Stuffed Tofurkey and Nutroast for Christmas day

Christmas dinner is always a challenge.  Especially for those who don't follow a mainstream diet.  This year Sylvia spent her Christmas lunch with her dad and decided she would make a roast dinner.  But she wanted something instead of a nut roast.  After some discussion we decided upon a tofurkey.  I had only made one once many years ago at a masterclass so had to look up some recipes to work out how to do it.  I want to record it here in case I ever attempt a tofurkey again.  And it is a great reason to write up a blog post on Christmas day

This is our breakfast on Christmas morning.  I made overnight sourdough cranberry nut rolls and served them with Swiss cheese and bottled orange juice.  It was nice to take out some Christmas crockery and sit down to a meal together.

 

The tofurkey was made the day before.  It is not a recipe to make on the day of the meal as there is mixing, fridge time, digging, stuffing, baking, basting.  It was lots of steps but not too unfamiliar.  

Sylvia decided she wanted a pudding shape so we went with moulding it using a bowl.  When we made tofurky at the master class years ago, we shaped it into an oval and made some drumstick shaped legs to attach.  It amused me to shape it like a turkey.  We were shown a way to wrap the tofurky around the stuffing which you can see in the photos on that masterclass post.

What stumped me was the stuffing.  All tofurkey recipes I looked at had stuffing.  Most of the stuffing recipes were chunks of bread and vegetables.  I assume these were American recipes as this is their way of doing stuffing.  I still find it odd.  

When I ate meat many years ago the stuffing we would have was like herbs, sausage and breadcrumbs.  I loved it.  In fact I suspect that one of the main reasons I love my regular Christmas nut roast is that it reminds me a bit of stuffing.  I was making this nut roast anyway so I decided to put some of it in the tofurkey as stuffing.  And to repay the favour I stuffed some tofurkey into the nut roast too.

I gave Sylvia some help by making sure the tofurkey was baked and the potatoes lightly roasted and ready in the oven before I left.  I wrote instructions on cooking the tofurkey and potatoes together for the first 20 minutes and then keeping the potatoes in the oven til crispy.  And I wrote a reminder to cook the brussel sprouts, with the alternative of cooking peas from the freezer, which Sylvia chose.  Did you spot that the brussel sprouts on the top photo are actually Marks and Spencer chocolates with brussel sprouts wrappers (that come with a label claiming "definitely not sprout flavoured")?

I had a slice of tofurkey with some roast vegies when I got home in the evening.  It was quite nice.  The tofu didn't have heaps of flavour and took it from the glaze which had lots of intense soy flavour.  It was a bit crumbly.  I liked it but after a big Christmas dinner, it was not the best time to taste it.  Also I think I would have served it with gravy but Sylvia did not want any as part of the meal.  The tofurkey is vegan and gluten free but the nutroast stuffing is not.

 

Sylvia and her dad also had some golden Gingerbread and butterscotch sponge pudding with vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce.  Her dad brought the pudding but the ice cream was leftover from our raspberry spiders on Christmas eve in front of Carols by Candlelight.  They much preferred the spiced sponge pudding to traditional Christmas pudding with dried fruit.

 

Sylvia will make a great entertainer some day.  As well as roast dinner and pudding, she put together this impressive cheeseboard.  One of the kind people I work with gave me the leftover cheddar and red Leicester cheese from the Christmas drinks.  They were so good.

Meanwhile I was down in Geelong with my parents and siblings' families for presents and lunch.  The gingerbread biscuits are ones that Sylvia had baked and decorated.  We also had a fine platter made by my sister Fran.  Fran also brought the non-alcoholic Mojito syrup so we could add soda water for a refreshing drink.  My brother's girlfriend made Pimms cocktails for those who were after a drink, including a couple of nieces who have recently turned 18.

As I do each year, I took down a favourite nut roast to my parents Christmas dinner.  I usually keep it quite simple but this year as I had the tofurkey I stuffed it.  Above are photos of showing how I prepared the tin and added the stuffing.

