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jack
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Likes it here |
Location: England
Registered: September 2006
Messages: 304
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Hi all you people and friends around the world.
Im in the uk and we will have a traditional Christmas dinner.
Which will consist of turkey cranberry sauce Brussels sprouts parsnip
swede roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding carrots.
followed by mince tarts and Christmas pudding, and cream
all washed down with lots of wine.
what do you do in your countries and different areas of Britain.
life is to enjoy.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Now, by "swede" do you mean that small hard white root or the larger orange root?
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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jack
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Likes it here |
Location: England
Registered: September 2006
Messages: 304
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orange root all mashed up with pepper added
:-/
life is to enjoy.
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jack
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Likes it here |
Location: England
Registered: September 2006
Messages: 304
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oh and butter added
life is to enjoy.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Ah, so you are a southerner!
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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There'll only be the two of us. Our son is having a blast in India (see http://getjealous.com/aletal if at all interested). Last year we went away to Vienna. This year I can't fly because I've just had some knee surgery, so we're at home.
The plan is to create leftovers!
- Roast turkey larded with streaky bacon and with cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon on it
- One sweet and one tart stuffing, usually the tart one cooked in the neck of the bird and the other in a separate dish
- roast parsnips
- Roast baby carrots
- If we have sprouts they'll be from a stalk, not frozen, but it's more likely that we'll have savoy cabbage
- Bread sauce
- Roast potatoes
- cranberry sauce - simple, not fancy
Now desert. I may create an Apfel Strudel, to be eaten with whipped cream. Mince pies are on the menu, but I think those are for the morning while we're cooking, though this doesn't really take very long
Christmas pudding is overrated, so we'll ignore it.
[Updated on: Tue, 04 December 2007 20:32]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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jack
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Likes it here |
Location: England
Registered: September 2006
Messages: 304
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Hey that sounds a sexy meal.
i forgot we have streaky bacon and small sausages with stuffing sage and onion.
yeh i live down south my parents are Londoners.
I used to live in N1 on the corner of New North Road & Essex Road that leads to the Angle, and yes i used to visit Angle market as a child.
life is to enjoy.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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There's a fabulous "All you can eat for £3.50" Indian place at the more Camden end of Chapel Market! I'm assuming it's Chapel Market you mean?
The bread sauce is fundamental, you know! Must have bread sauce!
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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jack
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Likes it here |
Location: England
Registered: September 2006
Messages: 304
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yes it is
cambden was called camden passage.
Nice fish and chip shop up to wards i think its called upper street
well nice place now.
I remember your post when i think you Davide i think Cossey all had a meal there.
life is to enjoy.
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jack
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Likes it here |
Location: England
Registered: September 2006
Messages: 304
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i actually cook asian for me and my wife
life is to enjoy.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Ah, now Camden Market has changed radically in recent years! Loads of stalls and loads of food stalls, all low priced food, but not wondrous quality.
The Chapel Market one we gathered at. I was introduced to it by JFR a few years ago. What an amazing find!
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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First I got a question. Isnt a traditional English Christmas done with a goose? The Turkey is native to only the Americas so would not have been introduced to the British and Europe till at least the 1700s if even then.
We always have a traditional Christmas Dinner. Turkey, Country ham, green bean cassarole, sweet potato cassarole, Mashed potatoes (made with fresh whole milk) Cranberry sauce (plain and fancy), spiced carrots, Turnip grees and turnips, and the best of all day old bread dressing. For desert there will be Sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, chocolet chess pie, fried apple turn overs, sugar cookies (decorated of course), and to drink, home made wine, ice tea, egg nog (with wild Turkey for the adults), cokes, and bestest of all Dr. Pepper.
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you......
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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In England the tradition was probably chicken. When I was a kid that was a real treat, and beef was an everyday meat. Times change!
Then we had capons, but caponisation is rather cruel and the EC outlawed it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capon - or we outlawed it, or something.
