Christmas Down Under VII

Yesterday marked my seventh Christmas in Australia.  And while I now have my own Christmas traditions, I miss spending it with my family.  I miss the crisp air while shopping for Christmas presents, and stopping for Starbuck's speciality drinks (Gingerbread Lattes, Peppermint Mochas, Mulled Spiced Cider- okay, Starbuck's haven't had this in years but I can hope they bring it back one day, right?)  I miss the smell of fresh pine Christmas trees, mixed with the smell of baking spices.  And I miss lining up in front of Pottery Barn on Burlingame Ave with my sister the day after Christmas.

The funny thing is, I have a more traditional Christmas here than I grew up having.  Christmas dinners of my youth were a strange combination of sometimes a roast turkey or ham and Chinese dishes, that was when we didn't go to a Chinese restaurant.  The last time we had a Christmas tree, my big boy Labrador, Sundance, lifted his leg on it.  I remember getting one too many turtlenecks as gifts.  I think maybe it's because of this, that my sister and I promised each other when we had our own families we would have Christmas our way.  But since we both started our own families, we actually haven't spent a single Christmas together.  I hope next year, we do!

Christmas Eve
MissE and I made cookies for Santa

MissE couldn't wait for these to come out of the oven

Christmas Eve dinner is a Seafood Extravaganza.  While MissE and I were blissfully sleeping, Conor went to The Sydney Fish Markets in the early morning hours (2am) for our prawns, scallops and Moreton Bay Bugs.  On the menu: coriander and parsley prawn skewers, mustard seed chilli prawns, chilli scallops, Morton Bay Bugs mornay and drenched in garlic.  MissE loves her Moreton Bay Bugs!

After dinner, MissE set out cookies and milk for Santa and watched her first Carols by Candlelight.

Christmas Day MissE loves a sleep-in!  We started the day at 9am with presents first!

MissE and the presents!

A new laptop!

MissE waiting for waffles on her new Ms Food Face plate

Santa brought us a an X-Box 360 Kinect: MissE and daddy playing

MissE and her cousin spent the day playing and of course, eating turkey and ham!

Caught!  MissE takes a break and watches the clouds pass her by after a great Christmas Day!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I can't believe it's 10 sleeps to Christmas.  I was prepared in November but now that it's upon us, I am not even close to ready!

Here's how the lead up has been:

My work's Family Christmas Party was the start of the silly season.  It was a great day out, with a petting zoo, teacups, a super slide, music and gifts for each child in attendance.  We spent most of the day in the petting zoo as MissE is affectionately known as The Goat Whisperer, and later once the super slide opened, the mini-daredevil was up and down that the rest of the afternoon.

The Goat Whisperer

MissE's gift were Stackers.  She loves putting things in the barrels, shaking it, and stacking them. 

Super slide... MissE wasn't scared at all!

MissE also went on her first pony ride.  She was a natural!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

The Mister of the house was very strict on when we could put our Christmas Tree up.  I patiently waited until the 28th of November which was the true start of advent this year.  Here's my little elf and reindeer helpers:

 Who's going to tell MissE there still 27 sleeps to Christmas???

Santa Photo 2010

After checking out 3 shopping centres, and 1-2 "visits" (read: reconnaissance) with Santa, and backing out of line once, MissE happily "cheeseburger" (smiled for a photo) with Santa.  Santa's Helpers were lovely and came to play with MissE while we were in line and Santa was also very patient so it was an overall a great experience for her. 

Lately, we've been thinking that maybe it was better to have a bad experience with Santa because MissE now asks to see Santa every day!

The NAH Christmas Party marked my last event with the company.  I hope I went out with a bang!  Or fire bombs anyway! 

The venue was the Q Station.  I first used this venue in 2009 for a sales conference and it's been a favourite since.  (MissE was one week old for that sales conference so I was not in attendance)

I ain't afraid of no ghosts!

I was glad this was my last event so I had a chance to express my creativity again.  The theme was Casino Royale: Bright Lights Big City.  Although bow ties were not required, I loved that some gentleman still wore them... and even better, their bow tie matched their wives dress!There were casino tables (poker, roulette, and blackjack) and a glow bar.  Martini's were flowing and the dance floor was thumping!

Sydney Prop Specialists transformed a dining hall into a casino

My centrepieces

Double Downs provided full size tables and the croupiers: Blackjack

Texas Hold 'Em

Roulette

Glow Bar with Twisted Liquid bartenders

Firestarter

Fire bombs!

Fresh Seafood Platter

All on black!

Check out my fancy footwork!

And finally, MissE's Christmas Tea was yesterday.  She devoured a cupcake, sat on Santa's lap (whew!  That's today's Santa visit done), and got a present.  We were also given the most gorgeous portfolio of pictures and MissE's artwork throughout the year.

