Melissa, we hope you are a standout this Festive Season in your matching CHARLOTTE with RUBY NECKLACE and CHARLOTTE with RUBY BRACELET from the SILVER SEED COLLECTION. We’d love you to post a photo of yourself on our FACEBOOK page wearing your new jewels when you receive them.
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| Melissa is the lucky winner of the beautiful Charlotte with Ruby Necklace and Bracelet |
The koolaman designs team is excited Christmas Day is near, but is not winding down yet. If you live in NSW, VIC, ACT, TAS & SA and have not ordered your koolaman design piece for Christmas there is still time but you only have until midnight tonight, Friday 14 December 2012, to be guaranteed your koolaman piece for Christmas.
If there is still time to order, there is still time to squeeze in one more giveaway for 2012. This is our final week of the 4 Weeks koolaman designs Christmas competition and we are going out with a bang. The koolaman team had words with “my true love” and it seems he has responded accordingly.
In the fourth and final week of koolaman designs Christmas my true love gave to me a koolaman designs sterling silver gift hamper valued at $1000.00. We know this hamper will delight. Inside the sterling silver hamper you will find an AUDREY PENDANT with 45cm Large Ball Chain, ELLA EARRINGS, LIESEL BANGLE and an OLIVIA NECKLACE with an ELIZA pendant. Imagine opening up all those little koolaman designs boxes, beaming and sparkling, one after the other.
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| AUDREY PENDANT |
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| ELLA EARRINGS |
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| LIESEL BANGLE |
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| OLIVIA NECKLACE |
To enter you need to answer the following question. What was your worst Christmas cooking experience ever? Surely we are not the only ones who have burnt the turkey or worse, forgotten to cook the meat! Dare to share your experiences and a beautiful silver hamper could be coming your way.
To be eligible to win you must post your answer in the comments section of this BLOG and then place the same answer on the koolaman designs FACEBOOK page. The same answers need to be on BOTH the BLOG and FACEBOOK, failure to do both makes you ineligible to win.
The most humorous and interesting entry, as judged by the team at koolaman designs, will be deemed the winner of the 4 Weeks of koolaman designs Christmas – Week 4.
It’s going to be another short and sharp promotion starting Friday 1pm December 14, 2012 and finishing Midnight Tuesday 17 December 2012.
So get thinking, join in and have some fun. If you are the lucky winning entry you will be showered in koolaman designs without spending a cent! We think that’s one of the best deals going around! (Please note you may not receive this hamper in time for Christmas, depending on AusPost)
If you run out of time to order a koolaman designs piece as a gift for Christmas don't stress. Gift certificates are a great option. Those nearest and dearest get to choose their own gift with a koolaman designs gift certificate and certificates can be emailed to recipients up until midday Christmas Eve. Just a thought!
Cheerio
Lisa & Stacey
Terms and Conditions for the 4 Weeks of koolaman designs - Week 4 Christmas Competition Giveaway:
1. Instructions on how to enter and prizes form part of these Conditions of Entry. Participation in this promotion will be deemed acceptance of these terms and conditions of entry.
2. One entry per person per weekly competition.
3. To enter, simply comment on this blog post with your answer to What is was your worst Christmas cooking experience ever? and then also post the same answer on our FACEBOOK Page.
4. Include your email address or a link to your website/blog where we can comment or find your email address.
5. This competition is open to entrants in NZ and AUS.
6. This competition is hosted by koolaman designs via our online blog http://koolamandesigns.blogspot.com.au
7. The prize consists of a Sterling Silver AUDREY PENDANT with 45cm LARGE BALL CHAIN, ELLA EARRINGS, LIESEL BANGLE and OLIVIA NECKLACE with ELIZA PENDANT & Postage ($1000). Prize is valued in Australian dollars
8. Prize is not redeemable for cash nor transferable.
9. Competition opens 1pm Friday 14 Decemeber 2012 and closes midnight Tuesday December 18 2012 AEST.
10. This competition is a game of skill and the winner will be based on the most interesting comment as judged by the koolaman designs team, chance plays no part in determining the winners. The winner will notified by email and via a post on koolaman designs blog on Wednesday December 19 2012.
11. Winners in this competition agree that their identity may be disclosed in winner announcements and promotional material.All entries become the property of the koolaman designs. 12. Entries not completed in accordance with the rules and conditions or received after the closing date will not be considered. Illegible or incomplete entries will be deemed invalid. The judge’s decision in relation to all aspects of this competition is final and binding on every person who enters. No correspondence will be entered into.
My worst cooking Christmas cooking experience thankfully was not my fault but my poor gran thought it would be nice to take the whole family to a nice restaurant for Christmas lunch, anyways after waiting until 2pm and still no lunch we asked what the hold up was, apparently none of the ovens were working so the chef was carting all the food to his house, cooking it then bringing it back! We ate Christmas lunch at about 4.45pm.
ReplyDeletePaula. colandpaula@hotmail.com
The first time I ever had Xmas at my house so excited but forgot to take the turkey roll out of the freezer the night before!!! Fail!!!
