Every year at Christmas families get today and enjoy traditional Christmas dinner - roast turkey with all the trimmings, soups and terrines, and of course, the Xmas pud. I know this to be especially true in both the UK and Malta. However, in Malta we do try to mix it up a little. We love our turkeys and our hams, and a slowly roasted salmon always goes down well. But we do put our own flavour to things.
This year, my parents, sister and I spent Christmas day at another member of the family, which was fantastic. No rushing around making sure the potatoes didn't get too roasted and constantly topping up people's drinks. Instead we got greeted at the door with some bubbly and spent the first hour admiring the tree and decorations, gossiping with friends, and enjoying the Christmas dips.
Their lunch was quite excellent. Instead of a soup or terrine starter, we got Sean Bradshaw's timpana - a Maltese pasta bake in the form of a pie. This is a fairly simple dish to make, but difficult to master and Sean has got it down. It did mean, unfortunately, that we were all quite full when it came to the main course. But we sipped a bit more wine and sucked it up. And those not smart enough to wear loose dresses unbuttoned their trousers.
For the main, we got a 10kg turkey and possibly just as much gammon. The most fantastic part was that we got a Maltese sausage stuffing which was literally to die for. I'm not saying that it was better than any stuffing in the world, but it was better than any I've ever tasted. Make of that what you will.
After all this, when moving became a non-event and we had burned the Christmas pudding, we moved onto another 12 hours of nibbling and drinking and enjoying the festivities. Really quite lovely. I did leave this party briefly to go to another family member's house to wish my cousins Merry Christmas, but it was good for me to drink a different wine for a bit.
So I've given you all an idea of what Christmas day in Malta is like, although I completely neglected to discuss the presents aspect. Maybe I'll save that for another post. But how different was my day from yours??
This year, my parents, sister and I spent Christmas day at another member of the family, which was fantastic. No rushing around making sure the potatoes didn't get too roasted and constantly topping up people's drinks. Instead we got greeted at the door with some bubbly and spent the first hour admiring the tree and decorations, gossiping with friends, and enjoying the Christmas dips.
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| My mummy's many cheeses Christmas dip, topped with pistachios. Great on the lips, Fat on the hips!! |
Their lunch was quite excellent. Instead of a soup or terrine starter, we got Sean Bradshaw's timpana - a Maltese pasta bake in the form of a pie. This is a fairly simple dish to make, but difficult to master and Sean has got it down. It did mean, unfortunately, that we were all quite full when it came to the main course. But we sipped a bit more wine and sucked it up. And those not smart enough to wear loose dresses unbuttoned their trousers.
For the main, we got a 10kg turkey and possibly just as much gammon. The most fantastic part was that we got a Maltese sausage stuffing which was literally to die for. I'm not saying that it was better than any stuffing in the world, but it was better than any I've ever tasted. Make of that what you will.
After all this, when moving became a non-event and we had burned the Christmas pudding, we moved onto another 12 hours of nibbling and drinking and enjoying the festivities. Really quite lovely. I did leave this party briefly to go to another family member's house to wish my cousins Merry Christmas, but it was good for me to drink a different wine for a bit.
So I've given you all an idea of what Christmas day in Malta is like, although I completely neglected to discuss the presents aspect. Maybe I'll save that for another post. But how different was my day from yours??
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