roast dinner

My Favourite Christmas Traditions

December 22, 2014 by Vicky 25 Comments

Somehow there are just 3 sleeps until Christmas, how did that happen!?! I have just half a day of work left until my holidays and I cannot wait to be able to sit back and relax for a couple of weeks.

I’ve also finally put up our not so little Christmas Tree this weekend and am loving the festive spirit it creates. I also watched Love, Actually which was as great as always.

This year we weren’t able to fly back to the UK for Christmas with my family due to those annoying finances. I am though already planning the trip next year and cannot wait to spend lots of time with my family and friends (only about 50 weeks to go!).

We’ve planned to spend the day with a couple of our friends in Darwin this year. They are from America so it’s going to be fun and interesting to combine our different traditions together. We’re going to be cooking some yummy food on the BBQ and of course in the Aussie tradition will be hanging out around and in the pool!

Christmas in Darwin is quite different than Christmas in the UK. It’s obviously much hotter (around 33 degrees C versus 12 degrees C) plus there’s about 70 to 80% humidity so all you want is an ice cold drink (cider for me please) and to live in the air con and/or a swimming pool.

Last year we had Christmas lunch under the veranda whilst it rained most of the day. It was very strange being sat outside at Christmas.

In the UK also everyone wonders whether it is going to be a white Christmas but in Darwin we are all wondering when the rain is going to come. Apparently the monsoon rain won’t be coming until mid to late January so we have a little while yet for this humidity 🙁

The weather also influences what we do and most importantly what we eat on Christmas Day in each country.

As a family we would probably only have turkey a couple of times a year, at Christmas and Easter so it’s a bit of a special treat and I always look forward to sitting down with the family on Christmas Day for the turkey with all the trimmings including pigs in blankets (sausages wrapped in bacon), sprouts (apparently I used to steal them from everyone’s plates at Christmas which must have been pleasant) and you can’t beat some bread sauce.

In Darwin, and Australia really, I understand that it’s more likely that you would eat some roast beef or lamb than turkey. Ham is also popular as well as anything you can cook on the BBQ and your less likely to have a full roast dinner because it’s too hot to cook which is a shame as you can’t beat some proper roast potatoes.

I did have a go at a full roast last Christmas and managed to cook it all on the barbie!

The Aussie’s brother is visiting us on Boxing Day for lunch and we’re planning a bit of a full Christmas dinner then depending on how hot its is. I’m definitely wishing we had a BBQ still because it would be great to stick everything in it to cook whilst sitting in the cool house rather than running around in the kitchen.

We also always watch the Queens Speech with my family and I am looking forward to sitting down and watching it because they also show it here for us because Australia is a Commonwealth Country. I am looking forward to watching the Doctor Who Christmas special after watching the trailer recently. It also will be on here before in the UK because of the timezones so will have to make sure I don’t give away any spoilers because my brother is a HUGE Doctor Who fan.

In the evening in the UK, after watching all the Christmas TV specials we would sit down around the table again and enjoy some cold meats, pickles like pickled beetroot or cabbage which is amazing.

We probably won’t do that here this year but instead I am really really excited to FaceTime my family when they open their presents on Christmas morning. Last year we did the same and whilst I wish I could be there with them FaceTime is the perfect way to feel part of the day with them.

Last year I even got to sit down with them whilst they ate their Christmas lunch, though I had food envy!! My Mum’s a fantastic cook.

What are your families Christmas traditions? What do you always look forward to at Christmas?

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Easter Dinner Fun

April 22, 2014 by Vicky Leave a Comment

The Aussie and I ventured out for a roast on Easter Sunday. I wanted one as I was missing being with my family as we always had a special Easter Lunch together, very similar to Christmas Dinner, on Easter Sunday but it was too hot to cook one for us.

(the roast wasn’t even this good)

Turns out the roast wasn’t that great which serves us right for trying a different pub and certainly nowhere near as good as my Mum’s (she’s promised to cook us a roast dinner when she is here yay!) but when we got home I gave my Mum a call on FaceTime just in time for them to sit down eating their dinner along with my brother.

I had serious food envy as it looked so good, I wish I had taken screen shots of the food now, but had a very fun few hours chatting and laughing away with them as they ate dinner.

Of course there were a few moment where I mis-heard what they were saying (apparently you have to squeeze it and it pops out – apparently this is what you do to the bottle of mint sauce and not rude at all!) and laughed a lot and it was so nice laughing with my family. It was less fun being pointed at the light fixture but as my Mum will tell you I am frequently pointing the camera at the ceiling fan when I talk to them and also make them feel a little seasick as I am a right fidget!!!

The Aussie joined us too so it was a proper family affair with lots of laughs, teasing and catching up.

I have requested the Easter Eggs that they need to send me although as they rightly pointed out they would have melted by the time they actually got home. I might let them eat them, maybe.

I love this idea and hope I can definitely manage to stay awake long enough to join them for dinner when they are all together.

