A Very Different Christmas Day

Because we were working on the night shelter through Christmas morning, I was tired and fell asleep for a few hours and Christmas Day just slipped away. So, the family decided to celebrate Christmas Day on Boxing Day.

What should we cook for Christmas Lunch? Usually, we roast a turkey or chicken. I remember that one year She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed asked the boys what we wanted for Christmas Lunch and with one voice we replied 'SAUSAGES!'

So, that Christmas we had nothing but sausages: beef sausages, pork sausages, venison sausages, chicken sausages, British organic sausages, hearty German bratwurst and bockwurst, even some Spanish chorizo. We ate sausages for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and for a couple of days afterwards. At the end, we were heartily sick of sausages.

This year, we decided to have a Chinese 'steamboat' (Hot Pot).

 
There was chicken and thinly-sliced beef, pork, lamb, prawn, fish balls, squid balls and fish cakes, eggs, wan tun, rice noodles, bean curd, spinach, tung ho, turnip and Chinese leaf.

The basic stock was water, salt, chicken stock (from a reduced chicken carcass), ginger, turnip and bean curd with Chinese leaf. The food was dipped into the simmering stock using wooden chopsticks or fine metal scoops, cooked, and then dipped into bowls containing soy sauce, chili oil and white pepper before being popped into the waiting mouthes - wonderful!

After a leisurely cooking and eating session (accompanied by a nice bottle of chilled Sauvignon Blanc and some cans of Barr's Irn Bru) we retired to the Christmas Tree for the traditional present opening.

Happy Christmas!

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