ReplyDeleteKristy - jimmy_kristy@intetnode.on.net
I was trying very hard to impress the In-Laws one Christmas dinner with my amazing cooking. To finish of the dinner, I served a chocolate tart topped with cherries and a sprinkle of icing sugar. When packing up, I found an open pack of cornflour. Instead of a dusting of icing sugar, my In-Laws got a bucket of cornflour over their tart. How embarrassing!
ReplyDeleteemail: chrisandannabellecameron@bigpond.com
My Dear old Nanna never fail to entertain. One Christmas at her house she gave us uncooked pudding with money all through it and the kids all swallowed it and she made us all go to the toliet and count if it was all there or she was taking us to hospital. Then dad thought he would calm the situation by putting her electic kettle on the stove top and melted the bottom of it. We then went outside for the annual game of lawn bowls and mum sat on the banana lounge and the bottom gave way and folded her up in it. Then we opened presents that poor old Nanna had regifted back to the same people who gave them to her as her memory was failing. Poor Nan is no longer with us but Christmas lunch still puts a smile on my face thinking of one of the many stories l have of her and her cooking.
ReplyDeleteTanya tanpurc@yahoo.com.au
WOW... So I tried to attempt to make my mum's famous brandy butter for the plum pudding. Lets just say that I put a little too much brandy in and the grand kids were a little more hypo than usual. I have since left the brandy butter to my mum so she can have her sneaky little brandy whilst making it.
ReplyDeleteApril : pril1979@hotmail.com
Last Christmsas we went to the inlaws for Christmas Dinner. My sister n law bought this expensive turkey & ham from the markets which she had spent most of the day marinading etc. We decided to wait until the kids were in bed before we sat to eat. However, half way through the cooking (about 6pm) the massive storm hit and we had a complete black out... We waited for an hour thinking the power would come on, but by 7pm there was still no power. We ended up sitting outside undercover, under the moonlight having bread & butter & copious amounts of wine.. Bed time came and we all staggered to bed and then all woke up at 2am with a start to lights on, oven going... Power finally came on... Was an extremely funny night and our little cherubs were none the wiser..... An unforgettable christmas...
ReplyDeleterachael.hawkins2@gmail.com
DeleteAccidently using salt in the sponge recipe instead of sugar, aargh and of course Dad ate it with no complaints, guess that's love!
ReplyDeleteMy worse Christmas cooking experience happened a few years ago when it was the first time we were hosting at our house. My husband and I were organised for weeks leading up to the event. We purchased a new BBQ with a fancy rotisserie and made sure we had the best piece of pork from the butchers. One that would produce heaps of crackling. We read up on different techniques to use to get the best crackling results.
ReplyDeleteOn the day my husband started the BBQ making sure it reached the ideal temperature before putting the pork in. Once in he made me promise that I would not touch the BBQ, it was going to be his masterpiece.
After 40mins of the pork being in, spinning away, my husband decided to have a quick shower before our guests arrived. This was my opportunity to have a look at what was happening with the pork. I lifted the lid and was greatly disappointed. There was the meat cooking away but I was sure that the crackling needed to be looking more crisp than what it was. So I decided to stop the rotisserie crackling side down and increased the temperature. I closed the lid and went inside.
It all happened quite quickly after that, my husband got out of the shower and asked what was burning. Without answering we both ran out to the BBQ were there were flames flicking away. As he opened the lid I saw the extend of the damage. The WHOLE piece of crackling had caught alight and melted away!!!!!!!
I didn't know what to say or do, till this day no one knows exactly what happened to the crackling. Needless to say I have never touched the BBQ again!
Margarita : mlo10_77@hotmail.com
Both of my parents and sister are fabulous cooks so to try and compete i though i would attempt to re-create a gorgeous and rather simple looking sweet to pass around at out annual Christmas eve gathering.
ReplyDeleteIts a 'Christmas crackle' and looks like shards of chocolate covered in assorted crushes lollies etc........it looked like a no brainer and impressive even if i did say so myself.
As the only family member who doesn't cook i though this was easy - melted choc, broken lollies, rustic presentation = WIN! oh no it was a massive fail as not only did the recipe call for some butter to be added to the chocolate which in turn seemed to split and burn while i was crushing the 'decoration' lollies but i crushed my finger while smashing the lollies after realizing i burnt the choc.
Needless to say i went to the gathering empty handed and spent the evening indulging in the divine treats handmade but my parents and sister. Just the way nature intended!!
Mia: miakolpin@yahoo.com
Well well well! Mine would have to be a Gingerbread house! I thought i would make my beautiful friend a nice gingerbread house, it took me all day the pieces would just not stick together no matter how many different icing mixtures i made, or how long i stood there holding it up it just kept falling apart! My Husband said he will never ever be near me again if i decide to make this again! I was so Distressesd, angry, Frustraited I told him i will NEVER EVER EVER even think about making a gingerbread house again Ever. It all went in the bin who knew they were so freakin hard to make!! x katie036@optusnet.com.au
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I'm shocking at making gravies, my Christmas gravy either ends up too lumpy or too watery. Only thing that saves it is that its usually so boozy or everyone eating it is so boozy that noone notices too much.
