Creme de Citron Blog

Christmas in Australia

30/11/2012

Here is a Christmas that should warm some of us up (in the Northern Hemisphere that is). Having spent more than three years (and being back nearly a year) in Australia, I thought it would be great to introduce you to an Australian Christmas as the third of the Six Christmases Project (explained here).
It is very different as it is usually around 30ºC outside and most of the cooking is done on the barbecue. On top of that, shorts, flip-flops and sunglasses are the Christmas outfit of the day (you would not dream of wearing a Christmas jumper with this kind of weather).
I thought I would ask my good friend Lauren-Anne (she goes by L.A. so I will use it this way here) to tell me about her Australian Christmas. L.A. is a wonderful actress and lives in Melbourne. She is also a very good cook. My last birthday in Australia, she baked me thirty delicious cupcakes. It was such a surprise (and they were gorgeous!). And despite all the food intolerance she has, her dishes are always very creative and flavoursome (I would find it hard to cut out of my diet all the things she cannot eat anymore).
When I told her about the Six Christmases Project, she was really fast to answer and so happy to participate in it.

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Hyvää Joulua! Christmas in Finland

25/11/2012

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With the temperature lowering a lot these days and Christmas being only 30 sleeps away, I think it is the perfect day to introduce you to a Finnish Christmas.
I contacted my Finnish friend Sanna a little while back to ask her about what she would do on Christmas day in Finland.
I met Sanna a year and a half ago when we were both taking a short evening class on portrait photography in Melbourne, Australia. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and little boy. She is a really great photographer, you can see her work on her website here and her blog here.
Having lived in Australia for three years, I can tell you that it makes a huge difference to spend Christmas in Summer. So imagine being from Finland and not having a decent Winter landscape on the day!
Despite the fact that she really misses her Finnish Christmas (and I know it is quite overwhelming to think about it when you live so far away), Sanna was very happy to share her memories of Christmas with me and you.

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Nollaig Shona Duit! Christmas In Ireland

19/11/2012

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Let's start the Six Christmases with a very obvious one for me here: an Irish Christmas! (see the Six Christmases project explained here.)
I met with my Irish friend Faela a little while back and asked her about the way her and her family spend Christmas, and about the many food delights they will have.
She usually spends Christmas with her husband (and now cute little baby boy) at her parents' house an hour from Dublin.
On Christmas Eve, the last of the shopping is done and everybody stops somewhere for a drink. Then, back home, they all have another drink with some homemade brown bread with smoked salmon on top, a drizzle of lemon juice and a sprinkle of chopped spring onions. Her mother will also have made a delicious beef and Guinness casserole the day before to have on Christmas Eve (I believe that this year's hot dish will be a lovely seafood chowder).
After the meal, they all go to the pub for a little while and then head to midnight mass.

On Christmas morning, some freshly baked cranberry muffins are popped out of the oven and served with a cup of coffee. Everybody has to wait until they each have a muffin and a hot drink before sitting by the Christmas tree and open the presents. (Faela's mother makes the muffins batter the day before so it just needs to be spooned in the cases and baked.)
Afterwards, they have a breakfast of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon served on toast or bagels, accompanied by a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.
Then, it is time to get the food ready for the big Christmas dinner.
As an appetiser, Faela's family eats some more smoked salmon on homemade brown bread and drinks a glass of Prosecco or a Gin and Tonic.
For starter, they have foie gras on toast (brought back all the way from the South of France for the occasion) and for those who do not like eating foie gras, there are also prawns served with chilli and garlic.
For the main part of the meal, they eat turkey (stuffed with a bread, onion and sage stuffing), Christmas ham (that will have been boiled the night before), accompanied by side dishes of potato croquettes, Brussels sprouts, carrots and parsnips (roasted with honey, or mashed), sausage meat stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce and gravy.
Then, they wait several hours before dessert.
For dessert, they will eat the traditional plum pudding (made mid-October) - served with brandy butter and cream - and Christmas cake. They also have a pavlova and mince pies (Faela told me she likes opening the top of the mince pies, add some brandy butter in it and put the top back, it sounds delicious!).
The wines they drink at dinner time are all French and come from the Languedoc region in the South of France.

After dinner and desserts, they all rest and spend time together. Around midnight or 1am that night, they all go and get the leftovers to make some huge Christmas sandwiches (let me tell you they sound absolutely fantastic!).

On St Stephen's Day (26th December), Faela and her brother like to use the leftovers to make themselves a second Christmas dinner; sometimes, they also make a pasta dish with the leftovers too.
And the day after, they will all enjoy a delicious turkey soup made using the bones for the broth.

After my interview with Faela, I was really starving and dreaming of a beautiful Irish Christmas dinner. I am spending Christmas in Ireland this year, and from the sound of it, I should prepare my stomach for many extraordinary delights.

I used two of the recipes that Faela gave me and tweaked them a bit to share with you. So keep scrolling down and you will find two recipes: sausage meat stuffing and stuffed potatoes, and cranberry and white chocolate mini Christmas muffins.

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Rocky white Christmas road

8/11/2012

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Did you know it's Christmas in 48 days?!
I know! So many days but it also feels so soon somehow. And the fact that streets and shop windows are already decorated makes it feel even closer.
Well, I have a Christmas surprise for you! Over the six weeks that precede Christmas, I will introduce you to six Christmases around the world: gifts of knowledge, culture and recipes.
I spoke and wrote to different persons I know who all come from different countries (alright, no surprise here but one of the Christmases will be the French one and I personally will be telling you about this one). They were all delighted to participate in this project.
Over the past few weeks, I read and heard tales of amazing Christmases in some really cold and also some quite exotic places, as well as from places with are all very familiar with.
This will be obviously mostly about the food they have for Christmas. Do not expect anything too purely traditional, as each and everyone of us has a different way to celebrate it.

And in the meantime, to keep you waiting without starving, here is my Rocky White Christmas Road recipe.
I was introduced to a delicious White Christmas while celebrating Christmas in July with friends in Australia (over there, you have to organise something fun during the long Winter weeks, or else there is nothing to celebrate at all!).
My recipe differs a lot as I make it with white chocolate and no added fat (the Australian recipe uses copha, a vegetable fat shortening). I also make it more rocky roady.

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Mushrooms and Comté cheese tartlets

2/11/2012

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Mushroom and Comté Cheese Tartlets Recipe

Don't you just love Autumn?
Look at the amazing colours in the trees and on the ground as the leaves are falling. It is quite possibly my favourite season.
I really enjoy going for a long walk and observe the nature getting ready for Winter while I take photos.
It is getting quite chilly but I find it quite rewarding that after one of those long walks in the cold, I can come back home and tuck in a delicious seasonal meal: a beautiful wild mushrooms or butternut squash risotto, a hot boeuf carottes (beef and carrots stew) or a warm dessert made with apples or pears.

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Christmas in Australia

Hyvää Joulua! Christmas in Finland

Nollaig Shona Duit! Christmas In Ireland

Rocky white Christmas road

Mushrooms and Comté cheese tartlets

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