It is not every year one gets to celebrate a semi-genuine Swedish Christmas one day and a semi-genuine Australian Christmas the day after. This year, as you might guess, we did.
Our great friends Matt and Naomi are here. They have finally and definitely left Ireland and are on their way home. The stop-over here in Edinburgh is the first leg on their journey home. All in all the trip home is planned to take 3 months and next on the list is the Czech Republic then Turkey, India and finally home to Brisbane, Australia where their respective moms and dads are ready with home cooked meals and lots of TLC.
Anyway, on Christmas Eve we went to a nearby supermarket to stock up for the days to come, and no expenses were spared for the occasion. Once we had lugged home the loot I started whipping up my Swedish Christmas dinner. On the menu: Glögg- or mulled wine- and Pepparkakor, cooked ham with mustard on the side, smoked salmon with a parsley sauce, sausages, home made meatballs, potato salad, a normal green salad and Swedish hard bread – Knäckebröd. In my opinion, and not to toot my own horn of course, it turned out great!
The next day, Christmas Day, Matt took the helm and cooked an absolutely fantabulous Australian Christmas dinner that made my Swedish equivalent look like something out of a soup kitchen.
The feast consisted of white bread, olive oil and Dukkah for starter, a main course made up by a huge leg of lamb-roast, a potato bake with cheese and garlic, and a leek salad along with a tasty, tasty sauce. For desert we had a flambé chocolate cake. Divine!
Obviously there are now lots of leftovers circulating the Harrison-Helin mansion, which inevitably leads to constant snacking, but I guess that is what Christmas is all about. We'll just let the Wii Fit pick up the slack later.
Our guests are out meeting up with friends tonight and me and Shaena are just taking it easy, quietly celebrating our first anniversary as a married couple. Love you honey! The last big thing this year will be a New Years party at our house. I don’t think this year could end any better!
Oh, and more great news! Tonight I got a text from an old friend from Sweden that I had completely lost contact with years ago. They say Christmas is the season of wonder and magic. On that note, I will leave you this time by quoting Billy Mack:
I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes,
Christmas is all around me, and so the feeling grows
It's written in the wind, It's everywhere I go,
So if you really love Christmas,
C'mon and let it snow.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hey, don't be shy... drop us a line!