A Happy Homemade Christmas - Part 3 - Food

Crown Roast

I've been thinking about Christmas lunch for a few months now. I've done one Christmas lunch before, and that was with my brother and his girlfriend. This year, it will just be us, my mum and maybe my dad (he works out west, doesn't know if he'll be back yet).

 

Caprese salad with grilled peppers

Somewhere along the line I've got it into my head that I want to do a "cool" lunch.  that is, no cooking. I do not want to turn my oven on. This is problematic.

I've discovered, that even though in Australia we tend not to do the whole hot roast and all the trimmings thing any more, a lot of our traditional Christmas food still requires cooking. And all the northern hemisphere recipes are, of course, great for winter when the oven is cosily warming the kitchen while your children play in the snow. But not so fab when it's 40 degrees outside and the sweat is dripping into your eyes as you check if the roast veges are done.

Christmas food that requires heat:
Glazed ham
Turkey
Roast beef
Roast chicken
Roast Veges
Gravy
Steamed beans, peas and carrots
Seafood that needs cooking
Christmas pudding
Mince tarts
Salads involving rice, cous cous, quinoa, roast veges or pasta
Potato salad

So here's the flip side - "cool" Christmas food:
Cold chicken
Cold leg ham
Rum balls
Trifle
Cassata
Pavlova
Prawns & other raw seafood

I've spent hours surfing food websites looking for ideas, and come to the conclusion you could get lost in the world of salads, for example. More than I would have thought involve a cooking element too!

 

Curtis Stone's Sweet Corn and Zucchini Ratatoille

Another things pissing me off - articles like this one, titled "Beginner's Christmas", that actually involves a recipe where you have to stuff a bloody turkey. Stuff that.

So here's what I'm planning - No entree. Why fill up on hors d'ouvres when the main event is so yummy? Lunch will be a cold roast chicken, leg ham off the bone, a tomato salad, potato salad, (cooked the night before!), peas and corn ,chutney and mustard. Dessert is pavlova and bought Christmas pudding with cold custard.

My mother-in-law suggested nipping down to Woolies and picking up a few containers of their potato or pasta salad and some pre-made coleslaw. But my pride won't allow for that! (Note my pride will allow for bought custard and pudding as these are far beyond my meagre cooking skills...)

 Berry & mascarpone trifle

Now, as that's lunch taken care of... does this mean I can focus on my tablescaping? *maniacal laugh*

  Source: Beechtree Photography

Sites browsed that I found helpful in writing this blog: Recipes+, Super Food Ideas, Coles, Feast, Martha Stewart, Jamie Oliver

What's on your Christmas menu? Are you doing a roast? 

A Happy Homemade Christmas part 2 - handmade gifts

I am quite jealous of people that make things. I dabble - I try to cook, try to be crafty with my scrapbooking and so forth but have come to recognise my limitations. I'm no artist.

However, I love supporting people that are, and turn what was a hobby, passion or talent into their livelihood.

Here are some nice handmade things I've been browsing lately on Etsy. My guide for choosing presents for other people is: pick something I would want someone to give me!

 

Clockwise from top:

Floaty Feather Tea Towel Citron - from ElkhornDesign 

Vintage map organic cotton cushion cover - from mybeardedpigion

Funky teapots bag cotton hand stenciled print - from PrintingPretty

Resin bangle. pink orange yellow. sunrise. gloss. - from whizzbangle

Scarf Dahlia Wrap in espresso - from ElkhornDesign

Bec's Hummingbird fine art print - from kittensandcrumpets

 

So I think it's clear that I like things like vintage maps, tea, linen, birds and bright colours! 

Do you have a favourite handmade or bespoke crafter or artist? Tell me in the comments!

A Happy Homemade Christmas - part 1

Welcome to a series of blogs I'm going to be doing sporadically over the holiday season. It's going to be about planning and having a Happy, Homemade Christmas. Or my attempts to do so!

I have a different perspective on Christmas this year. My growing interest in all things vintage and my focus on "reduce, reuse, recycle" and trying to integrate this mantra into my everyday life has had a great effect on me. I'm starting to have an adverse reaction to what has become near-normal for this time of year - a commercialised orgy of spending, focused on buying new things and conspicuous consumption.

I only have to look at the growing pile of junk mail that is accumulating in my recycling bin to realise that I could get very wrapped up in spending money not only on gifts for others (that they probably don't really need) but also on myself right now.

Please don't think of me as ready to throw off the shackles of chain store shopping just yet, but I am ready to refocus my perspective of the season onto stuff that feels more right than just spending money on "things".

I'm going to try to do things "homemade" where possible, and get my gifts locally or from small business. Ideally, I would love to source all my gifts from Etsy! It will not be easy, but I'm going to give it a crack, and be sharing with you the lovely things I discover along the way.

It's not all going to be about gifts either. Other things I want to try to do the Homemade Way:

• cooking and baking
• cardmaking
• giftwrapping
• decorating
  

 I am hosting Christmas lunch for our family this year, so I'll be trying to serve up not only a lovely meal, but decorate the house nicely as well.  No tinsel. I've decided I'm allergic.

 

source: pinterest

What do you think about Christmas? Do we get too focused on buying stuff?

Things this weekend has taught me

* Never underestimate the restorative power of a good lie-in.

* Thunderstorms are more fun when you can share them with someone. They are not fun when you are home alone.

* It is very hard to read by candlelight.

* My flatscreen tv looks feather-light but weighs two tonnes

* I have a lot more vintage stuff than I thought. A lot more.

* After 5 years of living in this house, I have yet to work out a storage solution for our collective stuff.

