Ho Ho Ho ... Burp!

Christmas is a time for family and friends. Christmas is a time for celebration. For me personally, Christmas is a great reason to cook ... for what better joy than to have people you love congregate to enjoy the fruits of your labour of love!

Japanese inspired shrimp hors d' oeuvre

Garlic croutons - the kids love to help out with these

Pumpkin soup 

Thyme Mustard Garlic Roasted Chicken stuffed with onions

Hot and Smouldering BBQ Baby Back Ribs

Creamy pesto prawn and squid pasta - I wasn't in time with my handy camera before it was nearly finished

Caesar salad with home made dressing and an overload of pan fried bacon bits

A lightweight tiramisu - one that's kinder to the waistline

A slice of tiramisu heaven

Tis the season to be jolly

Christmas .. a time to be jolly indeed. There is much ado amongst the little ones in putting up the Christmas decorations, wrapping of gifts and baking of cakes. By little ones, i mean my 7 year old niece, 6 year old nephew and 4 year old daughter. Fine with me as it makes convenient holiday activities for the kids instead of having their eyes glued to the tv and heads bent over the i-pad all day long.

Much as I say Christmas is for the children, their enthusiasm was so catching that it rubbed off on me in all the right ways. So we trotted out to get some simple santa pieces to dress up the stairs as well.

Crooked is in.. :)

Christmas colors complement the warm colors of my existing wall paintings