ReplyDeletesabinesymons@iinet.net.au
Last year, Christmas day weather in Melbourne was crazy in the afternoon, with hail storms and pouring rain. My family came for dinner but my Dad, who is in the Fire Brigade, was meant to finish work at 7pm, but couldn't get away from work because of all the calls they were getting. The food was all cooked and ready at about 7, but we waited until he arrived at about 9 before we ate, so everything was overcooked and cold! Then we put off dessert until after we had opened the presents at about 10pm! The kids were cranky, starving and desperate for presents! Thankfully Dad retired just this week, so he won't have to work on Christmas day ever again! ckcampbell@optusnet.com.au
ReplyDeleteHi, omg our worst cooking Christmas disaster ever began early Christmas morning we woke up early to put on the meats but woke to no power, rang powercor but there were no power outages reported, so we thought we would use the has BBQ to cook, no gas what else could possibly go wrong the was nothing open to get gas, no power and with a family of 60 coming to our house for the first time now had no food as everything was going to be cooked that day, needless to say our beautiful family pulled together made salads etc and brought them round we sat in candlelight celebrating Christmas with wonderful family,
ReplyDeletereb@skymesh.com.au
Christmas at my grandparents house as is tradition every year with opening the presents before devouring the traditional roast turkey plus all the trimmings and pudding with my grandmas brandy sauce. This one year it was decided that to make it easier on the day, somewhat a little less stressful and more enjoyable, some of the food would be pre cooked. Well the day was going swimmingly, we had worked up an appetite with the present opening and were all looking forward to feasting on Christmas lunch. My uncle had the honours of cutting the turkey so he slices into it and low and behold......some wriggly critters has beaten us to it. Yes.....some dirty little fly had snuck in somehow and left us some not so jolly christmas gifts in our christmas turkey. Needless to say we had a turkey free christmas =(
ReplyDeleteCorinna Winen
jpa24969@bigpond.net.au
Imagine being 7yrs old and allowed to bake the biscuits for after lunch! I was SO excited I wouldn't let anyone help me, nor were they allowed in the room to "watch" (aka my older sister tell me what to do!!).
ReplyDeleteI made the traditional star shaped biscuits all by myself, Mum helped with the oven so they were cooked to perfection and then I neatly arranged them on a plate.
I carried them proudly to the table.. "ta-da"... and watched expectantly as my whole extended family ate a biscuit.
The silence was overwhelming! "They must reaaally like them" I thought, "look at their smiles". Their smiles were grimaces... Everyone was so nice to me, how I'd worked so hard, how clever I was to do it myself, but, Katie is there a chance you used salt instead of sugar?
I suggested they may like to throw out their coffees as well!
My first Christmas being the host, just recovered from Cancer and being diagnosed with MS, I took on the resposibility to prove I was doing ok...
ReplyDelete18 for lunch, a challenge I openly accepted....
Three courses, seafood, roast lunch and dessert...
People arrived around 11:30, seafood was delightful everyone chatting and enjoying the day....
vegies all cooked, time to carve the meat... My attentive husband who's only job was to watch the meat and make sure the BBQ remained at temperature failed to notice the BBQ temp was at 0.... for how long no one knows but ALL 7 kg of the Meat was RAW!!!!!
So we had vegies for lunch, and then went straight into dessert, home made pudding, homemade pavlova and Nanna's Trifle...
Not my finest hour but the Roast meat was awesome for dinner.....
I have however successfully done 2 other Christmas lunches and this year I will have 21 including Aunties and Uncles and my brothers In Laws who were going to be on their own for xmas in 2012 but I insisted they should be sharing the day with family..
Lauren McCully: lamccully@bigpond.com
My worst christmas cooking experience was last year. I just had given birth to our third baby on December 21st and came home on Christmas Eve. I had the ham and turkey and everything bought and organised earlier that week knowing I may be a tad busy if this baby decided to arrive. So Christmas morning I get out of bed (note I didn't say "woke up" ad having a 4 day old baby brings a certain lack of sleep - not to mention having a 2 year old and a 4 year old ) - I decided to get the ham in the big hooded BBQ and it's beautiful and glazed to perfection. It's cooking away perfectly so i decided to stuff the turkey as this must go into the oven ASAP. Only I have no stuffing so my poor sleep deprived self decides to make stuffing from scratch but have no idea what to put in it. I get out the bread and some herbs/spices etc... When I realise my food processor blade is nowhere to be found. S I don't have time to look anymore I just stuff the bird with whole pieces of bred smothered in herbs/spices. One final check and about to go in the oven and I realise there are little green bits on the bread that are not herbs/spices. My bread has gone mouldy - last loaf in the house. Pull it all out of the bird - throw it away. No stuffing this year. I can live with that. However, my perfectly cooking ham is cooked and resting in the BBQ - guests are here (we had 14 people aarrggghhhh) and I get the ham out and there are MAGGOTS on it! Sitting in my beautifully sliced criss crossed lines on the ham for the glaze to sink in! I couldn't believe it - so sleep deprived so emotional so over it - I scraped the buggers off and served it anyway! That's what a brand new baby and 14 bloody guests for Christmas do to you hehe! Lauren King laurenbm@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteMy Husband and I hosted our first Christmas lunch 2 years ago, which thankfully ran very smoothly! We decided to also have everyone around for a BBQ dinner on Christmas night.
