Replete on Christmas Day

Our whanau gathered at our house for Christmas lunch. We had thought that the barbecue may be in the garage due to the inclement weather that was forecast but that was not to be. Instead the weather was pleasant, around twenty-two degrees, fine and not very windy, just great for the barbecue. The weather forecasters got it wrong. This resulted in a bit of gip for the meteorologist brother in law.

I had woken a little tired, as the previous evening we had gone to friends for a Christmas Eve dinner. Great fun, twenty of us around a double table as some local families celebrated the year. I offered to supply sausages, but our host declined as she had made beef Wellington for all those present. The music reflected the 1980’s, interspersed with the Russian national anthem and well known Christmas songs. We got home after midnight, and although we didn’t see Santa in his sleigh delivering presents, we kept a watchful eye out for any stray reindeer.

As lunch approached the barbecue was fired up, I cooked a butterflied leg of lamb, and three snarlers, Island Bay chicken sausages, Mariano’s Spanish Foods butifarra, see link, along with my personal favourites chorizo coriollo from Park Avenue Quality Meats, see link.

The chicken sausages from Island Bay Butchery are very good. They are a very high quality chicken sausage. To achieve this you need to use real chicken meat. These sausages use corn fed chicken breast and thigh meat. Too many poor quality chicken sausages omit the use of quality chicken meat. If you do use quality ingredients this is reflected in the superior taste of the cooked product.

The chicken sausage is a thin sausage, it is finely ground, and you can see small lumps of meat within the finer ground inner of the sausage. These cook well and are appreciated by a wide range of sausage eaters. These sausages taste of chicken, they also have a flavour of tarragon, and you can see the flecks of tarragon that is used to augment the chicken flavour. I consider these sausages to be the best chicken sausages you can purchase in Wellington. They will appeal to a very wide spectrum of people including those who may normally refrain from eating sausages.

The table had ample food as is traditional at Christmas gatherings – three varieties of sausage, barbecued lamb, a salmon cooked with red onion, garlic, rosemary, lemon and seasonings, a couple of salads, potatoes and asparagus. A wide array of desserts followed the main course. A hearty Christmas lunch for the whanau with plenty left over to eat and share in the days ahead.

Christmas is also a time to reflect on life and also to remember that not everyone in our society is as fortunate as our family. Some in our society are doing it tough. As a fortunate member of society we need to contribute towards the welfare of others.

Everyone present had satisfied taste buds and full belly. We then adjourned down to the park to play a game of cricket. The kids have a wide range of skills, and the adults also had a variety of cricketing ability. I managed to play the ball onto the stumps at both my turns of bat. The aim was the big slog, the result a nick onto the stumps and out. The children, nieces and nephews found this wildly amusing.

At the end of the day there was contentment, fine weather, fine food, fine company and of course even finer sausages. All three are beauties that I would highly recommend.

Merry Christmas to all – I hope your table and homes were similarly laden with the pleasures of life.