elements, thank goodness), and began to soak up the fat.
Eventually the oven was dry and fairly fat free - we put it on again and put the goose back to finish cooking! All my timings had gone astray and I was much confused.
However my sous-chef and I got it all together and we sat down to goose and turkey, roast potatoes and roast parsnips, slow cooked spiced red cabbage, pigs in blankets, two sorts of stuffing, and very good gravy - washed down by a bottle of Cava sent by my mum.
It was all very good. There was so much dinner we had no room for pudding - which would have been pears poached in mulled wine.
We entertained ourselves by watching 'The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists', then The Hobbit Part 1, playing the Pointless card game, drinking mulled ginger wine, and occasionally eating a small snack or two once it got to about 7pm.
My sister had given us a food hamper with all sorts of goodies - including things to dip, oils and vinegars to dip them in, cheeses (including some Stinking Bishop that D-d devoured with great pleasure) - which along with cold goose and turkey kept us admirably sustained. We also cut into the Christmas cake -I really like the Nigella recipe I used this year - D-d says it is perfectly good - but NOT proper Christmas cake and we will return to a properly matured fruit cake next year. The Boss Has Spoken!
All in all a good day.
D-d breakfasted this morning on the poached pears - she thinks adding plum and rum spiced double cream might have been a step too far at 9am - but says it was very good anyway.
We visited my Mum this afternoon - taking her a portion of goose and some Christmas cake. D-d had now gone to a friend's -S2C and I have been watching the Lord of the Rings which is on TV, even though we have the DVDs - and the storm is raging outdoors again after the lull.
If you are interested in how my Christmas went just click the link to
D-d came home to sleep for a couple of nights, and she and I went to church on Christmas Eve to sing carols and listen to the readings we know so well. Then home for mulled wine and the last of the preparations; chop the cabbage, apple, and onion and put it on to start cooking, prepare the goose, peel parsnips...
Christmas day was bright and calm - the first day without gales for ages.
D-d may be a grown-up advocate these days but she still had a stocking to empty before breakfast then we put the goose in the oven, got dressed and went to church for another of my favourite services of the year - much joy and sharing of greetings with friends and family.
When we got home there was a turkey crown to also put on to roast - S2C feels it isn't Christmas without turkey... Thank goodness for a double oven.
We had coffee and opened our under the tree presents - mine included the Extended Edition of The Hobbit P1, new gloves, some Isle-of-Man specific cookie cutters, a couple of Oxfam gifts that mean other people benefit...
Dinner should have been proceeding nicely. But there seemed to be much less fat draining out of the goose than expected - the foil roasting tin, above which it sat in its rack, should have had at least an inch of golden fat in it - but there was almost none...
The problem was solved when I went out to the kitchen and saw a pool of fat forming under the oven door!
I had managed to put one foot of the rack through the foil - and the goose fat had melted and pooled in the base of the oven until it had started to leak under the door.
Major panic. We whipped the goose out and put it on the bench, switched off the oven (which is well sealed so no fat had come into contact with the electrics or the heating elements, thank goodness), and began to soak up the fat.
Eventually the oven was dry and fairly fat free - we put it on again and put the goose back to finish cooking! All my timings had gone astray and I was much confused.
However my sous-chef and I got it all together and we sat down to goose and turkey, roast potatoes and roast parsnips, slow cooked spiced red cabbage, pigs in blankets, two sorts of stuffing, and very good gravy - washed down by a bottle of Cava sent by my mum.
It was all very good. There was so much dinner we had no room for pudding - which would have been pears poached in mulled wine.
We entertained ourselves by watching 'The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists', then The Hobbit Part 1, playing the Pointless card game, drinking mulled ginger wine, and occasionally eating a small snack or two once it got to about 7pm.
My sister had given us a food hamper with all sorts of goodies - including things to dip, oils and vinegars to dip them in, cheeses (including some Stinking Bishop that D-d devoured with great pleasure) - which along with cold goose and turkey kept us admirably sustained. We also cut into the Christmas cake -I really like the Nigella recipe I used this year - D-d says it is perfectly good - but NOT proper Christmas cake and we will return to a properly matured fruit cake next year. The Boss Has Spoken!
All in all a good day.
D-d breakfasted this morning on the poached pears - she thinks adding plum and rum spiced double cream might have been a step too far at 9am - but says it was very good anyway.