You can see in the above photo the the tomatoes and rosemary springs have moved around but they give it a bit of a festive look.  My mum juggles lots of dishes in the oven on Christmas Day.  This year she had 16 people for Christmas dinner (it would have been 17 if not for Covid).  So my nut roast went into her air fryer to heat.  It fitted in best in the silicon tin but I would have preferred to heat it on the serving tray and get some of the bottom browned a little, but space was tight.

I made sure that it had time to rest for a bit between the air fryer and slicing it.  I was please that it sliced thinly but also that the round of stuffing could be seen inside the slices.  The tofurkey was a little crumbly and this made the slices a little less stable than usual.

Here is the spread of dishes that my mum served for Christmas lunch: nut roast, roast potatoes, green peas, roast pumpkin, roast carrots, gf cauliflower cheese.  I had cranberry sauce on my nut roast.  Everyone else had pork, ham and gravy.  Some also had some nut roast - it has a few fans.  It is always a bit chaotic when everyone is serving themselves and we have some robust discussions about which way people should move around the food but once we settle at the table and pull the crackers it is more relaxed.

For dessert we had a selection of chocolate cake, cheesecake, pavlova, mini chocolate ripple cakes and of course plum pudding and custard.  I had a small bowl with a few bits and pieces. All really good!

And now here are some of my wonderful presents.  For me there was a cake turntable and cake scrapers to make it easier to frost a cake.  A beautiful Robert Gordon white serving bowl.  Cute Christmas socks and aromatic Christmas pudding soap.  A book by the very witty Richard Ayoade.  And lovely hand soap and chocolate.

Sylvia also was given lots of lovely presents.  Body washes, a body mist, lip gloss and hand moisturiser.  Books of Rupi Kaur's poetry.  A hairy coo hot water bottle.  Instant ramen.  A coffee pot spoon.  A kitty that coughs up hairballs.  A necklace, crystals and a keyring.  A Taylor Swift Folklore cabin snowglobe.  And money!

Then there was this Grinch lantern snow globe for Sylvia.  We have watched the Grinch a lot and so this Cuddly as a Cactus snow globe seemed perfect for her.

It was a very nice Christmas day with lots of driving.  After lunch, I went to Torquay for a beach swim with my brother and his girlfriend before heading home to Melbourne to the tofurkey.

More vegetarian Christmas dinner ideas from Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:

Stuffed nut roast roulade
Festive layered nut roast with tomato and herbs
Vegetarian Hog’s Head
Nut roast with mac and cheese layer

Brussels sprouts with Cointreau (gf, v)
Whole cauliflower cheese
Port gravy (gf, v)
Potato parsley stars (gf, v)
Roast potato and pumpkin (gf, v)
Spinach salad with spiced nuts and cranberries (gf, v) 

More Christmas recipes

Tofurkey
Adapted from Full of Plants
Serves 8-12

Tofu mixture:
1kg extra-firm tofu, mashed

3 tbsp white miso

2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp chopped parsley leaves

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

Nut roast filling:

1/4 of the nut roast mixture (see below)

 

Glaze:

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

pepper

 

(To mash the tofu, I blitzed it in the food processor in a few batches.)

 

Mix all tofu mixture ingredients.  Line a small mixing bowl with clingfilm.  Press it all into a small mixing bowl.  Place saucer on it and then pile some heavy stuff on it and chill in fridge for a few hours.  

 

Preheat oven to 180 C.  Remove from fridge and spoon out the middle, keeping about 2 cm tofu mixture around the edge of the bowl.  Place the discarded tofu mixture into a bowl.  Add stuffing into the cavity, press it down and fill the last few cm with some of the set aside tofu mixture.

 

I had the nutroast to stuff so some of the stuffing went into it.  If you don't have somewhere else to stuff it, you can add any leftover tofu mixture to a stirfry or a tomato based stew or a tart filling.  It is a chameleon of a mixture that adds texture and protein to many dishes.  Leftovers can also be used in these ways.