Raw Comedy and Some History

March 23, 2014 by Vicky Leave a Comment

A lovely quiet if not extremely hot weekend this weekend with a few outings to the big city!

The temperature has been rising and it’s been extremely hot and humid with not much of a let up. This means it’s super steamy outside and inside if you have no air con like we don’t and so heading to the movies or theatre where they have very good air con is always appealing!

The Aussie came home from work yesterday afternoon and mentioned that there was a comedy event on in Darwin that he heard would be good. I spent a few minutes searching on Google and discovered it was an event called Raw Comedy and it was an open mic night where 14 amateur comedians would be competing for the chance to go to the final in Melbourne with the overall prize of performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

As expected some of the acts were very very good with good stories, comic timing and the ability to make you roar with laughter. Some were a bit cringeworthy BUT they had the guts to give it a go and I really admire that strength as I absolutely hate public speaking and get so nervous its ridiculous.

I really enjoyed the night and laughed a lot which is of course good for you!

Today the Aussie was due to go racing in the sailing race at one of the yacht clubs but didn’t feel well enough. We decided to book some tickets to go and see the film Pompeii which has just been released and has the lovely Kit Harrington from Game of Thrones in it.

Everyone knows the story of Pompeii and the film was very well made with extremely realistic effects but because we know how the story goes they threw in the usual forbidden love kind of story which kept it flowing well and kept your interest.

We watched the 3D version and the Aussie said the effects for that weren’t bad although he has seen better (I cannot comment on the 3D as for some reason my eyes never see the 3D bits but I have to wear the glasses or the split screen/colour thing will give me a headache).

It was a good film for a Sunday afternoon if not a but violent and graphic in places which is never my thing.

We finished our Sunday off by popping to our local pub for dinner and I had a very tasty roast dinner. I miss my Mum’s roast dinners a lot and whilst those at the pub are not as good they will do until my Mum can cook one for me 😉

Outback Cookery Experimentation’s – Christmas Dinner

February 4, 2014 by Vicky Leave a Comment

I thought I would give a bit of a description of my triumphs and failures in the cookery department on my blog and even though it was over a month ago I thought I would start with our Christmas Dinner which was all cooked on the BBQ over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I think I have mentioned that we don’t have an actual kitchen our house. We have a BBQ which has a lid and one stove top on the BBQ so that when I cook dinner for me and the Aussie I have to plan things strategically so that they are cooked in the right order and at the right time.

The ultimate test of this planning was the Christmas Dinner particularly as a lot of the vegetables if not all have to be boiled before I roasted them. I had not at this time tried roasting anything in the BBQ and too say I was nervous was an understatement. Thankfully my Mum was on hand to text me instructions and when things should be cooked!

We (crazily) braved the supermarket on Christmas Day and picked up all the food that we would need and then I started work on the roast chicken.

The BBQ is temperamental at being lit and also frequently (read always) runs out of gas right in the middle of cooking dinner but this time it all lit. I had Googled numerous times “how to roast a chicken on a BBQ” and was advised to heat the whole thing up and then turn the burner where the chicken would sit off so that it reached the optimal temperature (210 degrees C) and then the BBQ would work as a convection oven.

I watched the temperature rise and then when it was ready put the chicken in and half way through it was perfectly brown when I turned it over with the help of the Aussie. About 2 and a half hours in total (cooked for about 20 mins per pound and then an extra 20 minutes) I produced this from the BBQ and was very surprised!

I prepped all of the vegetables on Christmas Eve and so on the actual day I filled a baking tray with oil and started the potatoes boiling at the same time for about 15 minutes as they needed the longest time in the roasting tray (about 45 minutes at 180 degrees).

I set the BBQ up again as I had when I was roasting the chicken and then followed the process with the pumpkin, carrots and parsnip boiling them for about 10 minutes and then adding them to the oil along with the potatoes.

I also created pigs in blankets which is literally little sausages, usually chipolatas, with bacon wrapped around them and then if needed, secured with a cocktail stick. I placed them in an oven proof dish with some oil and cooked them for about 30 minutes at the same time as the roast vegetables.

To finish the roast off I boiled some broccoli for about 15 minutes on the stove top and mixed the pre made stuffing powder with some water and put it in another oven proof dish with a drop of oil for about 15 minutes until it was crispy on top.

Of course no roast dinner would be complete without gravy and I mixed the liquid from the roast chicken with a drop of hot water and then added this to the gravy granules and a little more water and it was ready to go.

The finished production!

We were of course so full that we couldn’t eat the Christmas Pudding that we bought (and still haven’t now in February).

This Christmas was strange as it was my first Christmas where I wasn’t at home with my family but was also different in a good way with the Aussie and his Brother.

I was very excited to speak to my Family in the evening whilst they opened up their presents and I am planning a mini Christmas for them (probably using a cooker this time) when they get here in June.

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My Favourite Christmas Traditions

Easter Dinner Fun

Raw Comedy and Some History

Outback Cookery Experimentation’s – Christmas Dinner

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