* A nice hot cup of tea and a pretty magazine cures most things.

How was your weekend? Learn anything?

'Merica

 

[Source: Cheezburger]

I found myself desperately caring about the American Presidential election today.

I followed it all day on Twitter and on BBC's liveblog while I was supposed to be doing work.

The funny thing is, I've never been this interested in Australian politics. Nor have I ever felt as comfortable discussing Australian politics as I have been about the US these past few weeks.

In the break-room at lunchtime, some person had left the election coverage on. One of the younger girls had a long, loud bitch that Ellen wasn't on. She asked (rhetorically perhaps) why anyone Australian would care about the American election.

Without missing a beat, I looked her in the eye and said "I care. Because they're one of the biggest economies in the world, with the biggest military, and Australia is their ally." I got a blank look in return but thankfully the others knew what I was on about.

Australia is extremely dependent on the US for trade. We look to them for foreign policy, and rely on them for military support. Our culture is pervaded by Americanisms. We love their TV shows, their fast food and their cult of celebrity.

So as much as I would like to say I was indifferent about today's result, that would be a complete lie. It's not for no reason they refer to POTUS as "the leader of the free world". Whoever sits in that position matters to a whole lot more people than just Americans.

Did you watch or follow the election coverage from America? Were you more/less invested in it than the last Australian Federal election?

Keep It Simple, Sarah

[image source]

I feel like another rant about our overwhelming modern world. Last time it was about supermarkets, this time it's about beauty products.

This has been sparked by two things.

1) I went to Coles today. I had to buy things that you can't get in Aldi (curry powder and my favourite toothpaste). As usual, I spent a good ten minutes in the bathroom products aisle staring like a goon at body scrubs/moisturisers/milks/gels and wondering how in God's name people choose one. This always makes me cranky.

2) I have had a thought lately - seems to me as I'm 31, perhaps I need to be doing a bit more for my skin, specifically my face and eyes. I have begun to feel like I should perhaps be changing my current beauty ROUTINE and upping the ante to a REGIME. (This is, of course, my stupid ego crumbling before the relentless onslaught of woman-focused advertising and other media telling me that there is nothing worse than AGING.)

And then this happened - Aldi let me down. I turned to them for a face or eye cream that might save me from the horrors of getting older and the tyranny of choice! I thought "Hey, Aldi has one product for everything. No variety. No decisions. This will be easy."

WRONG.

Aldi has a beauty range called Lacura. I've been using their facial cleanser and hand cream for a few weeks now with success. I'm happy with them. But a simple thing like moisturiser? There's more than one option.

They've got:

• "Multi Intensive Serum" (in two varieties)
• "Intensive Serum"
• "Rejuvinating Night Cream"
• "Protective Day Cream"
• "Cream for Mature Skin "
• "Night Cream for Mature Skin"
• "Face Cream"
• "Q10 Day Cream"
• "Q10 Day Cream"
• "Q10 SPF15 Anti Wrinkle Face Cream"
• AND
• "Anti Aging Face Cream SPF 15" (in two varieties)

What the hell, Aldi?

At least there is only one eye product, and it is helpfully called "Eye Cream" - although there is three varieties of this stuff as well.

I don't know about you folk, but I DO NOT WANT to spend 15 minutes of my life reading the fine print on each of these packages trying to figure out which one would be best on my skin.

I KNOW that I am not the only one that feels lost about these things. I've probably mentioned before how I feel like a complete idiot about all things beauty, hair and makeup but I also resent the fact that sometimes I feel that knowing these things is actually important. BECAUSE IT'S NOT. And I hate that magazines, tv and the even my beloved internet make me think this way.

The world will not end if I use the wrong type of hair gel/spray/wax/fudge/mousse. Planes will not fall from the sky because I do not know how to apply eyeshadow. Cities will not crumble because I fail to cleanse, tone and moisturise every morning and night.

However, I do acknowledge that looking good is very good for one's personal morale and gives a good self-esteem boost. How to find a balance?

At the end of the day, I hate beauty products but know I need some of them. I definitely need moisturiser with sunscreen to protect my fair skin from the harsh Queensland sun. I definitely need some kind of shit for my hair because the frizziness is driving me insane. And I definitely do not want to end up looking like a dried up piece of leather when I'm 60 because I didn't care for my skin.

Oh, and I'm going to design a product range that has one or two words on the front label, and all the fine print on the back. There will be MOISTURISER, HAND LOTION, BODY WASH, EYE CREAM and LIP BALM. None of this rubbish where I have to read seven lines of text before discovering what the product I've picked up actually is.

And the bestest idea of all - shampoo and conditioner that say nothing but SHAMPOO and CONDITIONER on them. In huge letters. Because I can never tell which one is which without my glasses on in the shower.

Do you use a day/night cream/serum/intensive repair treatment? How in the heck did you end up choosing from the massive variety out there?

A Day at the Beach

Last Friday, I got a text from one of my NSW cousins.

We're coming to the Gold Coast for the long weekend! Come see us!

So I drove down there to see them and their darling children. So did three of my other cousins, their partners and kids. It was a warm day - the water was much too cold for me, an aclimatised Brisbanite, but the kids all went in the surf and the pool.

I simply sat and enjoyed the feel of the super-fine white sand between my toes, watching the seagulls, lifeguards, tourists and even the surf rescue chopper go by. Pity I wasn't quick enough with the Nikon for that one.

I couldn't get over how many tall highrises there are at Surfers Paradise now. Much different from when my parents took me there when I was young!

Next time I will definately swim. If it's over 30 degrees. Ok, 33.