Category Archives: Food

Christmas, Family, Food, Music

Menus and Playlists

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Only a few more sleeps until the Big Day.  Time to set the mood. Truth be told I have been setting the mood with my Christmas playlist for the last month or so.

My playlist varies a little year to year but my absolute favourite that always takes centre stage is any Christmas song by Bing Crosby (he reminds me of my Grandad a lot).  Then there is Harry Connick Jr’s What a Night! A Christmas Album and, of course, Michael Bublé’s Christmas – you cannot go wrong!

HCJ

This year’s find is definitely Christmas at Downton Abbey – old school and fabulous!  A highlight being Carson reciting ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Christmas-at-Downton-Abbey

 

Now the music is sorted, you can’t go past a good advent calendar. Jacqui Lawson creates the most spectacular electronic advent calendar each year…. a must have for me.  I love how interactive it is – making snowflakes, decorating the tree, arranging flowers, wrapping gifts for under the tree – all to wonderful Christmas music.  A fabulous replacement gift instead of sending Christmas cards.

And then, of course, there is the menu.  Us girls tend to start talking menus around the time we decorate at the beginning of December. These days our plan is our side of the family at Mom and Dad’s on Christmas Eve and then my sister and her hubbie and the nephews join my brother in law’s family Christmas Day.  So we aim to keep things simple and only do one cook up so the leftovers take us through the next few days.

Kitchen day is therefore Christmas Eve.  Our menu is all about the meat, we are South African after all.  That definitely means one cut of meat needs to be barbecued – that will be the lamb this year.  Mom will have a secret recipe herb rub I could never divulge.  I will have a go at brining turkey breast before adding a herb butter wrapping it in bacon and maple syrup and cooking.  This is our take on a Donna Hay recipe.  And finally we will glaze a gammon with plum and chilli.  The accompaniments will be salads and baby potatoes using all the beautiful fresh produce we are so blessed to have access to here in NZ.  Dessert is my take on an I Quit Sugar For Life recipe – sugar free individual lemon meringue pies in jars.

The lemon meringue pie recipe is in this book
The lemon meringue pie recipe is in this book

We will try and fit in our homemade Christmas Pud and Vanilla Custard for a quiet Christmas Day dinner or perhaps wait till Boxing Day.

I haven’t covered the Christmas mince pies, gingerbread men or the summer fruits sangria we will also indulge in – three days of complete excess really.  Having experienced Christmas times the complete opposite of this – alone and with no means for a feast – I am so incredibly grateful for all we have been given to enjoy.

I wish you happy planning and anticipation – it is half the fun!

Christmas, Family, Food

Remembering Granny Sybil

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It is my favourite time of year.  Spring time in the Southern Hemisphere.  It is the time when I miss Africa most.  For me nothing quite compares to the sights, smells and sounds of spring on the Highveld of South Africa or in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.  Beautiful lilac Jacaranda blossom, the call of the Woodland Kingfishers returning south for the season and the sweet, wobbly newborn antelope, zebra and wildebeest….. pure magic!

Still my favourite time of here too as we take time for preparations for the coming festivities.  It is a time of remembrance for me and keeping time honoured family traditions and rituals.

So Labour weekend this year once again saw the kitchen abuzz at Mom and Dad’s place.  Out come all Granny Sybil’s recipes and the mixing, mincing and endless stirring begins.  On the to do list the lemon curd, the Christmas fruit mince and, of course, the brandy laced Christmas pudding.  All exceptionally delicious!  And need I say that the no sugar way of life has no place at this time…. hmmm.

Granny Sybil was my paternal grandmother.  A single mother bringing up her two sons on the outskirts of central Johannesburg in the 50s, 60s and 70s.  My earliest memories of her all revolve around the kitchen – baking, preserving and the best Sunday roasts ever.  Christmas was always a veritable feast at Granny Sybil’s house.   But also the garage.  There always seemed to be some car or bike engine in various pieces strewn around the house and in the garage thanks to my dad and his brother.

She was a strong woman who had given up much of her life to earn a living and look after ailing parents.  She married late and finally found a few years wedded bliss before her husband became ill and passed away leaving her with her two boys to bring up.  I have always felt  a sense of awe about Granny Sybil – her sense of family, her duty and obligation to her husband’s family, her love for her boys and then us later on.  It was a practical love and always involved making or preparing something for us.  Her knitting was also legendary in our family.  I remember she also always took the time to wear a pretty house dress, apply her lippy and get her hair set in curls.

And so, Granny, it is that time of year again where we hope to honour your memory and all that you were and still are to us.

The fruits of our Labour weekend - Granny Sybil's Lemon Curd, Christmas Mince and Christmas Pudding
The fruits of our Labour weekend – Granny Sybil’s Lemon Curd, Christmas Mince and Christmas Pudding