Wishing my readers a belated very Merry Christmas and all the best for a bright and happy year in 2015!!

We visited Mr. CA4G’s sister and her husband this year for Christmas. They live on the Central Coast of NSW and rather than join all the drivers heading off on holiday, we decided to take the train. It is a pleasant and very scenic journey once you leave the outskirts of Sydney. Lots of sandstone cliffs and mountains, sparkles glint off the water as the train snakes along parts of the Hawkesbury River, eucalypt forests and quaint little towns.

Christmas eve we have a semi traditional Czech dinner as they celebrate on Christmas eve more so than Christmas Day. Deep fried barramundi (traditionally it would be carp in the  Czech republic,and even though there is a lot of introduced carp in Australian waterways, most of it ends up as fertilizer or left on the river banks) served with Russian potato salad and red cabbage salad.

Christmas day breakfast we have a huge sugar hit, Stollen, Croissants with butter and jams, Swiss cake, panettone, fruit mince tarts and coffee.

My sister in law tries to get most of the cooking and prep done the day before so we can relax a little. For christmas day this year we had our lunch over 5 hours leaving a nice big space between course, We started with melon topped with blue cheese and wrappd in black forest ham and devils on horseback. For entree we had pork , veal and pistachio terrine that I made, with mango chutney. For mains we had turducken, glazed and roasted ham, roast beef, gravy, roast vegetables, Russian potato salad and red cabbage salad. Dessert we ended up having at dinner time, boozy trifle. My sister in law also made some reindeer poop as a bit of  gag sweet, chocolate and hazelnut clusters.

I hope you all had a wonderful day and were able to share it with your loved ones. Have a happy New Year and look forward to your company again next year!!