When is a Christmas dinner not the Christmas dinner?

— Posted inUncategorized — 3 min read

When it is me that cooked it. :p

Before I explain the odd title question, I would like you to take a look at the menu :chef:

After you viewed the menu, read on the see the result. 😀 …

And as you see, it went as it had been planned, or even better. 😀 :chef: 😎
Click to go to the bigger picture in album 😉

Not too bad, aye? 😀

Now why is a Christmas Day midday dinner I cook not the Christmas dinner? Here is why …

Christmas is a relatively new custom for us Japanese, commercialised and more for a fashion than real. Another chance for shops to sell cake, decoration and presents, you know? Our family used to have a small spruce tree in pot, which was brought inside just before Christmas for decoration. It was quite enjoyable putting on the decks, watching blinking of lights, opening presents and eating the cake.

Then I've migrated to a country where people traditionally celebrate Christmas "for real". I tried to observe the local traditions and emulate how kiwis celebrate Christmas, getting presies ready, getting together with family & friends and enjoying the feast. Every year, I got invited to Christmas dinner (which kiwis traditionally have midday) by a different friend, who probably felt a little sorry to hear otherwise I would be spending Christmas alone. I was singing with community choir for a few years and went to sing carols at old people's homes and church services, too.

But I was not quite comfortable with being invited to Christmas dinner like that. In the end, I realised although I fully respect the tradition and understand the significance of Christmas celebration, it did not feel right trying too hard to emulate the way, when it was not my own tradition. So I stopped writing cards or giving token presies to friends, and told them I don't "do Christmas".

Instead I started cooking a roast dinner on Christmas day, not to celebrate Christmas, but to appreciate the local tradition without feeling a little "false". At first couple of years, microwave roasting a chicken in roasting bag was the best I could manage. But since then having done several more years of practice, I think I am getting quite good at this. :chef: What do you think? 😀
And as you see, it went as it had been planned, or even better. 😀 :chef: 😎

The idea of cooking more elaborate meal and sharing my achievement on blog came from Aadil (qlue), by his comment to my previous post.

The story about how my roasting adventure evolved was originally inspired by Angelika (7Welis), her question about me not doing Christmas. My story was built on my initial reply to her question. 🙂

Thank you, both :cheers:

:coffee:

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  1. Adaptation is not about emulation! And I think that you are rather adept at adapting! :DIt's like when I embraced Islam! I still retain many of my old habits and choose to live my own version of an Islamic lifestyle. There are many different traditions even within the framework of a given culture!These differences really make life, and us humans, very interesting! Imagine how boring it would be if we were all exactly idntical in every possible way! What fun would that be? :pSo, despite what you say, this was still your Chrismas Dinner your own way! :yes:

  2. Originally posted by qlue:

    So, despite what you say, this was still your Chrismas Dinner your own way!

    :yes: :yes:

  4. Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    It works for me.

    :yes:I think food is almost always the easiest and most enjoyable way to get into another culture (meaning have a tangible feel of another culture and appreciate it). One great thing about recent popularity of food shows has been for me was I got to see how to prepare traditional meals as well as learn new ideas. (the ideas of cubed bread stuffing and crushed meringue and chopped chocolate & nut were both from Jamie Oliver's shows. :yes:) :chef:Now I've already started thinking what I might do next. 😀

  5. Thank you for your kind words, Aadil. You are right. It took me some time to figure out I can only do (or don't) Christmas my way and it is OK to do it my own way. And I'm pleased I'm getting quite good at doing (or not doing) it my own way. :DAnd this post is actually inspired by you, in a way, by your mention of my strawberries look like p0rn. 😉 It has inspired me to go a bit further with my meal preparation, and eventually made me think I do a big spread for the Christmas Day midday dinner and present it as another foodporn story. :p :chef: (But I forgot to tag :doh: I do now. :D)

  6. Good morning, Crysta. And thank you for your big nod of endorsement. :yes::cheers:So what is your verdict on the food? Does it look like what you expected from reading the menu? 😀

  7. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    it as another foodporn story.

    :yes:

  8. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Does it look like what you expected from reading the menu?

    It Looks Great, Mum!!!! 😀 But I have a question …. where is the turkey and potato sushi? You know how people do Christmas Dinner in North America? …..Exactly How THEY WANT TO!!!!! You keep it up now….. Ya Here! Mum….

  9. Originally posted by crystalacey:

    where is the turkey and potato sushi?

    :no: Honestly I do not know how to make sushi with potato. Turkey sushi rolls seem quite doable, though, with a lot of wasabi to make bland turkey flesh stimulating. :devil:Originally posted by crystalacey:

    Exactly How THEY WANT TO!!!!! You keep it up now.

