I hope that your Christmas day was as beautiful and perfect as mine was.
From beginning to end, a lovely day.
We were all up at about 8am, and it was straight into the lounge for the presents. Myf can’t wait for the gift opening, but we did tell her to hold her horses while we made coffee. She is nearly 18 after all, it was different when she was little 
Myf and monty have a stocking each, and I always have so much fun buying and wrapping their gifts. They both love Christmas so much. Both of them received digital cameras this year ( different models and colours so there is no confusion) and Myf also received a Swiss Army knife, a Magnalite, assorted cosmetics and undies, and a book and DVD on sushi making. monty also received t-shirts, nuts and sweets, cologne, a new wallet and some after shave balm. Oh, they both got personal Brita water filter bottles. You can buy the replacement filters, and both of them fill bottles and carry around water, so that will be handy.
The “boys” got a doggy Smackos stocking each.
I did well!
A fabulous Delonghi coffee grinder, the most beautiful “shabby” kitchen wall clock in white wrought iron with a floral face, bath products from Lush, and a CD.
It was getting on for 9am after our gifts, so time to think about the meal. The turkey was still a bit frozen so he had to go into cold water while I made some stuffing. Myf made the breakfast: croissants with cheese and tomato and some of the stuffing cooked in a pan like a pattie. The stuffing was very tasty. It was the pork sausage meat, breadcrumbs, parsley, sage, walnuts and prunes. Very nice, although monty later said he prefers a straight breadcrumb stuffing. I told him that traditionally, the neck end of the turkey would have a meat stuffing, while the cavity would have the breadcrumb stuffing.
I also made the stuffing making a lesson for Myf for when she has to make Christmas dinner herself one day. I explained about food safety, telling her that if a person didn’t cook the turkey well enough, the stuffing inside would contain uncooked poultry juices and that was going to make you sick. I don’t know if she was listening or just being nice because it was Christmas….
Because the turkey was still very cold, and I did have stuffing inside, I decided to play safe and use the meat thermometer today.
To tell you the truth, the ham was the star of the show. I couldn’t find the marmalade to use as a glaze :0 so I studded it with some cloves, spread over some apricot jam, couldn’t find the allspice :0 so I sprinkled on some mixed spice, and then topped it off with a layer of hoisin sauce and lemon juice. I covered the bone with foil and baked him in the Weber for about 3 hours. The vegetables were baked in the Weber this year too. I decided to do the turkey in the oven so I could regulate the temperature and use the thermometer more easily.
Look at the photo! It was absolutely delicious! I don’t think I’ll ever to able to serve “raw” ham again.
The roast vegetables were lovely too. Par-boiled potatoes, carrots, a tangle of fresh oregano, purple Asian shallots and garlic:left whole and in their skins, and …lard! Fabulous!
Gravy was tasty. The usual chicken stock, vegetable stock ( I did whole beans and julienne celery) and gravy granules from a jar.
Sorry about the messy photos *blush* Never a good photographer at the best of times, today’s photos are more “random” than usual…
Now the pudding. That pudding, and it’s accompanying ice-creams was so nice. I like to think of myself as a humble person but honestly? that pudding was the best ever! The ground almonds and breadcrumbs made it light and not at all cakey or doughy. The flavour was superb, and it heated up a treat in the microwave. The ice-creams turned out to be the perfect accompaniment. No custard this year- a first. Just the ice-creams and the jug of cream.
My Christmas was so beautiful, and so perfect: I hope yours was too.
9 Comments
December 27, 2007 at 1:07 pm
thanks for photos & blog ..sorta like being there !don”t know who that monty bloke is but don”t listen to him ..ps i like the shot of little murphy in the back yard
December 27, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Good afternoon from KL, dear sweetrosie
Wow, I simply love the photo of your Baked Ham – it looks so appetising and delicious. I have been wondering what to cook for my New Year’s Eve Dinner….and I wanted to do something special. Well, you have given me an idea there
..I have not baked a whole leg of ham before and this will be my first time, but we really love eating ham, so I think I won’t go wrong with this. 
Happy New Year 2008!
With peace and joy,
choesf
December 27, 2007 at 3:10 pm
The ham looks yummlicious, n so do the veggies. The table looks so well laid out. Forget being an ace photographer – we all do it sometimes. Its the thought that counts.
Glad that you had a blessed Christmas & wishing you joys of Jesus Christ in your family for the coming New Year
December 27, 2007 at 4:25 pm
[...]
… when I got an idea after reading sweetrosie’s blog HERE to serve a whole Baked Ham 
We just love ham but the only way we have had it was in our [...]
December 27, 2007 at 4:59 pm
dear choesf – thank you for your kind words and the pingback xx
Shella – thank you! I love getting comments from new friends. It really was a lovely, perfect day.
Thank you for your very kind words.
Wal! we all talked about you on Christmas day and hoped you were happy and having a lovely day in Qld. Everyone sends their love & best wishes xx
December 29, 2007 at 4:58 am
The ham looks fab!!!!
December 29, 2007 at 7:56 am
I love reading about your fabulous meals and I have to agree with the others that the ham and vegetables just look amazing. So glad that you had such a wonderful Christmas.
December 29, 2007 at 11:08 am
Cathie & Lillian – thank you! I hope that you both had a wonderful Christmas.
I am going to do a post about the roast vegetables. They really are nice, and so easy too.
December 30, 2007 at 3:31 pm
[...] Jump to Comments For those friends who read my Christmas lunch post , you would have seen the roast vegetables we had with our turkey and ham. I love roast vegetables [...]