A Farewell Christmas Dinner

Ho ho ho! My favourite time of the year is Christmas! Christmas 2019 was especially special for me as it was the last Christmas spent with my dearest friend, her husband and two sweet little girls before they emigrated to New Zealand.

As always, a welcome drink was the first thing on the menu. I wanted to make something that could work with and without alcohol (since I was pregnant at the time, and for the kids to also enjoy). I decided on a cranberry-pineapple drink, mixed with sprite - sweet and simple! A few shots of vodka were added for those who wanted an alcoholic drink. I decorated the rims of the glasses with green coloured sugar topped with a festive red and white paper straw.

For hors d'oeuvres I served phyllo pastry cups with three different fillings, two savoury and one sweet. The one savoury filling was creamy spinach topped with a small slice of feta cheese, warmed in the oven for a few minutes to soften the cheese a bit. The other savoury filling was mashed avo topped with some cream cheese and sundried tomato. The sweet filling was white chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream and a dollop of strawberry jam. For decoration I sprinkled over some edible green glitter.

Since it was a Christmas celebration, I made a homey meal for mains. My husband braaied the boerewors, and juicy chicken and bacon kebabs. It was served with sliced ciabatta, green bean and cheese bake (one of my favourites), roasted butternut and a Christmas-looking broccoli and cauliflower salad. A perfect farewell South African Christmas meal!

I was very excited about the pistachio-inspired dessert I created! It had multiple layers and textures, and I even baked macarons and made honeycomb myself! The macarons rose perfectly in the oven, and it was my first attempt at making it - a proud moment. It did fall flat a bit when taking it out of the oven, but it was still tasty and chewy as expected. Unfortunately my first run at honeycomb was not perfect either, but it was still delicious and my guests were impressed.

The first layer of the dessert was a pistachio-vanilla cupcake, with the top cut off and a whole in the center to nest a pistachio-flavoured chocolate ball. The cake and chocolate were covered with pistachio ice cream. On top of the ice cream I placed half a pistachio-macaron and finally sprinkled honeycomb on top. This was the perfect balance of sweet, cake, chewy, crunchy and cold. Next time I will perfect the honeycomb - challenge accepted!