ReplyDeleteWe went to the market the day before and bought some nice meat to cook. On the night, I was in the kitchen when an orange flicker outside caught the corner of my eye, The sausages on the BBQ were on fire, and the flames were about a metre high!! After the commotion had died down I was bringing the salvaged meats inside and walked straight into our glass sliding door in front of everyone!
I was surprised that no one complained of the charred sausages, maybe they were too entertained by the pyrotechnics and clumsy host!
Megan Lewis
sawyer_15@hotmail.com
A few years back, my mum broke a fingernail just before Christmas, so she decided to stick on a fake nail. As we were dishing up Christmas lunch, mum noticed that her fake nail was missing...we looked everywhere (mind you, we didn't tell anyone) and decided that it must have fallen off when she was doing to dishes. As we were all tucking into our lunch, my aunty had this strange look on her face. She had just had a big mouthful of cabbage and all of a sudden produced mums fake nail!! Mum was horrified but we all saw the funny side of it and still joke about it to this day.
ReplyDeleteFiona Keogh
fiona.keogh@bigpond.com
My worst Christmas cooking experience was when my partner and I held Christmas at our house for the first time, I had never baked a piece of meat or vegetables before but I thought it'd be easy so I decided to cook a seasoned pork roll and
ReplyDeleteBaked vegetables..
After having the pork and vegies in the oven cooking my younger sister asked if something was burning, I found out I had put the temp up too high as my vegetables were hard in the middle and charcoal on the bottom and the pork was burnt on the outside and raw in the middle, it was in edible and our 15 guests were sitting at the table waiting for the "special Christmas lunch" I had prepared.. After apologising and all having a laugh about it I decided to just make some ham and cheese melts (exciting Christmas lunch I know lol) as no shops were open and i had only brought the ingredients i needed for the lunch i had planned And we always have a leg of ham in the fridge at christmas time and as I was cutting the ham I sliced my hand putting blood on the leg of ham and having to go to the hospital and get 6 stitches.. As it was Christmas Day I was at the hospital waiting for 3 hours (I live in a small country town and they had to call a dr in) when I finally got home it was 4pm and my family had just made cheese omelettes for lunch and I was in pain so i just went to bed.. Needless to say Christmas lunch is now always at my parents and my partner and I have never attempted hosting Christmas lunch again much to the delight of our families! This story is always retold at every Christmas lunch since it happened.
anna.lane@oec.org.au
One year we had the traditional Christmas dinner planned, the roast pork, gravy apple sauce and crunchy roast vegies. Christmas morning arrived and amongst all the excitement and present opening then the customary playing with gifts and testing the new bikes etc, we all looked at the clock to see it was 1.30 pm and no oven on, no roast cooking oops.. Ham sangas for lunch! Special funny family Christmas memory!
ReplyDeletenott.s.k@bigpond.com.au
My Nan was losing her sight, however she had always cooked Christmas dinner. Her speciality was trifle. She always had an excellent ratio of jelly to all the other ingredients (which was especially important to the grandkids!). Our 2009 Christmas was made by Nan at my Mum and Dad's house. By then, Nan couldn't see at all, so Mum was helping with the trifle. Nan was left in charge of soaking the cake.
ReplyDeleteWe now know that she soaked it very well.... a whole bottle of brandy!! Not many grandkids got to eat the trifle that year!!
Now that Nan and Mum are both gone, I am the trifle cook.... and each Christmas it makes me giggle to think of my tea-totalling Nan getting stuck into her trifle!!
A couple of years ago I did all the main part of the dinner and asked my mother-in-law to bring the ham. She bought a lovely large ham because she knew we loved left overs for the next couple of weeks. Upon opening the ham there was this fowl smell that made me dry-wretch. The entire bone was rotten and the smell was disgusting. Needless to say most of us did not eat ham with the main meal except those that were brave enough too!!!
ReplyDeletePS The smell lingered for the next couple of days, eek!
cassie_booth@yahoo.com
Christmas time had come around,
ReplyDeleteIn our beach house all our family were found
Mum, dad, kids and nan,
Aunties and uncles, even the dog named Fran.
Excited about the Christmas feast as we had waited so long,
Seafood for all, so what could go wrong?
Fresh from the sea, Prawns and oysters were devoured,
It's Christmas time so no hiccups, or it would be soured.
Uncle had started to indulge in his prawns with his fingers,
When the dog jumped up to grab it, but missed, only now did blood linger.
An ambulance, hospital and 20 stitches was our Christmas now,
Seafood feast was a disaster, holy cow!
Seafood was all we wanted at first,
Then the aftermath happened which was even worse.
Seafood we wanted and SEE FOOD we got the next day,
as food poisoning came to visit, and was here to stay.
Vomiting non stop and dehydration again led,
To hospitalization, so now seafood we all dread!
aydesous@bigpond.net.au
The worst Christmas cooking experience without doubt - had an unfortunate long lasting impact. My dear mother goes over and above with festive cheer every year. No meer tree and subtle decorations in this household - this woman goes all out - from the garlands adorning the living room ceilings, miniature Christmas village set up and outdoor lighting display to the gourmet spread of food, ham, turkey and pork and all the trimmings one could imagine, our nucleus and extended family are spoilt each year...
