Christmas 2008

We decided to have a Christmas Eve lunch due to minibeanie's feeding schedule. Might as well because he woke up from his nap past 3pm and the turkey was just about done then.

The 4.6kg turkey took about 3 hours - much less than the 3.5-4 hours suggested by conventional cooking wisdom. And I'm glad I listened to my instincts because it'd have meant a tough chewy bird had I cooked it longer. (hmm, of course a meat thermometer and the fail-safe test of cutting it to see if the juices run clear helped ;) The salmon from Ikea didn't work as Gravad Lax because they were cut into 2cm portions and came without their skin. Well, I'd 2 jars of pickled herring* in the fridge so those would do as the fish platter :)

Here are a series of pictures leading from decorating the tree in early December to the Christmas Eve lunch.

My little helper...

... not

Christmas Stollen

Lots of puns surrounding this one ("It's stollen". "Oh no, who stole it?"). This Dresden stollen is buttery and laden with golden and dark raisins, currants, slivered almonds, candied orange peel & lemon zest. I would use less butter and more milk the next year though!

Christmas pyramid

This cost a little bomb but as it would stay in the family as a Christmas tradition for years, I thought it would be worth it. It was handcrafted in Erzgebirge, a mountainous town in Germany. Christmas pyramids, or the unpronounceable "Weihnachtspyramide", use the rising heat currents from candles to turn the impellers and the platform below. This particular pyramid was of the Nativity scene; unfortunately, baby Jesus in a manger was at the other end. See the little devil at one end of the platform? I couldn't resist getting that piece ;D Of the many Erzgebirge sculptors, I liked Christian Ulbricht's style best :) For those in Singapore, there was a fantastic collection of Christmas pyramids & nutcrackers at Das Erzgebirgen Haus(?) in Raffles City.

The Spread

Finns celebrate Christmas on the Eve. On the table, we had turkey, traditional potato and carrot casseroles, 2 types of pickled herring and a selection of salami (that I bought from Singapore!) accompanied with Danish blue cheese & French camembert. minibeanie was eating a piece of camembert in the picture above.... which was amazing because even some grown-ups in Finland wouldn't touch camembert.

Time to open the presents!!

First taste of chocolate

I got a box of Belgian truffles from minibeanie's mummi (my MIL, if anyone is wondering) and guess if minibeanie threw a tiny tandrum when he wanted to have a bite as well... I guess I could strike chocolate off the list of 'Things to withhold from minibeanie until as late as possible."

To everyone, may you have a blessed Christmas!


*I have to thank Ikea for making a Scandinavian Christmas possible. Besides pickled herring, they have made it possible to buy cloudberry jam and Glögi. ...Actually, I do know the wife of the Ikea guy who runs Ikea in this region. minibeanie & their 15 month old son are playmates. I think I'll invite them over this Christmas.


minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months, 4 weeks & 1 day old