We had goose one year. Wonderful flavour, but at least half the bird's weight is fat - awesome for the roast potatoes, but useless otherwise. And a large goose is a meal for 4 people with no leftovers.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Benji
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Likes it here |
Location: USA
Registered: August 2007
Messages: 297
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Personally, I prefer Prime Rib for X-mas Dinner (Having just had Turkey for Thanksgiving and all) Double-baked potatoes, Asparagus, rolls and desert. No ham (I don't eat pork)...Yep, I do all the cooking
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I help my grandma and my mom cook since were feeding about 60 people. Thats how I learned to cook and my dad hated it. I make the chocolet chess pie and Im telling you its good good good.
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you......
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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Since I am alone.....
I will stay home.....
I don't cook a huge meal just for me..... It will be sandwqiches just like every other day.....
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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Here in the States my family would have our big Turkey feast on Thanksgiving. That was accompanied with dressing of course. Then the dressing and mashed potatos were smoothered in rich Turkey gravy. A green bean cassarole, candied yams (or sweet potatos), potato salad and pickled veggies rounded out the main course.
Christmas follows so close behind Thanksgiving that I don't really want to do Turkey again. One year it might be a big roast ham and the next year prime rib. This is usually served with a baked potato (and everything under the sun to put on it) and a couple veggies.
I only go all out like that when I invite friends over. But most years I'm like Marc and it's just sandwich time. But I do make it a point to go visit people and eat the snacks they put out... lol. I try to stay busy over the holidays so they aren't depressing.
Youth crisis hot-line 866-488-7386, 24 hr (U.S.A.)
There are people who want to help you cope with being you.
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cossie
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On fire! |
Location: Exiled in North East Engl...
Registered: July 2003
Messages: 1699
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... damned Americanisation! Snort, grumble!
The traditional British Christmas Dinner was built around a goose -
'Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat;
Please put a penny in the old man's hat!
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do;
If you haven't got a ha'penny, God Bless You!'
The goose was only supplanted by the turkey from about the late 1950s, partially for the reason Timmy suggests - that there is a good deal less meat on a goose - and partially as part of the Americanisation of the British Christmas, imported along with the Coca-Cola Santa Claus - prior to World War II the British Santa was commonly dressed in green. Don't worry, Curtster, I'm not really attacking Americans; the changes were promoted in the interests of Big Business, and British companies were eager to grab their share of the available profits.
Timmy mentioned the amount of fat in a goose. In traditional rural families (and mine was one of those!), the fat was collected, cleaned, filtered and cooled into a white paste known as 'goose grease'. This was used as a defence against the cold - when working outdoors in low temperatures, my dad would rub goose grease arould his nose and lips to prevent 'chapping' - the dry, red skin that can cause irritation to exposed flesh. It was also much used as a cold-prevention treatment for children. If my grandmother had had her way, my chest would have been rubbed with goose grease every day from Boxing Day to Easter, but my mother was city-bred, so I was dosed with Cod Liver Oil and Malt instead. Sometimes I think that I might have been better off with the goose grease!
The traditional stuffing was made from sweet chestnuts (the kind that can be roasted), though in Scotland and Northen England, where sweet chestnut trees are rare, stuffing was usually made from sausage meat, flavoured with sage, onions, and sometimes other herbs such as rosemary or marjoram. Cranberry sauce was another import from the United States, and didn't become common until the 1960s.
Having consumed pretty much all the meat from the goose on Christmas Day, the dish of the day on Boxing Day was Giblet Pie, made from the unmentionable inside bits of the goose, together with the neck and any left-over meat, cooked in a rich gravy with a pastry topping. It may sound revolting but, believe me, it tasted delicious!
Meanwhile, the bones of the goose were boiled to make stock for a rich vegetable broth, which fed us for the next two or three days. Though we no longer make Giblet Pie (turkeys don't have enough unmentionable bits), we still produce vast quantities of soup, which is in great demand from family and friends.
Now where was I? Ah, yes - this damned Americanisation! Don't get me started on Hallowe'en! In my day - and even in my kids' day - we had no truck with those namby-pamby pumpkins; WE made our lanterns from turnips - but then Timmy would insist that they were swedes. Mumble, mumble, snort, grumble .....