ReplyDeleteThis darling woman runs around to cater for everyones needs starting Christmas morning with the breakfast of champions - some of the juciest ham off the bone and fresh eggs lovingly lay by her beloved chooks cooked on the BBQ. As my father slices the beast for this annual tradition, my gorgeous mother is bent over and peering into the somewhat old BBQ to check she has correct positioning of the safety match for ignition... All of a sudden - wwwooooooooosssssshhhhhhh The flames shoot out of the front of the BBQ and like that promptly singe not only her fringe but her long lashes and eyebrows in one terrible second that felt like slow motion!
This not so momentus occasion occurred some years ago - suffice to say this has marred but not deterred us from partaking in the annual breakie tradition however my mothers eye lashes have never fully grown back.
Certainly a Christmas morning we will all never forget - for all the wrong reasons!
nikkimarshall7@hotmail.com
My worst Xmas cooking experience was burning the eggs and bacon a few years ago, I was under pressure having to cook for 8 people when I'm only used cooking for two
ReplyDeleteOne year we had booked a holiday unit from xmas eve. We were still having christmas at our house though, and then travelling down the coast after lunch on xmas day. Me and my Dad on xmas eve decidied to head down to the unit on xmas eve and stock the fridge. We had bought the general stuff, but dad also bought $100 worth of lovely prawns to have on xmas night when we arrived on holidays. Unfortunately the fridge in the unit was switched off. Dad being the problem solver, bought heaps of ice and left the prawns in the esky overnight, with the standard "she'll be right". It wasnt right. When we arrived on holidays 24 hours later the ice in the esky had melted, and being in QLD the smell of off prawns stunk out the entire unit. Dad was livid! brendan_theresa@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteMy worst Christmas cooking experience is to come as I can't cook at all and have to make the Turkey, it will be a disaster for sure! Might buy some chickens, Do you think they will notice?
ReplyDeleteHave a great Christmas
Karina
karinaabarreto@hotmail.com
One memorable (?!) Christmas we got served mashed potatoes that tasted very much like a lovely rose hand cream; after Grandma had dutifully washed and then moisturised her hands prior to peeling the potatoes. Lucky there was more than enough food to go around!
ReplyDeleteI work at a nursing home and last Christmas the kitchen staff cooked this beautiful hot lunch consisting of turkey with all the trimmings as well as a lovely Christmas pudding with brandy custard. The big hiccup was that we put the brandy custard on the cauliflower thinking it was cheese sauce!!!! Luckily none of the residents seemed to notice!! Whoops!
ReplyDeleteJessica Milne - jess_ella84@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteMy worst Christmas cooking experience was a few years ago, for my son's first ever Christmas. I decided to make a cake with small cake stars on top, baked in a separate tray. I got my silicone trays out, one large rectangle and one tray with stars about the size of small cupcakes. I made my batter, specially colouring it with food dye to make it more exciting for my little man. I poured it in to the trays, put them in the oven and settled down to wait...
ReplyDeleteAbout 10 minutes later I could smell smoke, not just burnt food smoke, but a horrible toxic smoke. I ran to the oven and discovered that the 'silicone' star tray was in fact melted down through the bars of the oven rack and pouring out a horrible thick black smoke. It was at that point I remembered what the tray actually was - an ice cube tray!
We had no cake at all that Christmas because the other (real silicone) tray had been sitting in the smoke and was not salvageable.
Oh well, lucky my little boy was too young to remember and my husband and mother are forbidden to speak of it :)
Thanks for the chance to enter Ladies, love your work! Cheers, Kris
jemkris@westnet.com.au
or
missiekrissie@westnet.com.au
or you can find Missie Krissie Jewellery Trees on Facebook!
I always make a traditional christmas pudding cooked in a calico cloth & on Christmas Day I pour warmed brandy over it which I set alight. This one Christmas I poured slightly too much brandy over the pudding & as I lifted the plate a substantial amount spilled onto the kitchen bend top which we found wasn't exactly level as it ran in a stream setting it on fire as well. It was a sight to behold as my giggling dad & husband put the flames out with a tea towel.
ReplyDeletelinda_motbey@hotmail.com
My terror begins (and ends...) with the humble: YABBY. My husband (the Christmas "Grinch" we shall call him) was in a decidely happy mood as we had decided that this particular year we would be true to our outback Aussie roots and serve yabbies. None of this prawn business! Leading up to the big day hubby was a pleasure to be around, in his element stalking out the very best dams on the property with the very largest of yabbies. Inumerable Opera House nets were baited and set. We would catch our bounty Christmas Eve and cook out haul, to be cooled for lunch time Christmas Day.
ReplyDeleteA tad excited (either as it was Christmas time, or simply that hubby was happy this time of year?) I could tell that the in-laws and my parents would think it a grand thing to be dining on the finest, largest yabbies around! What a wonderful thing!
The demise came suddenly.
Hubby had painstakingly gathered the muddy crustaceans; he had worked hard to boil them in JUST the right amount of salt. He had decided that we would serve the delicacy in several ways: Whole unpeeled, peeled and (yes you heard correctly) deep fried in batter. So we slaved away at the kitchen table and peeling, cracking and (my favourite part :() deveining the yabbies.
