Christmas for me smells like suntan lotion and the aromas of a barbecue laden with meat and seafood. It sounds like the slap of Flip Flops on a lazy day with a painstakingly selected Christmas play list humming our favourite festive tunes in the background. (This year we'll be drawing heavily on Michael Bublé's new album, Christmas.) Christmas for me is all about time spent with family.
The focus is always on the kids. We have three boys who rule the day, my brother Brendan's two sons (my nephews) and our little Ethan. Santa makes his arrival with gifts, then we have a long lazy lunch outside in the garden with swimming and games of pool to work off the barbeque lunch.
We always serve up some traditional British fare like a roast turkey or a cured ham and we used to have Christmas pudding with all the trimmings. Then last year my sister-in-law found a recipe for pudding flavored ice- cream that works so much better in hot weather. It is so easy to make, I've popped the recipe below for you to try. My top tip? Make sure you double the quantities because you won't be able to stop eating it. We had to keep refreshing supplies last year to keep up with the demand!!!
As kids we used to get fake snow and edge the windows with it, which seems very odd now. I have either grown up, or we are moving more and more away from what we see depicted in movies as 'traditional Christmas' images. We sometimes send Christmas cards depicting snowy vistas with red robins and reindeer, but my favorite cards show Santa arriving by surfboard with a sack full of gifts and a pair of sunnies perched on his zinc-creamed nose.
This year we will be showing Kris' parents Christmas Aussie style. I'm sure it will be a shock to the system, but as they love the sunshine, hopefully it will become their new favorite way of celebrating the festive season!
Wishing the MyDaily team and readers a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy new year.
Dx
Oz Stylin Xmas Pud!!!
Ingredients
2 x litres vanilla ice-cream (full fat).
1 x cup toasted almond slivers. Lightly crushed in a mortar and pestle.
1 x small handful of mixed glace cherries (red, green & yellow for Christmas colour). Chopped into small pieces.
1 x cup of mixed dried sultanas and apricots.
1 x 100gm block good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa). Roughly crushed in the mortar and pestle.
2 x tablespoons ground cinnamon.
2 x teaspoons ground nutmeg.
2 x teaspoons ground ginger.
4 x tablespoons Cointreau.
Method
- Leave the ice-cream out of the freezer for around 20 minutes to allow it to soften.
- Add all the ingredients and roughly mix together in a glass bowl with a large spoon until just combined.
- Transfer into a stainless steel bowl or mini-bowls.
- Cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer. Allow to freeze overnight.
- Decorate with grated dark chocolate & fresh mint leaves.
For more musings from Ms Minogue, visit Dannii's MyDaily editor page.