Well after a mammoth effort from Malcolm, our steel fabricator/ artist, Caroline, our landscape architect and the help of the rest of the Fitzroy Nursery team (http://www.fitzroynursery.com.au) we had another huge challenge to deliver a fabulous Christmas lunch for 25 family members. Of course, in our usual style, we decided to try completely new dishes on the menu as we'd get bored otherwise.
We had a Japanese theme this year and the only items we purchased were the Japanese nibblies for pre-lunch munchies (sweet and savoury, including Wasabi peas - boy they're hot!), some frozen gyoza (vegetarian dumplings) and some california rolls from Edo Sushi in Degraves street.
We made a Sake Marinated Beef dish which we started on the night of Dec 23rd (marinating and then slow cooking on Dec 24th so it was lovely and tender). We also marinated some chicken with teriyaki sauce, made a lovely Mandarin salad (Karen Martini favourite) and a Japanese cucumber salad (Jamie Oliver special).
Sandra and Julie brought way too much lemonade (but thanks) and Ania brought a beautiful fruit platter which everyone enjoyed. Whilst the tempura batter gave Mark a few troubles getting it sorted in the borrowed deep fryer and a very bad sunburn on the back of his neck, everyone had a good time.
The party eventually moved downstairs as it simply got too hot on the roof. The summer berry mascarpone tart turned out to be a lovely addition (even thought he biscuit base didn't work).
The group eventually left about 3.45/4pm to either view the Myer windows or head home before doing it all again at Roma's by 6.30pm. Phew, what a day!
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