 

Mix the glaze ingredients in a small bowl.  Line an oven tray with baking paper.  Turn out the stuffed tofurkey onto the baking paper and discard the clingfilm.  Grab a pastry brush and baste (brush the glaze all over it).  Bake 15 minutes, baste, bake another 15 minutes, baste and bake a final 15 minutes.  Set aside until close to eating.  If you are making this for Christmas Day or an entertaining event, it is best to make the day before.  About 45 minutes before serving, heat at 180 C for 20-30 minutes and let rest before serving.

 

Cheese and Walnut Nutroast
From Sarah Brown via Green Gourmet Giraffe
Serves 8 or a crowd

Nut roast:

500g cottage cheese
100g walnuts, ground
4 tsp wholegrain mustard
2 cup (250g or 8 oz) dry breadcrumbs
4 eggs, beaten

Lots of freshly ground black papper

A grind of salt 

 

Optional tofurkey stuffing 1:

1 cup tofurkey / tofu mixture (above recipe)

1/2 cup roasted cashews ground

1/4 tsp each of garlic, soy and maple

 

Optional tofurkey stuffing 2: 

250g tofu

2 tsp white miso

1.5 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp chopped herbs, such as parsley, thyme and sage

1/2 cup roasted cashews ground

1/4 tsp garlic paste

1/4 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp maple syrup

 

Optional decorations:

cherry tomatoes

fresh herbs, such as rosemary sprigs

Preheat oven to 180 C.  Prepare a 13 x 22cm loaf tin and line bottom with paper.  Grease the sides except if using a silicone pan.  [Optional decorations: If you want your loaf to look fancy, arrange halves of cherry tomatoes (cut side down) and sprigs of rosemary. or whatever fresh herbs you have on hand.]

Combine all nut roast ingredients in a large mixing bowl. [Optional stuffing (1 or 2): Mix all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  Check seasoning and adjust to taste.]

Spoon into prepared loaf tin.  [If you have arranged the optional decorations on the base, just try not to move them too much as you drop spoonfuls on top.  If you have made the optional stuffing, just add about a third of the nut roast mixture. Mould the tofurkey filling into a log lengthways along the middle of the nut roast and then gently spoon the rest of the nut roast around it and cover it on top.] Smooth the top down with the back of a spoon. Bake in moderate oven for approximately 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot or cold.

If you are making this for Christmas or entertaining and want to slice it nicely, it needs to sit for a while before slicing.  Ideally it should sit overnight and then warmed up in the silicone baking tin (not so good to leave in the tin overnight in a metal tin) or on a tray covered with foil.  The next day heat it up but make sure it sits before cutting.  If you try to slice it when it is really hot and soft it will not slice cleanly.

On the Stereo:
Christmas tree farm: Taylor Swift

Tofu, cabbage, capsicum and mushroom stirfry

Today I am sharing a recipe of the stirfry we have been eating every week for the past month or two.  It started when I made myself a stirfry and Sylvia tasted the noodles and decided they were good.  We talked about what vegetables she would like and I made it again a week later.  And the next week.  And on and on and it is still being requested regularly.

I am sharing it here because Sylvia is keen to learn to make it herself and also because there were a few positive comments when I shared a photo a few months back.  Also hands up who noticed that the vegetables are basically the colours of the Suffragettes - purple, green and white?  Sadly by the time it is all cooked, it is a little brown.

 

 

 It is a pretty lazy recipe where I usually just splash in some soy sauce and kejip manis with what veg I have.  This version is one I have been making for Sylvia and tried to measure out some ingredients but still recommend the old taste and adjust flavours towards the end.  And there are days I can't find kejip manis so I splash in more maple syrup.  Sometimes I feel like a little drizzle of sesame oil when I am frying the vegetables.  If I want dinner really quickly sometimes I can't be bothered frying tofu and I add cashews, pre-packaged Japanese marinated tofu or both.

Preparation is important because the stirfry cooks quickly and even when the tofu is frying, I try and turn it (often with tongs) to get even coverage.  I like to slice the cabbage very thinly, to keep the capsicum slightly firm and get some golden hues on the mushrooms as they fry.  I cook it in my cast iron frypan which is a pain to lift, wash and season and probably a bit small but nothing crisps up food like it.  Lastly I cook the sauce until it thickens and clings.  And then we finally reach that satisfying moment of slurping up the slippery salty savoury noodles with added veg and tofu.

