Blogmas day 17 – Christmas food

Posted on December 17, 2016 by mrsmurfinscountrylife

Hello my little satsumas

I was pondering what to write about today. I thought I should stay current with how my own preparations for Christmas are going. Today I did a huge grocery shop. It was so big partly because we have been stormed in for a couple of days and there is more snow forecast for tonight, and partly because Christmas is one week away. It got me thinking about how much food is a part of all Christmas celebrations. So I went to my trusty friend Google and typed in Christmas foods. Turns out there is a nifty list on Wikipedia of 42 countries and the national dishes served at Christmas. No surprise that I recognized and agreed with those served in Canada. There maybe a few things missing but it is pretty accurate. Same with the list for the United Kingdom, since my heritage is British it is again no surprise that many of the dishes feature in my own holiday meals. I smiled that Australia’s list mentions cold turkey and ham, as well as seafood dishes.

I think we all look forward to the feasts at this time of year. And also to the quiet times when we stop and reflect on how grateful we are for all we have. My family’s traditional meal usually features the turkey with all the trimmings, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, and vegetables. There will also be meat pies. I am not sure when that started but usually my parents would make them prior to the big day and freeze them. My Mom was on pastry duty and my Dad made the filling. They were individual sized and served re-heated with lashings of hot gravy. Since I believe any food can be improved by the addition of pastry, these have long been a highlight of my Christmas. I’ll be making them tomorrow and sharing the process with you.

Another tradition I remember from childhood was the addition of a satsuma or mandarin orange in the toe of my stocking. I was also very fond of the bowl of nuts in the shell. These item were a treat only seen at one time of the year. But now we are so spoiled with foods available all year long (I saw fresh asparagus at the store today) that not many feel special the way they did for me as a child.

Some of the best Christmas meals for me are the leftovers. Re-warming a plate of turkey dinner on Christmas day or Boxing day is almost better than the first eating. Freezing the remains of the turkey to thaw mid winter to enjoy the festive flavours all over again is worth all of the work in late December.

mmmm can’t wait.

Photos today from http://www.pexels.com