This and That: the Christmas / Boxing Day 2018 Edition,


Greetings from the other, equally pleasant side of Christmas.
Where dawn broke over news vans and camera crews as Rushcutter’s got ready for the Boxing Day start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
and mid-morning instant coffee at home with mum looked like this.  With a teaspoon of sweetened condensed for her and good old skim for me.
It didn’t take me long to return from my self imposed exile from the shops.  The mood was upbeat at Woolies but sadly, I forgot to look for the famed first hot cross buns of the season.  I did do a rather healthy shop, though.  
I know you’re casually curious about how I fared with the ‘other/real shops’.  
Did you know that we now have a Creed fragrance boutique in Sydney now?  It’s on Cross Street in Double Bay.  I wonder if we got one before Melbourne did.  
But, I digress.  The answer is very well, thanks.  The sales started while I was waiting for Christmas lunch to roast.  Of course, there’ll be a post with pictures of everything I bought.  There were quite a few things because I had a list of things I’ve held off purchasing for the last 3 months.  Many of those things weren’t Lululemon either.
We’ve also been swimming (and hot chipping) in the city and caught sight of the tree in front of St Mary’s Cathedral.
Way back on Christmas Eve, I was significantly less relaxed than the person writing to you today.  It had been a pretty crazy day at work and I was on a tight time schedule to get Christmas lunch organized.  This restorative wedge of chocolate caramel slice and Christmas Tea was just the ticket and gave me all the energy I needed to get the job done.

Donna Hay’s raspberry and white chocolate trifle is my traditional dessert for Christmas lunch.  Its raspberry cranberry jelly layer setting in the fridge next to a bottle of chilling Moet is such a soothing sight to be closing the fridge door on at 10pm on Christmas Eve.

Master SSG’s letter to Santa was another sight that made me smile on the way to bed.

It’s technically Jesus’ birthday but bless.
Christmas Day’s weather was a gift in itself.  Clear skies, sun and a bit of a breeze what more could a summer lover wish for?
 
Santa did drop by.  He loved his ‘birthday’ card and obligingly left a couple of  ‘snow’ encrusted footprints with the presents.

 I kicked back with a mug of tea and one of Santa’s Stroopwafels as the gifts were unwrapped.  Warming the wafers over a hot drink really does make them taste even more decadent than they already do.

Breakfast was oven French toast using brioche.  This version has a brown sugar crumbed topping and tastes way better than it looks in this photo.
Playing Santa.
The runaway hit of the Christmas presents this year was a super-duper, bells and whistles marble run from Hape.

Which I ordered way back on Black Friday from Amazon.

The set is a thing of beauty to just look at.  Each piece is beautifully crafted.  The bleached wood and vivid colour theme of the set sees it double as an interactive home decor element that wouldn’t look out of place in houses more stylishly appointed than mine.

Aside from all of that, watching the marbles race through a perfectly constructed run (with thanks to my cousin who patiently constructed one of the harder options in the accompanying instruction manual) was mesmerizing.  There were little dips and bends and quirky design features which made the journey of those humble marbles more exciting than it should have been.

Lunch was predictably excessive.

The cheeseboard was loved by all.

The curry puffs were very moreish.

Lunch was a tried and tested mix of the classics.  

Not pictured – my special fried rice because there must always be rice or noodles at important family meals.

The fruit course featured pineapple and lychees.

And then, at last, the trifle.  I’m actually eating a bowl with ice cream for afternoon tea as I type.  Sigh.  I can’t decide if it’s the once a year factor that makes me love this trifle so or the winning combination of flavours (Cointreau, raspberries, white chocolate and cranberry).  Dead heat for both reasons, I think.  I also like how visually the jelly and fruit layer is so thick in comparison to the cream and sponge finger ones that it makes me give it at least a 4-star healthy food raring…
How’s your Christmas break going?  Are you loving the weather?  Did you hit the sales in person?  So many questions.


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