More stirfry recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:
Hal's Stirfry Sauce (gf)
Lo mein (v) 
Matthews delicious tofu (gf, v)
Mee Goreng (v)
Tamarind tempeh with noodles (v)

Tofu, cabbage, capsicum and mushroom stirfry
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe
Serves 3-4

250g tofu, cut into 2cm cubes
seasoning
2-4 tsp neutral oil (like rice bran)
2 cups purple cabbage, finely sliced
1 green capsicum, sliced into batons
3-6 button mushrooms, thickly sliced
400g shelf fresh hokkien noodles
3 tbsp shoyu or soy sauce
1 tbsp kejip manis
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp garlic paste (or finely chopped garlic)
1/4 tsp grated ginger (or chilli sauce)

Make sure everything is chopped and prepared before starting.

Toss the tofu blocks in seasoning.  I sometimes add a little smoked paprika or stock powder for flavour.  Pour 1-2 tsp of oil into cast iron frypan on medium high and fry tofu until golden.  I often use tongs to turn over tofu to make sure it is fried all over.  When it is done, remove from frypan and set aside.

Add another 1-2 tsp oil into the frypan and add cabbage.  Stir frequently for a few minutes.  Then add the capsicum, stir frequently and repeat with mushrooms.  Pile the noodles on top, add seasonings and tofu on top and stir until the noodles soften and the sauce thickens and clings - this should only take a few minutes. Taste to check if you need to adjust flavourings.  Serve hot or heat up leftovers.

NOTES:

• Other vegies could be used, eg onion, carrots, zucchini, corn.
  
• I used garlic paste instead of fresh garlic because there was no decent garlic at supermarket.
• It could be served with rice instead of noodles.
• If I have been out of tofu I have made it without and scattered some toasted cashews on at the end.  The supermarket Japanese marinated tofu works well too.
• The recipe is vegan and can be gluten free if you use gf soy sauce or shoyu and rice noodles.
  

On the Stereo:
Evermore: Taylor Swift

Christmas In My Kitchen: January 2023

Happy New Year.  Welcome to another year in my kitchen.  Starting with some food from the fading festive season.  The Christmas decorations are put away!  The leftovers from Christmas are just about eaten.  I am back at work in a few days time.  It has been lovely to have a some holidays.  These started with busy preparing for Christmas, then much needed quiet days recovering from the year and then I got to catch up with family and friends.  I've had time at the beach, the cinema (Lyle Lyle Crocodile and the Fabelmans), the pool and some nice cafes.  We have even had proper hot weather.  And I have purchased a new sofa which should be with us in May.  

I have chosen to focus on Christmas food in this post as there has been a lot around our kitchen.  Above are some gorgeous gingerbread biscuits that Sylvia baked and decorated.  I still have a post to write up on Christmas food as well.

We made a vegetarian version of this mini hotdog Christmas wreath.  It was an easy alternative to making sausage rolls.  We cut the ready rolled squares of puff pastry into 16 squares.  On each square we sprinkled cheese, placed half a vegetarian hotdog on it and wrapped it up and baked it.  Then we took it to a carols service on a plate while still warm and served it with tomato sauce.  They were really good.  And I was happy to have an opportunity to use my new picnic rug.

Sylvia loves making guacamole and she loves the Grinch movie (2018 animated).  It was a no brainer when we saw a picture of a grinch guacamole that she would need to make it.  It was an easy fun snack to make.  There were no black corn chips at the supermarket but I found some oat the Vic Market.

I really liked the Parmesan and cracked papper flavoured popcorn.  There just aren't enough savoury flavours for popcorn!

We usually have a city visit to buy the Krispy Kreme Christmas doughnuts.  This year we did not manage it in city trips so instead bought one of these cute boxes from the supermarket.

We were interested to try some different mince tarts.  The Luxury Black Forest Crumble Mini Tarts were quite nice but tended to stick in the foil cups.  I much preferred the Apricot and Peach Pies.  They were like traditional mince tarts but with lots of dried stone fruit in them.  I prefer a pastry case rather than a crumble top.