MissE thinks if she sits here and smiles for the camera, she'll get a cupcake...

She was right!  How many bites to the centre of a cupcake?  2!

MissE and Santa

Anything else in there???

U2 360 Tour

The last concert I went to (and I can't believe I am actually admitting this) was the Justified/ Stripped Tour (Justin Timberlake/ Christina Aguilera) in 2003.  I was thrilled to get tickets to U2 this time, especially since their special guest is Jay-Z.  It was a toss-up as to who I was more excited to see.

Jay-Z, unfortunately, was under-appreciated by most of the crowd.  Not surprisingly since I overheard on the train "Is it Jay-Zed?" (Ugh, Australian's and "zed".  It's "Z"!) "Or is it Jay and Z?" "Who are they?"  Eyes rolling.  The audience did get grooving for "Empire State of Mind" and "Numb/ Encore, but just stood there for  "99 Problems" and "Young Forever" dedicated to  Pimp C (the crowd was dead silent... who???), Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.  *Sigh*  How much do I miss the Bay Area?!

It was a long hour wait for the main event: U2... tick tock tick tock.

I had heard U2 weren't great live, but I thought they were!  What I love about U2 is that there is large age-range of fans with a grandma and grandpa grooving next to me.  The 360 Tour space-shuttle set was pretty spectacular and proved to be not just a screen.

Mysterious Ways (dedicated to Nicole Kidman)

Elevation

Not a bad view from where we're standing

The space shuttle beginning its transformation

Highlights: Sunday Bloody Sunday/ Get Up Stand Up Mash-up with Jay-Z returning to the stage.  And a moving dedication to Michael Hutchence (INXS) of Stuck in the Moment/ Devil Inside/ Never Tear Us Apart.  I actually hadn't heard Stuck in a Moment in a while, it's not one of my favourites but last night, maybe it was because it was my last day at work... maybe it was the acoustic version, I actually listened to the lyrics and was standing in the midst of 80,000 people with tears running down my face.

And you are such a fool
To worry like you do
I know it's tough
And you can never get enough
Of what you don't really need now
My, oh my

You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment
And you can't get out of it

Oh love, look at you now
You've got yourself stuck in a moment
And you can't get out of it

I was unconscious, half asleep
The water is warm 'til you discover how deep

I wasn't jumping, for me it was a fall
It's a long way down to nothing at all

You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment
And you can't get out of it

Don't say that later will be better
Now you're stuck in a moment
And you can't get out of it

Well, I am pretty sure I got myself out of the moment I was stuck in (See 'Just call me Petra Pan').  Since when did I become so emotional???

To be a fly on the wall in the green room!  The concert was the place to be in Sydney last night with Oprah, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Kanye West, Nicole Kidman, and Bob Geldof in the stadium!

What did the turkey say before it was roasted?

Answer: Boy! I'm stuffed!

Thanksgiving was last week and like the last 5 years, I celebrated it from afar.  And no, Australia doesn't recognise or celebrate Thanksgiving.  There were no Pilgrim settlers and Native American tribes giving thanks for a bountiful harvest Down Under in 1621.  So dinner is usually on the weekend because Thursday is not a public holiday and it's always HOT.  I never noticed that all the food that goes into a Thanksgiving Dinner are oven-baked until my first Thanksgiving in Australia in 90-degree-heat!  This year was no different so while the turkey was roasting, the A/C was set on 'Artic'.

Cooking for Thanksgiving without the basic ingredients like Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin,  French's French Fried Onions, Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix and Stove Top Stuffing is also a challenge.  The first year I ordered supplies from http://www.usafoods.com.au/ which is a great website for us ex-pats to get a taste of home (He-lo, Doritos Cool Ranch) .  The years that followed, mostly due to lack of preparation, I slowly built-up my copycat recipes and came to realization that what's more giving thanks for a bountiful harvest than making pumpkin pie from scratch.  So here's my receipe using real pumpkins:

Ingredients
2 cups mashed, cooked pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Crust:
2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening (Copha for those in Australia)
1/2 cup cold water

• Halve a Kent pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and stringy bits.  Cut the pumpkin into chunks.  In a sauce pan,  in 1 inch of water, heat the pumpkin (peel too) to boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender.  Drain, cool, remove the peel (you should be able to peel it off easily), and mash.  I used a food processor.

• Pre-heat oven to 400F or 200c
• Prepare pie crust by mixing together the flour and salt.  Cut the shortening into the flour.  Add 1 tbsp cold water to the mixture at a time.  Mix dough and repeat until dough is moist enough to hold together.
• With lightly floured hands shape the dough into a ball.  On a lightly floured board, roll the dough to 1/8" thickness.  With a sharp knife, cut dough 1 1/2 inch larger than a round upside down pan.  Gently transfer dough into the round pan.

• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Mix well.  Pour into prepared pie crust and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.