We visited my Mum this afternoon - taking her a portion of goose and some Christmas cake. D-d had now gone to a friend's -S2C and I have been watching the Lord of the Rings which is on TV, even though we have the DVDs - and the storm is raging outdoors again after the lull.
no subject
no subject
no subject
I've never eaten a parsnip... yet.
no subject
Roast parsnips are wonderful - liked roast carrots but even better.
no subject
Perhaps you could make both Christmas cakes again :)
no subject
I'll go with a rich fruit cake for next year as well - but I do rather like the Nigella chocolate fruit one.
no subject
Here we do have two day, but the great day is Christmas Eve when families have a late supper close to midnight. Then we do have lunch on Christmas Day. There were nine of us here for Christmas Eve, and 6 for lunch on Christmas Day. We too had turkey, and a traditional dish of baked dried codfish and potatoes with lots of sliced onions and olive oil.
Happy Boxing Day!
no subject
I actually think a celebratory meal on Christmas Eve would be a lovely tradition to have, though.
And a traditional dish of baked dried codfish and potatoes with lots of sliced onions and olive oil sounds really tasty.
no subject
no subject
no subject
We have had a lot of stormy weather - only just over half the usual sailings in the past week or so due to force 10 and 11 gales.
We just sort of hunker down and wait for it to go past - it is simply part of winter to have at least some storms like this and so we are much less prone to flooding and power-loss as we expect high winds, high tides and so on.
Currently we have 40mph winds gusting to 75 or so... We plan to stay indoors!
no subject
no subject
As for the food - sometimes nibbling on the left-overs is one of the best bits!
no subject
no subject
I'm so glad that you had a good time, though.
no subject
Happy Boxing Day...
- Erulisse (one L)
no subject
I'm pretty sure my husband wouldn't have had any idea if he'd been in alone, either, to be honest.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
It was a good Christmas - I hope yours was, too.
no subject
Merry Christmas (a little late!).
no subject
I do love roast pork. Have fun baking your cake with Alex; cake-baking is a very good family thing, I think.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2013-12-27 01:58 am (UTC)(link)Let's see , ham, turkey, candied sweet potatoes, corn pudding, broccoli, dressing, cranberry sauce and gravy plus French bread just in case there were any corners that needed filling!
Desert was mince pie or Turtle pie.
B.B. did the dishes and B.H. put them away.
Sorry to hear your weather is back to normal.
Huggs, Lynda
no subject
We are currently sitting out 45mph winds gusting to 80. The noise kept me awake at times overnight. My Mum's garden shed has been completely blown apart - but it is not fit to drive at the moment to go to help as she lives about 20 miles away.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2013-12-27 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)Sorry to say our weather has been very nice, warm enough to have both front and back doors open during the day, it does get a bit chilly at night though. Miss kitty is very happy that she does not have to wait for us to open doors for her!
Were you able too save much of the goose fat or is it all gone? We used to have goose when I was a little girl, turkey was a special treat!
Happy New Year,
Huggs,
Lynda
no subject
Your weather does sound rather pleasant...
no subject
We've been hearing about the bad weather over your way. Was thinking about you and am glad to see you are unscathed so far. Sounded like some folks had a rather unpleasant Christmas.
Funnily enough, the table conversation at our office Christmas party the other day turned to cooking geese...unusual here in that goose is not a common menu item, and it was one of the men that brought it up.
no subject
I'd have wanted a new stove after that, too!
We have been pretty lucky when it comes to disruption from the weather - little flooding and no power outages. I think it is because we have always been battered by storms like this every year, and our infrastructure is designed to allow for it.
Whereas in much of the British mainland they think of such weather as 'extremely rare'. As climate change means that this is no longer true, it is taking their infrastructure a while to catch up - hence houses built on flood plains because they have a nice view of the rivers, and so on!
Mind you, today it is very stormy even for us. We are sitting out 45mph winds gusting to 80. The noise kept me awake at times overnight. My Mum's garden shed has been completely blown apart - but it is not fit to drive at the moment to go to help as she lives about 20 miles away. Fortunately one of her neighbours had done what he could.
no subject
Edited to add - apart from the goose fat disaster..!! We've never had goose and keep saying we should. Is is a very strong flavour?
no subject
Goose is, I think, the poultry equivalent of beef when it comes to flavour. The main thing to remember when preparing it is to prick the skin only - do not poke down at right angles, but do it at a very shallow angle so that you do not poke down through the fat into the meat. Then the fat cooks out, leaving a moist lean meat.
Also relevant is that it carries less meat to bone than a turkey - so a big goose will have a lot less meat than a big turkey, sadly.
no subject
no subject
I think your current weather might be a bit hot for me, too - and I actually quite like stormy days as long as I don't have to go far.
no subject
I am now in complete post-Christmas flop-and-do-nothing-for-a-few-days mode...
no subject
I love these flop out and do nothing days, too.
no subject
*hugs*
no subject
no subject
xx
no subject
no subject
Isle-of-Man specific cookie cutters? *makes big eyes* How do they look? I adore cookie cutters and have quite a collection myself, but I have no idea what yours could be.
no subject