We had a shopping trip to Aldi to check out all the specials in the centre aisle.  Strawberry and apple flavours are not very Christmassy but the colours fit so we bought some of the liquorice.  The shortbread tin had a wind up knob on top to play christmas carols.  It made a novel present.  And we were amused to see Aldi had its own version of Tunnocks Caramel waver bars that we love.

This pull apart Christmas tree of Brioche scrolls filled with custard and choc chips was really really good and did not last long!

Sylvia requested we do a practice of these concertina potatoes which are/were all the rage on Tik Tok.  We used Not Quite Nigella's recipe and really loved them.  They had been intended for Christmas day but were a lot of work and Sylvia decided she preferred the fluffier roast potatoes.  Thank goodness!  I will get a post on our tofurkey and Christmas day meals.

It's been a while since we've had paper serviettes but I decided to buy these cute ones for Christmas.  They don't get used much so I assume they will last quite a while.

On our Friday pizza night before Christmas I decided to go festive.  I opted to add camembert and a cranberry sauce to my favourite potato pizza from Heaven.  It was nice because the potato pizza always is but there was too much sauce and not enough camembert.  We have been having fun adding ingredients to takeaway pizzas.

I made fruit mince for the panforte for Christmas.  Sylvia wanted chocolate mince pies and made them as she could see I was busy with other preparations.  She added a lot more choc chips than usual but they were pretty good and went all too quickly.

Here is some of our Christmas even baking.  The chocolate mince tarts from above, the nutroast, the tofurkey and some thyme from the garden, fruit mince, and nachos for tea including the guacamole that Sylvia likes to make in the avocado shells.  Not photographed are the overnight sourdough cranberry nut rolls and panforte.  Thank goodness it was a bit cooler than Christmas day!

We are still not getting through quite as much fruit as usual.  Watermelon is a challenge.  We had some watermelon over and whizzed it up with lots of ice so it was like a slushy.  Sylvia enjoyed eating hers with a spoon.  She garnished it was mint and lime.

And on New Year's Eve had had veg haggis nachos for tea and the instead of making a dessert I just made up a platter of sweet food and fruit: shortbread, white christmas, chocolate lebkuchen, apricot delight, Celebrations chocolate, panforte, stollen, grapes, cherries and peaches. It is crazy to have all of that in the house.  We are gradually making our way through the leftovers but I have been trying not to buy more sweet food while we still have so much in the house.
 

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event.  If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and her gorgeous hand drawn header.

Reflections 2022

We foolishly had such hope for 2022 after two tough pandemic years.  It was another difficult year.  For me it was tough at work and at home.  There was a lot of uncertainty, tiredness, ill health.  It is one thing to reduce mitigations and another to work out what that means for all sorts of life events.  By the end of the year in Australia, many of us were still working from home at least some of the time, we had 10,734,779 covid cases (up from 395,504 in 2020-2021) and 14,813 deaths (up from 2239 in 2020-2021).  What this will mean in the long term is yet to be seen. For now the only certainty is that we have not returned to precovid life, no matter how much we want to.

View from Manchester Unity Building in city while on a tour.

We were not even over Covid when Russia invaded Ukraine, terrible floods devestated parts of the Australian east coast, airlines were back but not as we remembered them, UK tory politics were a mess, the USA shocked us with the Surpreme Court overruling of Roe vs Wade and I endured two months of terrible asthma.  Queen Elizabeth II died.  Even my sourdough starter died.  Meanwhile interest rate rises made mortgages more painful and the price of everything went up. 

