Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas Dinner '09

Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Got myself into an impromptu Christmas dinner cook off with Faye in my Thanksgiving post here.


Was wondering how to get around carrying out this task as my mom is infamous for hogging the kitchen due to her love for baking. And the times she does let you in, rest assured she would be standing nearby peering skeptically at you like a hawk, ready to screech 'NOOO NOT LIKE THAT!!! YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!' and scare the living daylights out of you.

Thanks a lot mom for the 'encouragement' wteff.

Needless to say, I hated cooking or baking of any sorts as long as she was present. Its more like a death sentence than a fun hobby ok.




No one looks good cooking ok shaddap

But then the night before, guess who fell sick? :D Ok technically I shouldn't be happy hahaha ahem plus at that moment, the last thing I wanted to do was rejoice as everyone including her were like 'well you got your wish, the whole kitchen is yours now have fun, dinner (for 7 people) must be ready at 7pm the latest BAIBAI'!

T_________________T

Never in my entire life had I roasted anything before as my specialty are desserts and out of the blue, the task of cooking a full fledged dinner was dumped to inexperienced me T__T I was only looking forward to HELPING ok, not cooking everything single handedly!

My dad who religiously stalks my blog knew about this cook off though and was highly enthusiastic about it, whipping out his camera to snap pics of me as 'proof' wteff.



They were cheering every now and then ok like some over devoted parents it was unnerving. Like hello, why are they more excited about this than me hor. Anyway, thanks to the lovely internet, hounding my mom every 5 minutes for tips and a few prayers, everything came together deliciously ♥



 Stuffed turkey and Shepherd Pie (left, and is made of lamb meat and mashed potatoes)

Apparently, the paper bag containing the giblets found in the neck of the turkey needs to be opened and the contents emptied out when making the gravy/soup and not thrown as a whole into a pot like some sort of teabag like I originally thought and wasted a pot of fragrant turkey stock just like that T__T



 Pineapple Glazed Ham





Pecan Pie which was omgsoeffingyummy!

I will make this again soon because its totally unlike whatever pie I've tried before plus the fact that I've been lusting after this pie since young since pecans weren't readily available (nor cheap) in Malaysia. Made from scratch btw (even the corn syrup which took effing forever T__T) yes everything is made from scratch cuz my mom don't believe in ready made store bought stuff T__T



Full crappy shot of the dinner table. I'm hungry so excuse the quality ok and yes the tables are not chun because we had to combine two separate tables oh how I long for my house in Malaysia every time I see pictures like these sigh.  The rotini salad is made by 2nd sis :) And the tiny Christmas fruitcake all the way at the back by my mom a month ago (because it tastes better with age) cuz no one in my family likes fruitcake at all except her and my dad.

Thanks to Levin and 2nd sis for helping me make this dinner too like slicing meats or washing the dishes (hahaha I love this the most! I mean them helping me wash the dishes and not me doing it ok).

The whole dinner process took me from 10am right up to 6.30pm at night. Exhausting but I feel so accomplished now! I can cook! This is for all those women who sneer at me and 2nd sis every time thinking we are nothing but shopping bimbos when we say we can cook. Hello, lao niang can do better ok plus look prettier than you again overall *bitter



I don't know who is prouder, me or my parents who kept telling everyone in facebook that their daughter cooked Christmas dinner this year lol.

Anyway, this was my Christmas for 2009 ♥

3 comments:

f said...

Zomg zomg zomg. I hadn't read this before I did my Christmas post, but wow! Zomg your turkey looks amazing. With giblets and gravy omg so autenthic. *hearts* My chicken with bbq sauce is so Cheat One lol. XD And HAM!!! I wanted to do something like that, ham or something, but hard to find, sumore will be super expensive. T_T And sheperd's pie omg...I should really try make one. And and pecans!!!Yeah pecans are damn hard to come by in this shanty town (like turkey) but the one in your pic looks so gorgeous. Omg omg I love your Christmas dinner omg.

Which camera did your dad use btw? It has this 90s sorta vintage feel to it. Or was it Photoshop. :P

Oh man I can't stop raving. Your Christmas looks awesome. :) But yeah happy belated Christmas and new year to you and your family! Looks like we both had fun cooking for our families. Though I feel so domesticated, like a housewife. Lol.

hana said...

You hadn't read it simply because I hadn't posted it before you posted yours yet and cheated on the timestamp XD

Cheat One LOL! try turkey next year then i dare you or something dare doesn't seem to be the right word hmm but you get the gist of it! :D

and how do you know about giblets because i only heard of them when i pulled it out and was all wtf is this? you know everything ok i feel highly uninformed and undeserving of a turkey now T___T

And its not THAT expensive ok Faye cuz I could afford it every year and you know very well we earn a fraction of what you guys earn only ok. Its worth it because its what made christmas, well christmas (or maybe we're just highly influenced by america) so i encourage you guys to try a turkey for xmas at least once <3

You want the shepherd pie recipe?

And it was photoshop HAHA. Google vintage effect in photoshop and you'll figure out how too. I thought it was the only saving grace for an unflattering photo HAHAHA.

Happy New Year to you too! I feel the same. Man, I'm glad we did this cuz it made this year's christmas so much more special <3

f said...

Lol you Cheat One timestamp XD

Giblets well...it was just something I heard of before. I have no idea how to make gravy with them. XD I don't know everything la dear. :)

Where did you get your turkeys from in Kuching? I think I'm not looking at the right places thats why it's so expensive.

I can always look up sheperd's pie recipes on the net but I could check out yours, since it's tried and tested. :)

Lol Photoshop. Love the effect though.

Yeap I'm glad we did this too!! I made it my tradition, you can too. ;) I think it's a much better present for the family than getting normal gifts. :)