    Cheers, Crysta :cheers: Now I should really get back to work. Had to do some 16,000 words by 7th January, but so far I've only done 1600 or so. Don't want to be working on New Years Day! :no:TTFN :bye:

  10. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    present it as another foodporn story. (But I forgot to tag :doh: I do now. )

    I also forgot to mention the story about how my roasting adventure evolved was originally inspired by Angelika (7Welis), her question about me not doing Christmas. My story was built on my initial reply to her question. 🙂

  11. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Honestly I do not know how to make sushi with potato. ………. with a lot of wasabi

    I would think that Smashed Potatoes would do the trick. If you mashed them to a fairly dry consistency they should be fairly sticky which causes the rice to make good sushi. Maybe add some corn starch but I am no cook…. mostly though I was pulling your leg but I DO LOVE SUSHI!!! Is wasabi the horse radish or green paste as I call it? Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Don't want to be working on New Years Day!

    :no: :no: That is celebration time!!!!

  12. Originally posted by crystalacey:

    If you mashed them to a fairly dry consistency they should be fairly sticky which causes the rice to make good sushi. Maybe add some corn starch but I am no cook….

    😆 Sounds to me like you were describing a turkey topped potato cake recipe :pHere's some sushi pictures for you to droll over ;)The first one is Salmon, sardine & jack mackerel. The next one is crab meat, salmon & salmon roe topped pressed sushi lunchbox 😀

  16. Hi MM, it looks delicious and very fresh – the most things are coming out of your garden! :yes: Very inviting and I hope you enjoyed your meal!!:happy:

  17. 😀 Thanks, Angelika. I was hoping I would get to use as many homegrown vegetables as possible. In the end most of them turned up as expected. The peas (not really visible in the photo) were very very baby and not many, but still added a little colours. :happy: :cool:@CrystaGood night. Sleep tight. 🙂

  19. Thank you Crysta. And you have a good afternoon and evening. ;)Originally posted by crystalacey:

    Been there done that…..

    😆 😆 😆

  21. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    ….. The peas (not really visible in the photo)

    Oh, I've seen the four peas!! They are the very green markers on your photo!

  22. As of now Mum, IT IS 0 C, THAT is what a Chinook can do and it is still warming up!!! This is actually a slow warm up….. No wind warns yet…..

  23. Originally posted by crystalacey:

    I am back on the Rails again……….

    Originally posted by crystalacey:

    IT IS 0 C, THAT is what a Chinook can do and it is still warming up!!!

    :yes:

  24. Originally posted by 7Wellis:

    Oh, I've seen the four peas!!

    :eyes: 😀

  25. It 17:22 here and +1 C, still getting warmer. hahahaha How high will it go???? :sherlock: Hope you are getting your work done, Mum?

  26. Originally posted by crystalacey:

    hahahaha How high will it go???? Hope you are getting your work done, Mum?

    Good to hear you're warming up. :yes: I'm having another translator's block, hopelessly sidetracked and procrastinating at the moment. :p It's not a good sign when I start to sing … :left:

  27. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Good to hear you're warming up.

    OH I don't really thaw out until summertime but I sure like the break in the cold weather when it comes. Where I grew up in Saskatoon we could have -30 C to -40 C for weeks. A warm up was to -20 C then back down again. it was brutal and we went to school, walking in that!! Rarely do Chinooks get over there. 🙁 But today I guess it is different, I haven't live there since High School. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    It's not a good sign when I start to sing …

    O.o This doesn't sound good??? What does your cat do when you sing? What are you trying to translate? Technical or prose? Do you translate the English to Japanese? visa verse? Or both? My I am full of questions aren't I?

  28. Originally posted by crystalacey:

    Where I grew up in Saskatoon we could have -30 C to -40 C for weeks. A warm up was to -20 C then back down again. it was brutal and we went to school, walking in that!!

    :eyes: You must have been one staunch girl! Originally posted by crystalacey:

    What does your cat do when you sing?

    She normally just gives me the 'What's got into my human!? look. But if I get too loud in high range and I happened to be sitting down, she climbs up to my lap and tries to put her paw into my face. 😆

  29. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    You must have been one staunch girl!

    One had to be Mum, Parents with cars handy just weren't available in those days…. :no:Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    she climbs up to my lap and tries to put her paw into my face.

    I other word "Shut up"???

  30. Very yummy looking Christmas dinner. :chef:Trying to decide whether to make an effort to fit in, and if yes, to what degree, is always an interesting learning experience.

  31. Originally posted by crystalacey:

    I other word "Shut up"???

    :irked:

  32. Cheers, Deb. I think practice may not always make it perfect but certainly helps you improve.Re trying to fit in. I think you really have to try before deciding if something was for you or not. And you change all the time and what is right for you also changes. ;)BTW, Deb, I'm about to publish another post, of rather a private nature (remember the post about Mimi I published a couple of years ago?) Would you please read it and share your thoughts?

  33. Originally posted by crystalacey:

    I other word "Shut up"???

    Not really; she's investigating, a habit of cats. "Mum is making a strange sound, and she's moving her mouth differently than when she talks … I wonder if there's something different about her mouth?"

  34. Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    I wonder if there's something different about her mouth?"

    OKAY ….. I was just teasing anyway. I doubt that Cats would form the concept I was teasing about…..

  35. Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    she's investigating, a habit of cats. "Mum is making a strange sound, and she's moving her mouth differently than when she talks … I wonder if there's something different about her mouth?"

    Possible. I've also read it somewhere a high pitch singing voice could upset a cat because it could sound like the human were hurt and crying out for help. Originally posted by crystalacey:

    I was just teasing anyway.

