 |
| 2015 Xmas Tree |
2015 just flew past!!! Christmas is all done and dusted!!! (The poor tree is looking so sad and its time to undress her (8/1/2016)!!!)
So many events happened in the short 12 months that I would like to wrap up in a nutshell.
Initially, I came home for health reasons, and then to slowly "settle down" back into Oz way of life. Trying so hard to tame my "flying wings! During that course of time, I also managed to start up a veggie patch growing rocket, tomatoes, zuchinni and some herbs I would frequently use in my cooking. Then in June, I was bored staying home, and its not till end of October that I go away again, so I even took up a job and got back into real estate. I managed to squeeze in a couple of short trips to Tassie and my yearly trip to Mabul/Sipadan/KL, but best of all would be we moved back in together with Becky and Ray. Snowy can relinquish her alternate weekend visitation rights joint custody arrangement!
 |
| Becky & Ray dolled up da tree! |
This year it was extra special as it is our first Christmas together again under the same roof. The simple joys of just going together to find our Christmas tree and having the kids decorate it was so much more meaningful. Come to think of it, we did not have a real tree last year in Betula!!!
I even made an extra effort to change and chop the xmas spread this year - yesssss I must admit I flipped a few magazines and selected a few new "twists" that I incorporated into the traditional way of cooking, and one of the highlights was the good ole fashioned spuds... instead of a normal roast potato, I made the hassleback potatoes and it was a hit!!! Brussel sprouts I shredded and tossed with beans/asparagus and pine nuts and they even fooled Becky - she thought it was cabbage, so if your kids do not like brussel sprouts, this recipe will sure to win them over!!!
For mains, we had traditional roast turkey, pork, 2 legs of lamb, 2 slabs of beef (one medium rare, one medium well done), turducken, and glazed ham. Sides consisted of hassleback potatoes, brussel sprouts/beans/asparagus, roast pumpkin, cauliflower cheese, tomato salsa, home baked bread, mayo pasta, Xmas coloured couscous and roasted root veggies with quinoa.
 |
| AlaSim homemade Pavlova |
All up we had 28 friends and family for Xmas Lunch and a few stayed back for dinner and or joined in late, but there was still way too much food. As usual, we over catered! It must be a Chinese thing or how I was brought up - more is always better than less has always been my mom's motto in our family home.
 |
| Some of 15 varieties of desserts |
I believe everyone had a jolly time and most of them suffered from food coma!!! For me, I took a mini break and was resting my feet, but must have been cooked out, so I crashed out before some of the last lot of guests left. To my surprise (it might have been in my best interest) as when I awoke in the middle of the night and went downstairs to clean up, everything was done - left overs were packed away in the fridge, furniture all moved back to normal position, no dirty crockery and was absolutely mess free!!! Totally unbelievable!!!
 | ||
| Some of the 28 guests at the dessert table
|
It has been a very happening 2015 year for me and it ended well with all good friends, in-laws and family coming together at Christmas time to celebrate - eat, drink and be merry! Here's to many more better ones to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment