The One About the Different Christmas Dinner ...

Since last months Storytelling Sunday, I decided to have a little nosy on Sian's blog to find out where the original idea for it came from.  Well, because it started with Christmas stories, I've decided to share a Christmas story this month (I know its May, but I can't possibly wait till December to share this story as it has been going round and round in my head all week!).

So... a couple of Christmas's ago, when I still lived at Mum's Christmas lunch was going to be for Mum, my sister C, my brother R, C's partner S (not the one she recently married by the way) and myself.  It was the first time my mother had cooked a turkey, and understandably she was a little nervous about it.  The turkey (which was quite large to feed us all, and to feed us again the day after with some salad) was taken out of the freezer the night before and put in the fridge overnight to defrost.  (Mum had decided to buy a frozen turkey well in advance from the local supermarket rather than having to battle the crowds on Christmas Eve to pick up a fresh one).  On Christmas morning I came down to find Mum mopping the kitchen floor as the defrosting of the turkey had caused the fridge to flood (Mum has always been an early riser, and as I was home for Christmas from Uni, I was still in sleeping in mode - yes even on Christmas Day!).  So the turkey went into the oven slightly later than planned due to the floods.  It didn't matter, it just meant Christmas lunch a little later on, and who minds really, waiting till later for their dinner???

Mrs Beeton's cookbook was consulted and the time the turkey to be in the oven was calculated based on the size of the turkey.  Very sensible I think.  So the rest of the dinner was cooked according to the turkey finishing time.  About quarter of an hour before said turkey was due to be cooked we took it out of the oven to have a look at it.  To cut into it and check the colour of the juices, as you're supposed to do.  The juices, did not run clear.  So we cut a bit deeper into the turkey.  It turned out the middle of it was still properly pink (quite possibly the turkey had not defrosted properly in the oven over night.  Who knows.)  So with the rest of the dinner practically ready a decision had to be made.  Mum has never liked cooking, whereas whilst at Uni I seemed to have developed an enjoyment for it.  Plus that day I was quite level headed and not prone to panic (nowadays I am prone to panic - the other day I got into a complete state because I couldn't find the battery charger for my DSLR), so I took over, (not the whole cooking - I've never actually cooked a roast dinner myself, just the problem with the turkey).  It was decided that we could not eat the turkey with the rest of the dinner because we ran the risk of giving everyone food poisoning, and if we continued to cook it, it would take too long to cook and the rest of the meal ruined.  So I started rooting through the freezer, and luckily Mum is one of those people that buys things on special offer and puts them in the freezer for another day (now that I live with M and am in charge of the meal planning I do it too!)  I found sausages, lots of them.  Enough of them to feed us all.  So using a trick I'd learnt at uni to defrost things quickly, I submerged them all in a bowl of boiling water, they were all still in their freezer bags (I'm sure that plenty of readers would be horrified by this, I know my Mum was, but it works!)  Then I cooked them.  That year was Christmas dinner with a twist, Christmas dinner without the turkey but with sausages instead!  And it's one that I will never forget!!!

For other Stories head over to Sian's blog.