Monday 5 January 2009

'Tis the Season, lah dee dah

Can you believe these shots? I can't, and I was there.
This is how we spent Christmas at my inlaws', including my mother. Or rather, this is what we ate during the holidays. For here in Denmark it is customary to rank food right up there with the gifts, and the older you get, the more "foody" it turns. Judging from endless Thanksgiving specials on just about every tv show from the States we're not the only ones to make holidays all about the food (who could forget those dinners at the Walsh residence, where Brandon would bring a homeless guy to the table and pass him the cornbread like he was Jesus or something?). Anyway, this is a peek into our traditions. The first shot is from Christmas night which we all celebrate on the 24th with a pork roast or a roast duck as in this photo. In my family we used to have turkey because my mother's Australian, but I do like a good duck too. Here it's dressed in the traditional cuff made out of cut, white paper and to top it: A fresh sprig of pine. Served with a Waldorf salad, caramelized potatoes and a sauce that was to die for (made on roquefort cheese, red currant gelly, cream and the tasty drippings from the duck-tray, [drool]).



Yup, that's my mother's hand going for the juicy duck. Can you blame her?


Next day's feast was a Christmas lunch, complete with roast pork, "rullepølse" (the pink thing in slices, a kind of pork roulade with a pepper filling. Sounds strange, but is delish when served with fresh onion rings and mustard), fried, pickled herring and carpaccio (admittedly not a classic in the Danish kitchen, but a classic all the same). Great stuff, I tells ya! And on a side note: How campy is that roaring fire place in the background?! But it warms the heart, doesn't it?

Merry Christmas, or "Glædelig jul" as we say in this country of ours.

No comments: