Xmas down under

Christmas is a time to come together with your family, sit around a Christmas tree, stuff your face with copious amounts of food and hope that it starts snowing so we can all have that magical white holiday every one is always raving about.

In Australia it is no different. Replace the snow with a golden beach and the pine tree for a palm tree and the Christmas spirit is all around you.

Although my ‘real’ family is on the other side of the world I feel very lucky to have found good friends here in Oz to call family too and they have made this Christmas the memorable success that is has been. I was lucky enough to have three dinners in the company of old and new friends.

The first one was an early one. On Saturday the 21^st of December I was invited to attend a dinner at Emily and Pierre their house. Two good friends I’ve met in Byron Bay 4 months ago. Maya, Hannah, Stephen, Megan and mixmeister Sam where also there. I helped Emily and Peirre prepare the food during the day before the others arrived. That was good fun. I had never prepared a full Christmas dinner before and neither had Pierre or Emily. So with each other’s help and that of google we slaved in the kitchen to make something beautiful. With a cold beer in hand and good music playing in the back ground Pierre and I focused on the mean course, while Emily was building an awesome 4 tier cake. And running around stressed out making sure that everything was ready and how she wanted it before the first guest arrived.

We made Turkey, oven baked stuffing balls, a glazed ham, sprouts with bacon, roast veggies, roast potatoes, cauliflower with a cheese sauce. We reduced red cabbage with red onions to make a deliciously sweet as a replacement for the cranberry sauce, Yorkshire puddings with gravy. And to top it off Emily presented her 4 tier, chocolate, cheese cake, banana cake cake. It all turned out amazing.

To quench our thirst mixmeister Sam, who is a bar tender and cocktail magician, made an amazing Christmas punch with rum and fresh fruit to wash down the feast.

The little ‘resort’ where Pierre and Emily lived was lit up completely. All the house where beautifully decorated. The one had more lights and propped up Santas than the other. That really topped of an amazing evening and made the Christmas feeling almost palpable. We ate and drank and laughed until we could eat and drink and laugh no more and went to sleep. An amazing kick off to the holiday season.

Two days later I had a Christmas eve’s eve dinner with some peeps from the dive shop. Colin, Becky, Matt Glenn and I where invited for dinner at Gemma’s place. I hadn’t seen most of them for 4 months and it was good to catch up. Gemma had made pigs in blankets, roast veggies and potatoes, Yorkshire pudding with beef and gravy and mince fruit pies with chocolate ice cream. Again a delicious meal. Instead of the punch we drank wine and listened to all the classic Christmas songs. Chris Rea, Mariah Carey, Wham!, the whole shebang. It was a lovely, low key dinner and a reminder to me how much I like hanging out with the people from the dive shop.

And then Christmas day came. The day of the big dinner at the dive shop with 13 people. Most of them new interns for their divemaster course from all over the world. By the time I arrived the preparation where in full swing. Colin was the chef and I the sous chef. Veggie where being cut, stuffing made, birds stuffed, salads prepared. It all ran very smoothly. Since we did not have an oven at the dive shop and we had two birds to cook, we used two ovens in two different houses spread across town. Christmas day is also about relaxing and having a few drinks during the day, so I sacrificed myself to be the designated driver and drive back and forth between ovens and dive shop to check on the turkeys. No drinks for me until the turkeys were done at the car safely parked back at the house. But Colin hooked me up and was waiting for me with a nice rum and coke so I could catch up with the rest.

We definitely had too much food. For some reason it always turns out like that when we make dinner at the dive shop. We had two stuffed turkeys, a honey glazed ham, roast potatoes, parsnips, pumpkin and carrots. Steamed broccoli, a spinach tomato feta cheese salad and pigs in blankets. To make it a real Aussie xmas, we had 3 kilos of shrimp for on the Barbie. It was nothing less then a feast. As desert there was pavlova topped with strawberries and blue berries. Becky had decorated the table and we had bonbons (crackers you pull apart with small toys and jokes inside).

After everyone was stuffed like the birds we just devoured, cleaned up and head upstairs for some good old drinking games. We drank and joked and laughed. It was an absolute success.

Since I am continuing my travels through Oz on the 27^th it was good to have these evenings and dinners with the people that are a travelers family. I’ll miss them, but I’ll be back in Byron Bay to have some more party and QT with these beautiful people I am pleased to call my friends.