    I'm recalling the English saying, 'Revenge is best served called' :devil: Originally posted by crystalacey:

    I doubt that Cats would form the concept I was teasing about…..

    😆 I think they do. When Arwen makes a silly mistake, like misjudging a jump and falling off, I LOL at her face and she looks quite indignant. They do have feelings, I would say.

  36. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Revenge is best served called

    LOL … "cold", MM, not "called". Have you ever run across that site where people post mis-heard song lyrics? It's a gas!http://www.kissthisguy.com/My favourite was "the girl with colitis walks by" for "the girl with kaleidoscope eyes".Incidentally, I believe the phrase, though written in English, is Arab in origin.

  38. Originally posted by 7Wellis:

    Dear MM, is all okay with your cat?

    Arwen's fine, Angelika. So sorry to make you worry. It's another post about remembering someone I lost long time ago.

  39. Do you mean your old cat Mimi? Good to read that all goes well with Arwen. I wish her all the best (naturally for you too) 🙂

  40. I don't care if it was Xmas dinner or not, but it looks great :chef:

  42. :cheers: Finnish Xmas food is made of preserved ingredients that are available in the middle of winter: potatoes, carrots, beetroot, turnip. Then some meat like fish and pork. And of course lot of dairy products: http://www.dlc.fi/~marianna/gourmet/season1b.htmAltogether the idea is to fix food that lasts for few days and can be just warmed up if and when someone becomes hungry. Thanks to ingenious recipes and spices, all this is actually eatable, but eventually one becomes fed up with it in few days. Therefore it is Xmas food aka not usually eaten in any other time of the year 😆

  43. Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    But when the evening meal was turkey hash, I knew we'd reached the end

    😆 😆 :lol:What about the turkey curry? Do the folks do that in the US? Or is it more a British thing? :chef:Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    turkey sandwiches, which my mum made with great skill (she was kinda like me: a great lover of excess, and you can take that any damned way you like)

    Sounds very delicious. :yes:

  44. Originally posted by serola:

    the idea is to fix food that lasts for few days and can be just warmed up if and when someone becomes hungry. Thanks to ingenious recipes and spices, all this is actually eatable, but eventually one becomes fed up with it in few days

    Sounds very much like Japanese New Year's delicacies. Nice to have once a year, but that would be it. :D[Addendum]Here's links to Japanese New Year food info http://norecipes.com/blog/osechi-ryori-japanese-new-years-food/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osechi (Has pictures of entire traditional spread)http://savoryjapan.com/learn/culture/festivals/oshogatsu.html

  45. Personally,I always regretted coming to the end of the Xmas turkey, because that meant there'd be no turkey sandwiches, which my mum made with great skill (she was kinda like me: a great lover of excess, and you can take that any damned way you like). But when the evening meal was turkey hash, I knew we'd reached the end. (Sigh!)I still make turkey sandwiches, but I use deli turkey, which is more convenient, but not as interesting. But I do not choose to cook a 25-lb. (11.4 kg) turkey for such a small (!) household.

  46. Originally posted by QuHno:

    everything with sour rice called sushi?

    :yes: "Su" is the Japanese word for vinegar & acidity. Sushi was originally a shorten form of su-meshi, meaning vinegar flavoured rice based meal("meshi" = cooked rice or meal). Sashimi is fresh slices of fish fillet :drooling: :DI've heard the very first form of sushi was a sort of tightly packed rice parcel with salted fish piece on top: an invention in a need to keep food unspoiled during hot humid Japanese summer. Then they discovered the bacteria in packed rice fermented starch a little & produced lactic acid, and its acidity stopped further bacterial growth and kept the meal from becoming totally unspoilt. Later our ancestors started adding vinegar to rice to achieve the same effect, as well as marinating otherwise easily spoilt fish like jack mackerel with salt & vinegar, to top sushi. :chef:The seaweed rolls & fish topped elongated ball form of sushi were relatively later invention, although I believe they are still several hundred years old. 😉

  47. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Here's some sushi pictures for you to droll over

    drooling :yes: … but isn't that sashimi? Or is everything with sour rice called sushi?

  48. Your information on the origins of sushi was really interesting. :up: I've been told that Japanese cuisine also features a lot of pickled vegetables. :chef:

  49. Originally posted by debplatt:

    I've been told that Japanese cuisine also features a lot of pickled vegetables.

    :yes: They are yummy! :chef:Technically they are more often salt-cured than pickled in the sense cucumbers & onions are pickled in Western cuisine. The vegetable, usually cucumber, small eggplant, or radish is washed, dried and salted, then packed tightly in a container (traditionally a wooden tab or glazed ceramic pot), often along with pieces of spicy vege such as ginger or chile, then pressed with some weight on a inner lid. :chef:Those traditional ones turn out quite salty. You can also make a "quick-cured" low-salt version by just lightly salting the vege, putting in a bowl, leave it in fridge for few hours and draining the resulting salty liquid. :chef:

  50. Pickeld veggies?Something traditional from here containing pickled stuff 8 Images with some kind of recipe :chef:

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