Today I was meandering through the David Jones Food Hall in the city, following, with amusement, behind my friend who was striding with purpose, Christmas menu in hand, asking pointed questions about the availability of Yamba prawns, the origin of the displayed scallop meat and where she could obtain loose Vienna Almonds.
At this point I scuttle closer, peer over her shoulder and enquire about her planned Christmas day feast. 'Oh', she says, 'I'm trying allsorts of new things. It's just us and the kids this year so I can experiment with impunity.' The list detailed scallop wontons, a crispy prawn salad, and hazelnut semi-freddo.
I've been seeing this a lot lately. Experimenters.
What happened to the traditional Aussie Christmas? Forty-five degrees Celsius with Roast Turkey, Glazed Ham and Christmas Pud with Custard and Icecream.
Am I the only traditionalist left? Come to my house and you will suffer in the heat like a good Aussie family should.
It's not that I'm completely stuck in stone. As the years have gone on new traditions have crept in. Firegazer introduced the glazed ham; my SIL introduced an entree of prawns AND an icecream version of the Christmas Pud (which is, admittedly, pretty good). These all seemed to fit with the general gist of the sweaty Australian celebration. BUT I stop at those other new-fangled ideas - the seafood Christmas, the picnic at the beach or anything else that is vaguely seasonally appropriate.
But, it seems that I'm not the traditionalist after all. My traditions now belong to the perspiring minority. No, now I'm a seasonally inappropriate rebel. A REVOLUTIONARY.
Forward the Revolution!
:-)
6 comments:
I hope you have a sweaty Merry Christmas. I like Christmas traditions. I can abide tweaks here and there, but the bulk of the menu should remain unchanged. We never know if we will be in shorts and shortsleeves on Christmas Day or bundled up in sweaters and cords. For the moment, it's sweaters.
You go, SIR M!
(It's a seasonally inappropriate menu for the Fairlie entourage too - at least at lunchtime, dinner tends to be a little more relaxed.)
To the revolutionaries - enjoy!
I eat the seafood version since it is dictated by the eating needs of our mates.
On Christmas Day it will be roast duck (DUCK!!!!!) and sliced ham. Vaguely more traditional but not on your scale!
Yum, duck! Has anyone tried Goose? This seems to be a British tradition and I have no idea what they're like - I'm assuming sort of like duck but can anyone enlighten me?
I like to think i'm quite the traditionalist .. considering I never grew up with the hot pud or all the trimmings ( one year, we had SCRAMBLED EGGS for our Christmas meal - that was a depressing Christmas )
I *always* do the ham, but our meats are generally cold and we do the seafood. Still very festive though...
Just as I thought. We are all traditionalists - just in our own special way. :-)
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