First post for 2013!

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed the festive season, and didn't stress out too much over the food prep for the special day. I was determined to stay on top of things this time round, so I had finished all my Christmas (present) shopping by early December. However, I was not as well prepared for the food shopping, and found myself joining many others in the last minute grocery shopping frenzy, at Woolies, on the night of Christmas Eve, after work. I can't say I didn't expect it, but so many items were sold out, including staple ingredients like caster sugar, which had been totally wiped out, with none in the storeroom either. Thank goodness I had been partially converted to CSR raw caster sugar, courtesy of the Eamon Sullivan magazine ad, which was still available on the shelves.

Christmas dinner for my family has never involved all the traditional fare, but I like to throw in some sort of traditional element every year to add an air of Christmassiness to the table. This time, I decided I was going to make a traditional bread sauce to serve with a roasted chicken. I absolutely adore the smell of the spice combination used in bread sauce - bay leaves, cloves, mace - so I was hopeful that this delicious aroma would somewhat camouflage the texture of milk-soaked bread pieces, which my non-British taste buds are unaccustomed to. I added quite a generous amount of freshly grated nutmeg to it, in an attempt to make it look less off-puttingly porridge-like in appearance. Speaking of which, how fantastic is whole nutmeg? I've known of it for ages and I have used the ready-ground form several times before, without liking the results. However, freshly grated, it's a whole different experience for me. I still find that it smells a bit earthy and unappealing when grated, but after it is mixed in with the savoury dish, it helps to bring out the flavour of the dish, making it taste more, I can only describe it as, three-dimensional, rather than add its own distinct taste. Whole nutmeg, freshly grated, I have decided, is my new culinary epiphany.

But alas, even my new favourite spice could not help me totally get over the psychological barrier of eating a sauce composed of mushy bread, nor could most of the people at the dinner table. There's absolutely nothing wrong with bread sauce itself, and I love the flavour; it's just a matter of taste preferences. Similarly, I don't think I could ever make myself eat bread-and-butter pudding or rice-based desserts. I'm glad I made and tried the bread sauce though, so that I've at least given myself the chance to decide, based on taste, whether or not I like it. A lot of fellow Australians, even the older ones, have not even heard of bread sauce before, so I don't feel so bad about omitting it from my Christmas dinners from now on. Given how things turned out with this sauce, it was probably a good thing I decided to forgo the cranberry sauce. Maybe I will try making it next Christmas anyway, to satisfy my curiosity.

I had planned to make a mushroom and bacon quiche for Christmas lunch, but due to a mixture of bad time management, the excitement of unwrapping presents, and a visit to my neighbour to bring her some gifts and Christmas cookies, I ran out of time and ended up serving it as part of dinner. The recipe I used was from Joanne Chang's cookbook, Flour. I think I've mentioned her in one of my previous posts, so you can flick back through them to read about her, if you're interested. This was my first time attempting to make a quiche, not because I think it's hard, but because I've always been a bit lazy when it comes to fiddly things like making pastry cases. After making it, I wondered why I ever bothered going to Le Bon Choix to have theirs. Easy, simple, delicious. Note to self: buy more pie weights and a tart tin with higher sides! Had I known the sides were going to shrink that much in the oven, I would have opted for the Baker's Secret tart pan, instead of the Anolon one, which was chosen based on its better quality. I also have to remember to smear the butter into the dough a bit better, so that holes and thin parts in the pastry case could be avoided, when the butter melts in the heat of the oven.  



 

 

We didn't end up putting up the Christmas tree, due to space limitations. When I woke up on Christmas morning, and my sister called out for me to put the presents under the tree, I was a bit confused. I laughed so hard when I saw what she meant:



The most effortless, space-saving way to put up and take down a Christmas tree?



 

It was a totally ridiculous notion, but I must admit I was impressed by her last-minute creativity, and frankly, I was just glad we had some sort of 'Christmas tree' to put the presents under.

 

Now that we've wrapped up 2012, let's start working on our New Year's resolutions. For me, that includes working more on this blog and setting up a new one. I have in excess of 10 restaurant reviews yet to post, but Blogger can take half the blame for that, because apparently I had run out of data quota, so I have been unable to provide any updates until now, after signing up to another free photo-uploading platform. Expect new reviews very soon! Wishing everyone a bright and prosperous 2013!