We stayed in Windsor Hotel when seeing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Despite the negatives, we were able to enjoy life a bit more than in the last couple of years.  Vaccines and RATs (Rapid Antigen Tests) helped.  Ash Barty won the Australian Open tennis championship.  Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  Patricia Piccinini at the Flinders Street Ballroom.  Grey's Anatomy.  My sister and family visited from Ireland.  Geelong won the AFL Grand Final.  Philip Island holiday.  Science Museum Exhibitions.  My new job started in October.  Christmas carols service.  Daylesford Sunday market. More swimming.  Farewell to Scott Morrison and his secret ministries.  And new hope with the new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Rose Market on a visit there and to Fitzroy Market

It was amazing that I was able to keep up my blog during this crazy year.  It was a challenge to blog every month but the monthly In My Kitchen event with Sherry's Pickings was one of the things keeping me going.  My stats were low, which I suspect might have been partly due to Google ceasing its regular updates and me not having time to set up an alternative.  (Thanks to those who emailed to let me know it was harder to follow.)  Maybe next year I will try and set up something.  Or be on my blog more!

My favorites in food:

• Most regular dish  - Stirfry  (I will post in 2023)
  
• Easy dish - One pot pumpkin, cauliflower and lentil spaghetti
• Best lunch recipe - Broccoli and miso pasties
• Best soup - Vegan mushroom and wild rice soup
• Best sweet recipe - The Kitchn's Easy brownies
• Best entertaining dish - A halloween lunch platter
• Favourite kitchen equipment - cast iron frying pan
• Favourite cafe - Wild Timor Cafe, Coburg

My favourite election placard from federal and state elections this year.

More of my 2022 favorites:

• Novel: The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird
  
• Non-fiction book: Good Pop Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker
  
• New release film: Margrete: Queen of the North
  
• Streamed film: Booksmart
• New release television series: Fisk
• Streamed television series: Grey's Anatomy
• Non-fiction tv show:  The Last Leg
• Comedy sketch: Mark Humphreys 2022 Closing Down Sale 
• Song: Chasing cars by Snow Patrol
• Actor: James Norton
  
• Date: 22/02/2022
  

Wild waters between Coburg Lake and Merri Creek after heavy rains. 

Selection of favourite links:

• COVID Science is Moving Backwards by Benjamin Mazer, the Atlantic, 7/12/2022
• Tim Minchin: ‘Trigger warnings are a bad idea. Don’t be a condescending f**k’ by Helen Brown, inews.co.uk, 23/11/2022
• Omricons in Longjohns, Sammy J, ABC, 1/9/2022
  
• My son doesn't want to eat anymore by Megan Jane de Paulo, Independent Australia, 19/6/2022
  
• Gender bias in student surveys on teaching increased with remote learning. What can unis do to ensure a fair go for female staff? by Kathy Tangalakis et al, The Conversation, 8/3/2022
• Benall Migrant Camp
• The atomic history of Kiritimati – a tiny island where humanity realised its most lethal potential, by Becky Alexis-Martin, 4 July 2019.
• The Cultural Tutor
• Bahaha humbug: the (un)official Christmas cracker jokes for 2022 by Dominic Knight, The Age newspaper, 25/12/2022
  

My pantry after a clean up

My list of draft blog posts has grown recently as I have a bit more energy for cooking,  God willing, I might have time to write up some of it this year.  I have included a few photos from last year that I did not include in posts (top photo is Smith and Deli).  Invariably I start the new year with lots of good intentions for my blog but the reality is that if I can keep it going, there is hope for another year.  People say that life only gives to us what we can cope with.  Really?  I say that we can only do so much in the time we are given.

Crystals at the Victoria Market

So 2022 was not a great year but it had some happy moments.  And blogging is a good part of my life.  Thanks to everyone who read and commented and engaged with my posts, those who have shared meals and given support.  I am glad others out there continue to blog as it is always a joy to visit blogs when I can.  I wish you a happy and healthy 2023 with lots of good food and good company. 

How we made a paper fireplace out of a cardboard box for Christmas

This Christmas we made a fireplace out of a cardboard box and craft papers to sit behind the Christmas tree.  Our house does not have a fireplace and, being in Australia, there is no need for a fire at the time of year.  The reason to do this was for a fun team craft project.  As it was I ended up doing most of it.  I looked around for some instructions for both the fireplace and the garland but couldn't find much so I am sharing what we did.

