Rural Christmas

We have awaken to a sunny and bright morning, hardly Christmas, with a bit of hangover from the day before. Never mind, we are very excited, it is our turn to prove to the family we can also cook. There is a lot to prepare before the family arrives. We have four guests today: my parents, brother and Nuria.

What is for lunch? We had traditional Spanish christmas eve dinner back in my parents yesterday. Today, we are having traditional British christmas lunch, although with one variation: we will replace the turkey for chicken.

Turkey is not traditional in Spain. Last week, we looked for it in Carrefour, one of the biggest supermarkets in Spain, and the prices of the few that we could find were outrageous and we couldn’t justify it. The cheapest beast was €60. And by the time you add up the side orders, electricity consumption and cooking time, the cost could shoot up to €100. Considering that you pay €75 for a roasted piglet down in Arenas including potatoes, we didn’t give it second thoughts: forget about turkey, it will be chicken for every one.

Amazing, the accountants view of life. We must even account for and quantify our time when preparing xmas lunch! GDR

Let’s wrap up the presents quickly before we start cooking. We don’t want to be caught. As this year is all about spending and not earning for us, christmas is a bit poor. We feel for the family who has to bear for our crazy decision. Sorry guys!

All ready, for when they come. Presents will be distributed after dinner.

The table has been set up nicely with a christmas touch: a pinecone painted by one of our neighbours in silver and gold . The observation about the table decoration is for those who claim we are not traditional!

My mother has arrived before she promised. Probably because she was hoping to get involved in the cooking. (She will be out of luck there, there can be too many cooks you know. GDR) She just can’t help herself. This attitude has always puzzled me. My mother wanting to cook with someone??

When my brother and I were children, she never used to let us come into the kitchen while she was cooking. Perhaps, she feared that we may end up playing with food, messing around and not really helping. Big mistake, I think, for two reasons. One, because you can have really good fun and quality family time with your kids. Two, because children learn how to cook at an early age and, therefore, they are more likely to help and eat healthier when they grow up.

But today she is a guest. Guests are not allowed to cook in this house. She will be sitting here watching TV or must go and gossip with the neighbours if she gets bored. By the look of her face, I think she is about to bugger off and do the latter.

Gary trying to cheering her up by offering her a glass of wine.

Nope! That didn’t work.

She is praising us though for being so organised in the kitchen.

(I think this is mainly about how we work seamlessly together, she is always alone in the kitchen, Julian wouldn’t know what an oven was for. I am sure she thinks this is a good thing. Wouldn’t want any man messing up her kitchen! GDR)

In two hours we have done all the preparations. The food is either in the oven or ready to be warmed up before serving. “I supposed you are used to cooking together” she says with sadness. “Sharing the task makes life easier and you are twice as fast”.

So what is for dinner?

1) Asparagus soup for starter.

2) Stuffed roast chicken with roast potatoes

3) Roast parsnips and swede – we thought we would struggle to find these, not very popular in Spain. Guess where we found them in the end? Of course, in Lidl!. We had to cook them for the Spaniards to try –.

4) Bread sauce

5) Cauliflower with cheese sauce

6) Stuffing

7) Brussels sprouts

8) Gravy

9) And the most awaiting dish by my brother: Yorkshire puddings. He loves them and we love making them for him!

So, how did we manage to prepare everything beforehand and still go for caῆas with the guests?

Well:

a) Gary stuffs the chicken with butter and herbs and leave it to rest.

b) He switches the oven on, puts tin foil on the big tray and makes a separation wall; one for the chicken and one for the potatoes. He pours olive oil on the potatoes partition and he puts the tray in so the olive oil heats up nicely.

c) In the meantime I peel and boil the potatoes and swede.

d) While the potatoes are boiling, I peel and cut the parsnips and put them aside, followed by cutting the cauliflower in florets and boil them.

e) After six minutes, I drain the potatoes and swede and put them in the oven as well as the chicken. Both need to be left for two hours. That bit: done!

f) While the cauliflower is still boiling, I prepare the cheese sauce, which is simply a bechamel adding grated cheddar and stir constantly until it melts. By the time I finish with the sauce, the cauliflower is ready. In a separate dish, I pour the cheese over the cauliflower and put it aside. This dish will go in the oven half an hour before we serve the main meal.

g) At the same time, once Gary has finished with the chicken, he moves on to the bread sauce. He mixes milk with breadcrumbs, some nutmeg, pepper and herbs and can’t remember what else he put in.

h) The stuffing is minced pork, breadcrumbs, herbs and eggs.

i) Now time to make the mixture for the Yorkshire pudding: flower, milk and a beaten egg. Whisk and leave it to rest. The mixture then gets poured into pockets of a metallic tray, similar to a muffin tray and will be shoved in the oven half an hour before dinner.

j) Whilst Gary is doing his bit, I am spending my time on the starter. Very easy: fry onions, garlic and saffron, then add the asparagus. After a couple of minutes, add the water and stale bread and leave it to cook for half an hour. Whisk it and put it aside to be warm up when we sit down.

So, all done!. The brussels sprouts can be boiled at the last minute and the gravy, we are cheating with gravy granules so will only take five minutes.

So now that is all done let’s go for a drink or two. I think we deserve it! We head off to La Chucerria, good homemade crisps are for sale here, and also really nice tortilla. We head back to the house just before three.

Dinner is served at the time we set: 15.00. Guests didn’t have to wait impatiently.

I think they like it. I can tell because of their smiles on their faces. Notice what Nuria is holding in her hands: a small version of Dora. This is Gary’s parents christmas present for this year. A motorhome toy with a sticker of Dora at the front  and another one of a ‘toro’ (bull). ‘Toro’ is the name of our car back home.

Close up of mini Dora.

After being heavily fed, as you do at christmas: presents! They all have been eagerly waiting. “It is a very silly present” we warn them.

So what is it? A T-Shirts with our 2wanderers logo. We designed it and printed it on special paper, which we then cut out and ironed onto the t-shirt, very hot and with lots of pressure. We gave a unique colour per couple. When they open it they can’t stop laughing . We also sent two T-shirts to Gary’s parents. I would have liked to see their faces when they opened the parcel.

Don’t forget to wash them inside out though.

Of course, we have to take a 2wanderers team photo.

Father doesn’t look impressed with his new T-shirt.

This is Gary’s parents’ second present. The ‘Sagrada Familia’ model to put together. The ‘Sagrada Familia’ is a very famous building in Barcelona which has taken a hundred years to finish. It has now become famous for being the “unbuilt building” and they charge thousands of visitors every year because of that, with the excuse of needing the money to complete the works. To be honest, I think it will never happen. They are earning too much money with it as a building site.

Nuria and my brother have had a bit of a row over stealing each other’s pieces for the model. Nuria leaves a bit upset, hurrying my brother to go home. “Come on, we’ve gotta go. Someone has to work tomorrow” she pushes.

Poor Gary has to finish his building on his own. He is quite enjoying it though.

It was quite fiddly as the pieces are so small.

Thanks Linda and Mo for your funny and well thought out presents this year. It was most unexpected and gave us lots of fun.

Mini-dora is going to stay in Guisando as a permanent memory of our journey.

SM & GDR.