Christmas a-buzzing
I received a WhatsApp message this week from Andrea who said, “Christmas is a frenetic time.” I understand what she means, but I would say that the days leading up to Christmas are more frenetic than Christmas day itself and the twelve days of Christmas which follow. Christmas Day is like the calm that follows a storm.
Andrea takes pride in preparing sumptuous meals for her family, especially on special occasions, so I can imagine all the activity that is taking place in her home leading up to Christmas.
Aiming for the stars
Angela seems to have everything under control, “I baked some Gingerbread men over the weekend using all purpose flour, some ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, baking soda, salt, unsalted butter, packed brown sugar, molasses, vanilla extract and orange zests.”
Angela also made Christmas star-cookies. Looks like she has been having fun.
The Reason for the Season’s Greetings
The week leading up to Christmas means extra shopping, especially grocery shopping. It’s very easy to forget why one is running around grabbing things off the shelves and crossing items off on long shopping lists. A good reminder of why I was doing all of that was a Christmas crib at the supermarket.
Christmas in the supermarket
It was very heart-warming to see a very elegant Christmas scene in the middle of the supermarket. I stopped to appreciate the little details, and couldn’t help smiling to myself, as I remembered the mini Christmas cribs I made two years ago with buttons from Spotlight.
Christmas crib buttons from the haberdashery
Christmas colours
Rina sent a photo from Vietnam of home-made ice cream: black sesame ice cream. She topped it off with mint leaves. It’s a great idea for a Christmas dessert.
Red and green are Christmas colours. Not many people know that St Nicholas of Bari is the inspiration for Santa Claus. He was a bishop (the reason why he was dressed in red) who was known for helping the needy, that’s why Santa Claus is associated with gift-giving.
The Turkey Tradition
My mother has been trying to convince me to leave turkey out of the Christmas menu. She is convinced that nobody likes turkey. I have been trying to convince her that my Christmas turkeys have always been a success.
I had to look for a photo to prove it. It’s true that for the Asian palate, roasted turkey is a bit bland. We had satay as part of the Christmas meal one year, which might seem a bit unusual, but having a Christmas meal at home gives you more flexibility to mix and match, and create your own Christmas traditional meals.
If you are planning to cook turkey, there is an earlier post on turkeys at:
The Home-made Christmas Special
A Christmas meal at home can be very special. It’s up to you how creative you want to be.
Elena, who is one of Homskil’s course developers, designed a Christmas Aperitif Special. Her students are always amazed by what she can do with simple materials (like satay sticks and aluminium foil) and ingredients (like prawns, chicken, cucumber and tomatoes. Home-dining becomes a culinary experience.
Homskil would like to thank you for being part of the HomeBlog experience.
It has been our pleasure to share our knowledge and joy of homemaking with you in 2021.
Wishing you a Merry Christmas.
By Chayo, HomSkil Editor 1, 18 December 2021
HomeBlog by HomSkil 