I was inspired by this Pinterest photo.  I planned to do it as a flat piece of cardboard but when looking for a piece big enough I found an old box for a flatpack chair.  We decided to keep it as a box.  I covered (glued) the front with a few pieces of A3 yellow paper and then measured out the bricks on a few pieces of red A3 paper.  (I also saw some people use a sponge and red paint to make the bricks.)  I enjoyed gluing on the bricks.  It felt like bricklaying.  I left some yellow at the top.  I pasted on 4 smaller pieces of black paper to make the fireplace.

Then I had some yellow paper, some red and some stripey yellow/orange/red paper from an old calendar.  I cut them into thin wavy flames and a few shorter ones.  Arrange them on the black fireplace.  Most of the yellow should be pasted on first.  Also paste a few brown logs at the bottom of the fireplace.

The most difficult part for me was to make a paper garland to "hang" from the top of the fireplace.  I looked and looked online and finally looked at what I had cut from craft papers and old calendars.  The box was on its side so I could arrange the leaves and flowers in different configurations to check about having enough variety and enough foilage to make the garland.  I pasted the flowers in the middle and gradually pasted the leaves either side with a variety of green hues.

The fireplace looked fun behind the Christmas tree.  Because it was a box we were able to place decorations and cards on top of the fireplace.  Of course we call it the mantlepiece.  The cat was quite happy to sleep in the box.  We enjoyed saying that the cat was sleeping in the fireplace!

On Christmas Eve we hung the stockings by the fire with care.  (One for Sylvia and one for our cat.)  Actually it was rather inconvenient to try and hang the stockings because there was no place to hang them.  I just taped the stockings with duct tape to the top of the fireplace box.  They looked cute, though if the fire was real they would be burnt to smithereens.  The real problem came, according to Sylvia, when taking down the stockings.  Oops!  It seems the duct tape was a bit strong.

And here is our cat Shadow on Christmas Day looking like a fearsome large cat in front of a tiny tree and tiny fireplace.  You can tell by his hat that he thinks he is the king of the castle!

Christmas in Melbourne and Geelong

It's Christmas Eve.  I've baked lots of food.  The presents are under the tree and we are watching Carols by Candlelight.  I have some festive photos I have seen around Melbourne and some Christmas trees so I will squeeze in a last blog post before Christmas.

If you haven't seen santa about, he is working at Chemist Warehouse - check his staff ID.

Coburg Night Market was back this year after 2 years covid absences.  The weather was so wet it had to move from Bridges Reserve to the Supermarket carpark.

It was good to see some fine food ad craft.  We had mac and cheese ball subs and chips.  Very good. 

Gift shopping advice from Mary Martin's bookstore at Vic Market.  I love "don't get your tinsel in a tangle".

The Mural Hall in Myer was the giftorium this year. 

Santa was setting up behind the big Christmas tree when we went to the launch of Christmas at Highpoint.  Sylvia enjoyed seeing fireworks through the skylight.

Our first time at a carols service for three years was on a fine summer evening. 

The Grinch is very popular in our house so I liked this Grinch Christmas tree at the amazing gift shop at the Vic Market.  If you look closely you will see some sold signs because apparently the Grinch was quite popular this year.

Sylvia and I had a drive around our local streets to see some houses lit up with Christmas lights.  There is always some spectacular ones.  Especially this one in Shaftesbury St in Coburg.  I love the snowman in the box.  Sylvia loved the bear.  We had to queue to go in to see all the decorations in the front yard.

More Shaftesbury Street.  They have so much amazing Christmas decorations and raise money for charity.

This house in Stewart Street in Moonee Ponds was pretty impressive too.

After going to Geelong to see my parents one recent weekend.  These trees in Johnson Park caught my eye.

Upon closer inspection I was even more impressed that each tree was decorated by a different primary school.  The themes were really impressive - the Geelong Football Club, Aboriginal motifs, a nutcracker, native birds.

It has been a very busy Christmas period with some nice catch ups with friends and events.  The most since covid hit our lives.  I am off for a final tidy before bed and will head to Geelong for Christmas lunch tomorrow and then hope for some rest (and more blogging) over the rest of my holidays.  Covid is still infecting those around me so I wish you a healthy and happy Christmas.