The big day arrives, as does the family. The announcment made that we had a feast ahead. I put the oil on to heat ready for the battered yabbies...yep, it caught FIRE! The kitchen was salvagable. But I asure you those yabbies suffered smoke damage.
We had a BBQ for lunch. Sausages in bread.
jillhotchin@hotmail.com
My worst cooking experience at Christmas involved accidently dropping the fresh out of the oven leg of lamb which then bounced straight across the kitchen landing on my future mother in laws foot. Only small burns thank goodness and she was ok but the family still reminds every Christmas not to throw a leg of lamb.
ReplyDeleteMaybe i could win this and win her over with some of your beautiful pieces rather than shower her with cooked meals...
ckuschert@hotmail.com
A few years ago, I cooked a disaster of a meal. I'm almost sure nothing turned out because I was trying so hard to impress the in-laws. The turkey was dry like leather, the potatoes were soupy, the green beans were soggy... it was a nightmare. To top it off, I kept sticking my foot in my mouth all evening, and the kid's were having an off night. I thought for sure my dessert would make up for everything, but when I whipped the cream for the pie, it thickened too quickly, and turned to butter!
ReplyDeleteAbove post by: fishielish@y7mail.com
ReplyDeleteThank you!
As we all sat down to our outback community joint bbq Christmas lunch, a little person with a big voice announced he had seen the cat wee on the bbq that morning! Everyone thought about that as they ate their steak!
ReplyDeleteHelen - dudekidd@harboursat.com.au
My worst cooking moment would have to be the Christmas my parents came for a big festive lunch. I need to give you a little of the history behind the event for you to appreciate its' full value.
ReplyDeleteYears ago when I was a kid my family would go on road trips and holidays. This would consist of my little brother and I in the back, Mum in the front and Dad in the "drivers" seat. Whenever Dad seemed to drive erratically (in my Mum and my eyes!) Mum and I would see "funny tree". You see Dad is an aggressive driver and often on long journeys, when Dad was driving this way, Mum and I would have a private joke and one of us would say "Look there's one of those trees!" - which meant Dad was driving badly!
This all started over 25 years ago. Whenever we'd say it Dad would say "Where? I don't know why I can't see these "bloody" trees!", which sent Mum and I into hysterics! He grew more frustrated as the years went by and he still couldn't spot the funny short, "African" looking tree Mum and myself "saw"!
Every time we would do it, it became funnier and funnier and we would laugh our heads off!
These days I am married and when Mum and Dad come to visit for Christmas last year II asked her if she saw any of those "funny trees" and she responded yes! We laugh every time until our sides hurt and Dad says we are both nuts! Well, I stupidly said "Oh yes those trees are everywhere even around here!". To which my father replied can you show me one?". I told him I sure could and the next thing I knew he has dragged us all outside to look for these trees!
We walked a few blocks with Dad demanding to see one and I told him we were close, then I said "Oh, no it looks like they have cut it down it was in the backyard of that place!!". I looked over at Mum who was trying not to laugh. Dad was totally frustrated having not seen one of these trees still and he wasn't in a great mood when I served up BURNT turkey lunch either. I had totally forgotten about the oven and smoke was pouring out the oven when we returned!
These moments are the happiest, funniest moment I have had with my Dad but if he ever finds out it has been a joke for over 25 years this post may well become the "worst"! ha, ha!!!!
rachelkapsalakis@eftel.net.au
My worst Christmas attempt was probably my first. My mother-in-law had given me a couple of frozen chooks to cook, unfortunately she gave them to me a couple of days before Christmas and I didn't have any room in the freezer. So I thought they would keep okay in an esky with chiller blocks. Uh, No, by the time I went to grab them out to cook them the smell in the esky meant we threw the esky out with the chooks.
ReplyDeletebeing a thoughtful daughter, I thought I would help my mum out and insisted I make the prawn cocktails for entree. I then proceeded tp add a lot of the dark coloured spice (paprika) only to find out later that it was hot paprika and not sweet paprika. the beautiful expensive prawns were ruined and no one could eat them. my dad tried to swallow one but his face turned bright red and he ran to the bathroom to drink some water.what a funny/awful start to our Xmas dinner!
ReplyDeleteI NEVER get asked to cook the "main" part of the Christmas dinner.. maybe my family are trying to tell me something!?! I get asked to bring bon-bons, drinks, chocolates and pudding. Simple task like that can't be stuffed up they say!.. well.. it can.. come time to present my pudding i accidently put it in the microwave to warm for 20mins instead of the recommended 2mins!! Rock hard, poor grandad even chipped a tooth, the dog wouldn't touch it and not even custard could soften it. Needless to say i am still the family member that gets asked to bring the store bought items!
ReplyDeleteWorst christmas cooking experience.. 23 years ago I was super organized. I was about to start the lavish lunch of ham, chicken, turley and pork with all the lashings with 18 of my family members. I began by washing up the few things on the bench...put my hand inside the glass and it cracked making my right hand pinky finger totally cut open... after a trip to emergencey with a 3 hour wait, I returned home to a house full of people with no food prepared.. my lunch that had taken me 2 weeks to prepare turned into dinner and involved everybody cooking for themselves. I had 8 stiches in my finger so was unable to help at all and although it didnt turn out exactly how I planned, it was still a great christmas with family and friend.. I still to this day get a bit of cheek from family about my severed finger... Merry Christmas everyone who takes the chance to read my story.