For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
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Cossie wrote:
>WE made our lanterns from turnips - but then Timmy would insist that they were swedes<
I can't see the difficulty. Turnips are white inside and swedes are orange; swedes of course are not to be confused with Swedes. Enjoyment can be gained from both, but in each case it is a different kind of enjoyment. There is naturally the risk that cannibals can confuse the two as they will put either in the pot, but a quick call to a vegetarian cannibal will soon sort that out.
I trust we can move on now.
Hugs
N
I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.
…and look forward to meeting you in Cóito.
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Benji
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Likes it here |
Location: USA
Registered: August 2007
Messages: 297
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Hummmmmmm! Chocolate Chess Pie?? Could you tell me about it?
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Benji
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Likes it here |
Location: USA
Registered: August 2007
Messages: 297
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LOL, ......but thanks for that insightful look at that historical, I found it interesting....Sorry "we" Yanks screwed with your traditional Halloween & Christmas...I shall raise my glass of wine at x-mas dinner in salute to you and your traditions.
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Benji
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Likes it here |
Location: USA
Registered: August 2007
Messages: 297
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So Sorry to hear that, I will offer a prayer for you after the lighting of the 2nd candle.
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For our feast we will have something different. Mom tried this last year and it was such a hit with everyone we're going to have it again this Christmas. It's called a "Turducken." Mom will completely de-bone a large turkey, a duck, and a chicken. The boneless skinless chicken will be stuffed with sage and smoked sausage dressing, and stuffed into the boneless and skinless duck, and all that stuffed into the turkey. The turkey keeps it's skin and gets nice and roasted. We'll have mashed potatos, gravy, succotash which is baby green lima beans and corn, peas, sauerkraut simmered in wine and caraway seed, extra of the stuffing baked in a dish, and cranberry and orange chutney. We have desserts later, when people drop in. Pumpkin, mince, cherry and apple pies, coconut and chocolate cakes, and Christmas cookies. The cookie baking has already begun. Late Christmas night we will have the brandied fruit cakes that the ladies in the family made before Thanksgiving, and that will be flamed and with vanilla ice cream and more brandy.
I know it sound weird that North Carolinians eat sauerkraut, but New Bern was settled by Swiss people, and some of those German traditions drifted northwards up the Sound I guess.
Our family exchanges presents Christmas Eve after church, and then stockings and goofy presents on Christmas morning.
We're expecting fourteen for dinner, and twice that many for dessert.
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cossie
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On fire! |
Location: Exiled in North East Engl...
Registered: July 2003
Messages: 1699
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Swedes are curious vegetables, rarely seen North of Watford, which are blond and attractive when young but become bald and boring as they ripen,
Whereas swedes are strange Scandinavian creatures with purplish skin and orange flesh,
And turnips are big purple vegetables tough Northern fell-farmers grow to feed their sheep in Winter, though some are used to make proper Hallowe'en lanterns.
Makes sense to me!
For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
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ProfZodiac
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Likes it here |
Location: United States
Registered: August 2006
Messages: 115
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Christmas Eve, I spend at my grandparents' place. It's kind of a potluck, so I usually end up having a lot of Swedish meatballs, deviled eggs, macaroni and ham.
Christmas Day, usually we eat Puerto Rican food. Rice, beans, and pork. We eat with a family down the street, and we frequently let them do the cooking.
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Jack, I'm afraid you must count me out of this thread: I have never eaten a Christmas dinner in my life. Since I am a vegan, I don't think I would like any of the menus suggested in this thread. I am queer. In more ways than one.
J F R
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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You may never have eaten a Christmas dinner, but you dudes sure know how to eat, veggan or no. Over the years I lost count of the hammentaschen I've eaten at Purim, and potato latkes I've eaten at Channucha because my best friend Daniel happens to be Jewish and his mom Lillian cooks like mine does. His girlfriend Hannah is the most fantastic cook, and she makes this beef brisket thing with onions that might just turn you into a cannibal like us! Also she makes incredible pies. My girlfriend is Deborah and she's becoming a great Jewish cook too. Maybe we should have called this thread "Holiday feasts!!" 
