Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!

I want to try something a bit different this year. I'll try to do some live blogging as we're (Lucy, Richard, and I) putting together our Christmas eve feast. The approximate time will be noted in brackets using 24-hour clock. I'll stop once I run out of counter space and/or when our family arrives. Follow me on twitter: @teafortwo_c



We began doing the prep last night. Carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, and potatoes were sliced and diced. The potatoes for the mashed potatoes are finished boiling. (13:10)


The diced onions were sautéed, tomato paste was cooked off, deglazed, then added to a pot with the leftover lasagna meat sauce last night. Italian sausages were half-cooked, cut up, then added to the tomato sauce. Macaroni were (over)cooked. Lucy mixed in more of the italian sausage pasta sauce with the macaroni. Then shredded cheese was sprinkled over and then the lot were covered with tin foil and set aside for tonight. (12:40)


The boiled potatoes were drained and then mashed with parmesan cheese, butter, chicken powder, salt, and milk. First batch of mashed potatoes -- done! (13:15)

Gravy was started with a roux, chicken box (from a tetra pack), sautéed onions and mushrooms. The pot awaits pan drippings from the turkey. (13:30)


For garlic butter: garlic was minced and added to a small pot with a large chunk of butter. (13:30)

Okay, I'm taking a break to make chewy chocolate chip cookies (à la Anna Olson) with cranberries and white chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Lucy is dealing with the two turkeys and Richard is making the stuffing. (13:50)


Since the last update (see above), the stuffing was made and is ready to be thrown into the oven. Richard also made spinach dip. We're having a little taste soon. I popped a bit of the spinach dip into the toaster oven to broil. It's in a ramekin and topped it with cheese. (14:44)






The first batch of chewy cranberry white chocolate chip cookies is done. The second one will be ready in less than two minutes. (14:50)


Lucy is also plating up the crudités as well. There are the carrot and celery sticks we had prepared last night, as well as (Premium Plus) crackers, (Ace Bakery's) crisps, vegetable-flavoured crackers, and Wheat Thins. Veggie dip, spinach dip, spicy anchovies, spicy green olives, herbed pork pâté, and Boursin's cheese were the other goodies.

The two seasoned turkeys are in the oven. We're done most of the work now. All we have to do is wait for the turkey to finish baking, put together the salad, bake the ham, and heat everything else up. Wow. I'm so glad there are three of us that know how to cook and bake. Definitely much quicker than I had anticipated. Woo! (15:00)




People are starting to trickle in. Lucy is icing the two box cakes. MT is spreading the garlic butter on the dinner rolls. Turkey is still in the oven. And I'm just cleaning up the dirty dishes. (16:00)


Italian sausage casserole is in the oven. Turkeys looking good. The tin foil blankets are off, so now the turkeys just need to darken a bit more. Frozen vegetables are about to be boiled. People are enjoying cups of fake sea breeze (grapefruit juice, Hypnotiq, vodka, simple syrup, and cranberry juice) and the crudités.

Our relatives are gathering in the kitchen. I'm going to direct them towards the living room for some snacks and fake sea breeze. Cheers! (17:15)

The smaller turkey was taken out, allowed to rest, then carved. Half of the ham was sliced as well. We took out the larger turkey and then placed the large pan of italian sausage casserole and stuffing to heat through. In the toaster oven, the garlic dinner rolls were toasted off in batches. (18:30)




The table was set and everyone began to eat. Uncle LT brought some of his heart of palm salad. After cooking and baking all day, Lucy, Richard, and I aren't very hungry. We both just grazed. (18:45)


AU took half of a garlic bread and played around a bit; some spinach dip, pieces of turkey, a drizzle of turkey gravy, and vegetable medley. Overkill? #fatlikethat The kids began playing around with different combinations. Richard loved the garlic bread with spinach dip.


Once everyone finished eating, we cleared the tables and cut the cake. It's a two layered cake: white and pecan cake frosted with cream cheese icing. There was a pot each of chrysanthemum and jasmine tea to wash everything down. So warm and comforting. That concludes our Christmas eve dinner. Hope you enjoyed reading along. If you want to take a look at what we've had in the past, check out our 2007, 2008, and 2011 dinners.

We want to wish you all a happy holiday!