ReplyDeleteoops suppose to say 2 years ago... LOL
DeleteWell it was only last year that I had the best cooking idea for our christmas lunch. He he he. What better way to keep the kids happy, then with a very large pyrex dish full of red and green jelly. I made five layers of red and green jelly. Inside each layer I set things like freddos and lollies. I had to wait until each layer was set to add the next one on top. So this jelly took me about three days to make. Everything was looking just fine on the last day I put the top layer of red jelly on, put it in the fridge ready for christmas day wich was only two nights away. The next night I looked at my wonderful jelly dish and noticed that the freddos had started to expand in the jelly and looked like over weight freddos with a slight light brown colour jelly glowing around them. The lollie snakes had also swelled up and their colours had run through my beautiful layers of jelly. It was a total dissaster and looked like I had just thrown seven different coloured jellys together and wacked it in the fridge. The kids tried to eat some on christmas day but just couldn't. I'm not on dessert duty this year i'm just bring the bread rolls to christmas lunch!
ReplyDeletekellie_loosh@hotmail.com
DeleteI was in a hurry to get a christmas chocolate cake made and grabbed the gravox out of the cupboard instead of the cocoa! Lucky for me I'm a bowl licker so realised something had gone terribly wrong and thankfully saved myself the embarrassment of my gravox cake! Sonia - js_holland1@optusnet.com.au
ReplyDeleteI inherited the job from my late nanna to make the christmas pudding and put the traditional sixpence in that had gone through 4 generations of her family.Whoever got the first sixpence in their slice got a gold coin from Nan.I take this job very seriously and I had loving soaked the fruit for nearly 6 weeks in her favourite sherry and green ginger wine.The fruit was plump and smelled delicious so in it went to be mixed up and put in the bowl. Christmas day came and I put the pudding onto steam, That year Santa bought us a WII and it had 10 pin bowling on it. We played for hours laughing hilariously and having great fun in the family room.Then the scream of the smoke alarm disturbed us all as the christmas pudding boiled dry in the steamer and was now chargrilled. We had to put the pudding outside on the grass blackened bowl and all to remove the smell. We ate dinner and then very sadly ate a bowl of youghurt each for dessert lamenting the loss of the pudding. All of a sudden we hear this crazy sound as the dog is un cerimoniously throwing up the blackened pudding on the door step and low and behold there are nannas sixpence on display.A gold coin for the dog and lots of laughs for Christmas.
ReplyDeletecayenne pepper instead of nutmeg in the christmas pudding - spicey! daniandjason@bigpond.com
ReplyDeleteMy mum is a magnificent cook. She is creative, and is never afraid to give a recipe a try. She always seems to amaze me as she spends hours pouring through magazines, the internet, cookbooks etc. to find recipes that she can use and adapt for our family that has a variety of dietary requirements including gluten, dairy, nut, egg free and vegetarian.
ReplyDeleteMum has not always been a fabulous cook, in fact she was never taught how to cook at home and it was not until she married my dad that he taught her how to cook. Mum has a passion for cooking (that she has passed on to my sisters and I) and prides herself in preparing a magnificent Christmas feast.
It has become tradition in our family that we have a seafood lunch on Christmas day with salmon, prawns etc. Mum is always super organized and will have lists and any shopping done a couple of days before Christmas. Mum spends the whole day and night on Christmas Eve preparing food. This night she went to get the prawns out of the freezer to thaw in preparation for the next day, only to realize she had not bought any. Looking at the clock it was nearly 10pm so she jumped in the car to head down to the local supermarket in the hope of picking up some prawns so the crowd would not be disappointed the next day.
After visiting a couple of supermarkets and getting worried that it was not to be, she walked into Coles only to hear them announcing that they were closing. She walked straight to the deli and luckily they had prawns left. Even luckier for her they were selling them for $5 per kg. It was her lucky night and the Christmas day crisis was averted!!!
Briana Holder – rhys_bri@tpg.com.au
Last year as a treat - we thought we would be a bit modern and tried to make Adriano Zumbo's V8 Cake for dessert rather than have a Christmas Pudding as such. Disaster from start to finish, $250 worth of ingredients and 7.5 hours later (at 2am) we gave up on the "rock hard in some places, not cooked in other places and mostly sliding off the plate all over" creation. Needless to say, it looked nothing like the pictures, and we went back to the Pav's for dessert.
ReplyDeleteErin Sullivan - erin.sullivan@hotmail.com
Mine is quite simple, a hot Christmas lunch is my beautiful mum's only wish each year but this seems hard to achieve. We get everyone settled at the table ready to eat and then my something happens ie gran in her 90's needs to go the toilet - so half an hour later we sit down together and our meal is cold or my uncle arrives late and again after waiting the meal needs to be reheated or visitors arrive and our timing all goes astray!! The one thing that happens each time though is we pour ourselves another glass of wine and with tears rolling down our cheeks from laughter we reheat the meals and start again!!