P.S. I know how to sing the candle-lighting prayer songs too, and that's so cool to have neat traditions even if I don't totally believe in all the stuff.;-D
P.P.S. Are there any Islamic dudes lurking? I know that during Ramadan you fast in the daytime and tear into it at night, so what cool things do you guys eat? Are there any special feast times for your faith tradition? How about the Asian faith traditions? Are there feasts in those?
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.. which are blond and attractive when young but become bald and boring as they ripen.
Exactly like their human counterparts, Cossie. We know, because they are our neighbours, whom we love to hate.
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NOCHE BUENA!!! YUM...Cant w8...;-D
Meri Kurisumasu mina-san!!!!lmao!
[Updated on: Fri, 07 December 2007 08:29]
yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi
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ScarySteve
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Getting started |
Location: United States
Registered: September 2007
Messages: 4
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A friend of mine from Camden Town tells me that I grew up with a "Victorian Christmas". There was a tree, perhaps a wreath on the door, and possibly some greens on the mantle if we had greens left over from making the wreath. The tree went up on Christmas Eve. First the strands of lights went on. Then the ornaments were placed on the tree. Each ornament had to reflect the light from one of the colored bulbs. Finally, the tinsel was placed on the tree, a single strand at a time. The tree came down around December 28. The whole idea was not to overdo it.
Christmas dinner was a turkey with plain (white bread) stuffing. (Stuffing was one loaf of bread, an onion, several stalks of celery, and one stick of butter, all chopped to bits and sort of mashed together before putting it into the bird.) We also had mashed, candied sweets, peas, jellied cranberry sauce, and cranberry relish. Pies were pumpkin and mince.
I do not understand Brussels sprouts for Christmas. (Mind you, I like Brussels sprouts. I agree with the post saying not to get the frozen. Frozen sprouts are bitter.) I noticed that in one of the Harry Potter books, Harry goes to his friend Ron's home for Christmas and they (Ron and Harry) are forced into kitchen duty preparing the sprouts.
I have had goose once in my life. I was about 12 at the time. We had gone for several days to visit a great-aunt of mine. She had made a roast goose as the big noon meal before we got in the car and drove home. In the three or so hours it took us to get home, I became deathly ill and ended up at the doctor's office late that afternoon. It turned out that the fat of the goose (which I did not eat separately) overtaxed my liver. I ended up feverish and jaundiced. To this day, the mere smell of goose (or duck, for that matter) starts my gag reflex working.
As for sauerkraut (which I loathe), I eat some along with a pork roast on New Year's Day. It's an old Pennsylvania German tradition. Being from the Philadelphia area, one adopts certain traditions from the nearby Pennsylvania Dutch country. ("Dutch" in this case is a bastardization of "Deutsch" as the original settlers of the area identified themselves.)
On Boxing Day, I send a case of Salada tea (an American brand) to a friend of mine in Liverpool, UK. She loves Salada. Who am I to deny her?
Out of my own "heritage" I don't think there are any traditions. My father's people were mostly Scots with a touch of German. My mother's people were mostly Welsh with a touch of Scots. The fob on my car key contains a red dragon on a green and white background with CYMRU written at the bottom. I am a fair singer of hymns, so there must be some Welsh blood in there still.
Some year, I want to go one May to the choir festival at St. David's (Church? Cathedral?) in Pembrokeshire. I have written far too much.
Bonus question: If you had Harry Potter's powers, what animal form would your patronus charm take?
ScarySteve
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> Bonus question: If you had Harry Potter's powers, what animal form would your patronus charm take?
Im not a huge fan of HP but id want my patronus charm to take a wolf's form..or..or a jigokuchō!...but that'd look kinda girly  ... i think im going wit the wolf on this 1... ;-D
yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi
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Re: Christmas dinner 
Holiday feasts 
