Festive Year End 2011

Wow, it's 2012 already!!! Where have I been? This past few weeks had been a blur. There were just so many things to do with the year end festivities. I had been busy baking up a storm for friends and family and squeezing in last minute Christmas shopping. And with the starting of the new school term, more shopping for school supplies ans stuffs for my Daughter G. My Daughter G is now a secondary school student.  I can't believe I'm now a mother of a teenage girl! Between all that and the running of errands and chores, Chinese New Year is now upon us! Phew, how time just zipped by! Anyway, here are a few pics of the Christmas celebration and some of the bakes I made.

 

The Christmas dinner we stuffed our face with. Mom's obligatory roast turkey. Christmas is just not christmas without a turkey. Juicy, moist and utterly flavourful and delicious. Turkey aside, Mom also made buttered brussel sprouts and carrots with bacon bits. The rest of the dishes were made by me. Salmon wreath, roast potatoes and yule log cake.

Smoked salmon wreath with cream cheese and herbs filling inside. Inspired from a dish featured in the Good Housekeeping Magazine Christmas Collection 2011 edition.

My first ever yule log cake. It's pretty easy to make. Just a swiss roll with whipped cream filling and chocolate ganache frosting.

Mincemeat apple tart.

Chocolate cake

Mango Yoghurt Cake.

 

Mom's birthday on boxing day. I made a simple sponge cake with whipped cream and mango filling with fresh strawberries on top.

 

Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

We celebrated the new year with Durian Mousse Cake. Durians are seasonal and crazy expensive and this is a luxurious treat.  This is also the first durian cake I've ever made. I know it's very late, but here's wishing all a Happy and Blessed New Year!  

Christmas Day Feast 2010

Our Christmas Day Feast.

Mom roasted the turkey, and I with the help of my Daughter (my Daughter insisted that I gave her credit and made known to everyone that she helped with peeling the asparagus! LOL!)  made the accompanying side dishes and dessert.

The star dish of the day, Mom's Roasted Turkey.

Believe it or not this turkey (between 6 - 6.5 kilos) took only 1 1/2 hours to cook in the microwave!  The turkey was moist and very tasty.  I asked Mom what she had used to marinate the turkey and she said "Pounded ginger and garlic, LOTS of garlic ... soy sauce, salt & pepper and a little bbq sauce".

Mom's recipe for Turkey Gravy

Ingredients:

Turkey Neck & Giblet

2 large Onions, chopped

Shitake Mushrooms, sliced and the stems removed and kept aside

Soy Sauce to taste

Salt & Pepper to taste

Drippings from roasted turkey, remove the fat first

Cornflour mixed with a little water

Method:

In a pot, put in turkey neck & giblet, chopped onions, mushroom stems and soy sauce. Scrape in the drippings from the roasted turkey. Pour in water enough to cover the ingredients in the pot. Boil away on medium heat until mushrooms have disintegrated. Add more water during cooking as necessary. Discard turkey neck & giblet. Add in the sliced mushrooms. Boil further until mushrooms are just cooked. Season well with salt & pepper. Add in  cornflour solution and cook further until gravy has thicken.

Jamie Oliver's Perfect Roast Potatoes

(with butter, garlic & rosemary)

(Recipe here)

This was the best side dish amongst all. It was very fragrant and flavourful with the rosemary and garlic. My dear Hubby who has been avoiding carbs couldn't resist eating this and even requested the lefovers for dinner. 

Cranberry Asparagus & Prosciutto 

(Recipe here . I've added prosciutto and omitted the pine nuts as I didn't have them on hand. I would suggest adding lightly sauteed garlic for more flavour). 

Insalata Caprese

(Recipe here)

To end our Christmas feast with a sweet note, Gordon Ramsay's Easy Tiramisu!
(Recipe here)

Christmas Eve Dinner 2010

Our simple Scandinavian-esque Christmas Eve Dinner.

For the past few years, we had dined out and spent a small fortune on Christmas Eve Dinners. This year I'm glad to have stayed at home and avoided the crowds and the overpriced dinners offered at most restaurants in town. It was enjoyable preparing the food and celebrating with my nearest and dearest ... right here at home.

 

Smoked Salmon Carpaccio

(Recipe here. I've added sliced onions and black olives and garnished with fresh dill instead of parsley.)

My Daughter loves this dish so much.

Bacon and Cream Cheese stuffed Mushrooms.

(Recipe here)

Very cheesy & rich! Reading back the recipe, I think I might have overstuffed the mushrooms.  The Bacon and Cream Cheese filling was meant for 25 mushrooms but I crammed all into 12 mushrooms only. LOL!Anyway, they were good eaten with toasted crusty garlic bread.

 

Butterhead Lettuce, Grape & Tomato Salad with Raspberry Dressing

(Recipe for Raspberry Dressing here)

 

 Nigella Lawson's Molten Chocolate Babycake.

(Recipe here)

We ended the meal with Nigella Lawsons's Molten Chocolate Babycake with Strawberries & Whipped Cream. It was plate licking good ... I really meant it literally! Yum!