ReplyDeleteTania Russell - russell05@impulse.net.au
In an attempt to impress the family in one of my first dinner parties it was an utter disaster. I accidentally used vinegar instead of white wine in the garlic prawns, forgot to buy icing sugar for the cake (which had lumps of flour in it) and forgot to set the timer for my roast was then very well done in the oven. All the while my son managed to have an accident on the floor, tear up some paper and devour it.
ReplyDeleteBut it's safe to say, I've improved my kitchen skills since then and that night I managed to pour a few glasses of wine with ease, so it wasn't a complete disaster.
Sarah Verbeek - sarah.verbeek13@hotmail.com
There is always so much pressure to have "The Perfect Christmas"! A few years ago we had Christmas at my parent's house & our Aunty (Mum's sister) was visiting. Mum & I stayed up into the wee hours cooking hams & chickens for our Christmas lunch the next day. We began the day with a gorgeous Champagne Breakfast. Mum & her sister, got a little carried away with the champers at breaky time. They are both not huge drinkers & don't see each other often ..... so they giggled their way through the morning, and come lunch time after all of our hard work - they both felt quite poorly, had massive headaches, went to bed & slept the rest of the day away! When they could gather themselves together, we finally had Christmas lunch at about 9pm that night! Not quite to plan .... but I can still hear them giggling away like Giggling Gerties!! :)
ReplyDeleteWorst christmas cooking episode?
ReplyDeleteI'd say the Christmas of 2010 here on the farm...AKA the cmeal that didn't make it to the plate.
In even years it's just my husband, the two teenagers and myself. Although 40 degrees+ we still partake of a traditional hot lunch however dinner is a lighter, local affair...yabbies from our dams. Christmas morning is all about setting traps so that we can pull in a luscious fresh catch mid afternoon once we have napped off a little of the ham and pudding.
In 2010 we followed the usual custom and all 4 of us were anticipating a yabby cocktail served with the ubiquitous thousand island sauce and shredded lettuce.
ALAS...the farmer across the paddock had defoliated a chickpea crop only days before and much to our horror the spray drift had sorted all our intended meal. It was a gruesome sight. Only one, solitary, 'prince amongst yabbies' remained.
We did what all stoic rural folk do...we rehoused him in a clean dam and had vegemite toast for tea.
Worst christmas cooking episode?
DeleteI'd say the Christmas of 2010 here on the farm...AKA the cmeal that didn't make it to the plate.
In even years it's just my husband, the two teenagers and myself. Although 40 degrees+ we still partake of a traditional hot lunch however dinner is a lighter, local affair...yabbies from our dams. Christmas morning is all about setting traps so that we can pull in a luscious fresh catch mid afternoon once we have napped off a little of the ham and pudding.
In 2010 we followed the usual custom and all 4 of us were anticipating a yabby cocktail served with the ubiquitous thousand island sauce and shredded lettuce.
ALAS...the farmer across the paddock had defoliated a chickpea crop only days before and much to our horror the spray drift had sorted all our intended meal. It was a gruesome sight. Only one, solitary, 'prince amongst yabbies' remained.
We did what all stoic rural folk do...we rehoused him in a clean dam and had vegemite toast for tea.
Fiona Lambell- trixiebull@hotmail.com
It was Christmas Day in 1992, Dad decided we should do a pork spit roast (the old fashioned way with coals) for all the family coming to visit, approx 25 in total. He asked a friend, Vic, who was experienced at cooking spits to help out, set it up & stoke the coals during the cooking process. So we set it up outside under what we called our bush house (a tall wire framed hut covered with creepers). So around and around the spit went for hours, while Vic cracked his first beer around 9am. Everyone arrived and was excited to see the big spit roast, cooking away. But as the day went on, Vic was getting very merry, so Dad had to take over testing the meat & it didn’t appear to be cooking quick enough. So Dad decided to add more coals to the pit. After another hour, he checked the meat again and was still undercooked, so onto the pit went more coals. It was getting to around 1pm and the natives were hungry – Dad was still concerned that the meat was
ReplyDeletestill undercooked, so maybe a few more coals would help. Vic was no help at all, still downing the beers having a merry old time with the relatives. The spit was getting hotter & hotter, so as the fat from the Pork dripped into the pit the flames started to appear, they grew higher & higher, covering the pork on the spit. Dad was pacing from one side of the spit to the other. You could see his mind ticking over wondering what he should do next. As the flames got higher, they reached the top of the bush house where there was some dead bits from the creepers. Now the top of the bush house was on fire! Mum grabbed our hose, the neighbour saw the flames and threw the end of their hose over the fence. Dad was saying “No, it’s a fat fire, no water !” Dad eventually managed to disperse the coal under the spit & control the fire. It was around 3pm now & the natives were starving…..the fire had nicely charcoaled the outside of the pig, but the middle was still raw. Everyone was so hungry they couldn’t wait anymore, so we ate the outside of the pork, after scraping off the burnt bits & all the salads/sides Mum had prepared. It was a memorable Christmas day and a lesson learnt by all – if your friend offers to cook a spit for you on Christmas day, make sure you limit his alcohol intake !
ballovski@gmail.com