Christmas Eve dinner consisted of many appetizers and Australian Shiraz, some of which is pictured above. Temperature? High 20s and sunny.
After dinner, it was baking time! I dove into baking a double batch of my award-winning oatmeal raisin cookies. They worked out very nicely, despite some necessary ingredient compromises.
Some of the ingredients for half of the double batch. We would not be losing weight this Christmas.
Meanwhile, since the kitchen was too small for two, Sarah got our little tree ready and made sure the wine was still drinkable. Note our classy plastic bag wrapping paper, and the traditional Christmas "crackers".
The first batch was a bit unevenly done, but still delicious. They were bang-on by the second batch. Nothing like two huge freezer bags full of cookies between two people!
Christmas morning - bright and sunny!
The hats really added to our Christmas Day experience, though they were a tad warm when out in the sun. Not sure where the hoser Canadians are? Look for the hats.
Our Christmas cracker jokes were even Australia-themed! 'Struth!
Presents were limited, but thoughtful. Sarah's wish for TicTacs and Rolos was fulfilled, while I got an Australian homebrewing magazine.
Christmas morning breakfast, complete with bacon and eggs for Chad.
Merry Christmas from the Canadians!
Nudgee had many blue-coloured jellyfish, so we had to watch our step while wading. At first I thought these were the "blue bottles" we had heard so much about - there are often warnings about blue bottles in ocean swimming areas. But wikipedia tells me that true blue bottles are actually Portuguese Man'O'Wars (not actually jellyfish). Thank goodness they weren't - Portuguese Man'O'Wars are really scary, I'm glad I never encountered any!
Many people in Australia head to public parks for a BBQ on Christmas Day - several people were already set up when we reached the beach before noon. Rather than compete for space under the hot sun, and lacking anything in the way of picnicking equipment, we decided to head back to the apartment for lunch where I could <deep breath>...
THROW SOME SHRIMP ON THE BARBY!
Yes, Paul Hogan would be proud. The apartment had an outdoor grill, so I fired it up and grabbed my Australian tiger prawns.
First a little unsalted butter.
Then lay the prawns on the medium-low heat grill.
Mmm, a low snap and hiss as they cook.
Crickey, I reckon these shrimp will be cracker!
And the payoff - oh man, they were fantastic. No need for salt, they lived in and were packed with salt water, so were fully seasoned as they were. A tasty Christmas lunch for the meat eater of the family - good thing Sarah is a vegetarian, all the more for me.
Mid-afternoon we got to work cooking Christmas dinner. I cheated and bought a pre-cooked chicken instead of doing a real turkey (which we were not equipped for). We also had mashed potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce, homemade stuffing, as well as appies and a refreshing Australian white wine. And we ate it out on the patio in shorts and T-shirts. It wasn't the beach, but was close enough for us!
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| Sarah enjoying the fruits of her labours |
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| Chad's carby plate |
And of course no Australian dinner would be complete without pavlova! We had to cheat and purchase the pavlova meringue (personal-sized ones), but I did whip the cream myself - with a FORK, since we had no mixer or whisk. Whew. Also, Sarah's fruit allergies meant we had to stick with conventional fruit rather than the tropical selections available. But it was still damned tasty.
Then two very bloated Canadians rolled into bed for a night of swollen abdomens and mouth-breathing.
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