Three Christmases

This is the first time I have experienced three Christmases. One is usually enough but this season consisted of even more eating and drinking for me than in previous years.

On the 24th of December I celebrated a traditional Polish Christmas with dumplings ("pierogi"), vegetarian "bigos" (sour cabbage and mushrooms) and some wine. Perhaps the latter is not traditional but the cheesecake we had for dessert was.

On the 25th of December I had my Irish traditional Christmas meal minus the turkey and ham. This meant lots of potatoes (baked, mashed and also disguised in the form of croquettes), broccoli, carrots, roasted parsnips and best of all, stuffing. This was followed by pudding and other sweet treats.

After that, on January 6th it was time for the Ukrainian Christmas. This time I was more involved in the preparation of the food. I made dumplings stuffed with sour cabbage and potatoes ("varenyki"), cabbage leafs with buckwheat and mushroom filling ("holubtsi"), doughnuts with rose and poppy seed filling ("pampuszky") and a dessert called "kutia" which consists of poppy seeds, nuts and raisins. There was also beetroot soup ("borsch") and sour cabbage salad with beans all washed down with cognac and vodka. Fish is eaten on the 6th while meat is eaten on the 7th of January.

There are many differences between these different traditional meals. In Ireland we have a candle at the window to welcome in strangers while in Poland there is an empty space at the table reserved for a possible guest. In Ukraine bread is placed on the table as well as a candle which is a reminder of the star of Bethlehem. There were also four cloves of garlic placed at the corners of the table. In Ireland we pull crackers which doesn't happen in Poland or Ukraine. However, in these countries carol singing at dinner is common while in Ireland, it is not.

There are many more differences depending on the region of each country but this year has certainly been full of interesting opportunities to compare and contrast different traditions as well as eating and drinking more than my fair share.

Brown Bread

Above you can see my first solo attempt to bake bread. It was a very proud moment for me to slowly take the bread tray out of the oven and inhale the wonderful aroma signifying the completion of my efforts. Baking bread has been something that I have felt I should do for such a long time and I don't know what has stopped me from doing so.

What surprised me was how long it took to prepare but the satisfaction of slicing it and eating it for breakfast (it wasn't savoured unfortunately as I slept in and was nearly late for work) the following day was worth it. In the recipe, it said 20 minutes preparation time, and this was true but I missed the information giving the whole time needed. It was so long that my private lessons had to be interrupted slightly while I moved onto the next stage of the process much to the interest of my private students.

Why was it such a proud moment? Well, for me bread is a staple part of my diet. It is literally the foundation for so many of the things I eat - mainly toast and sandwiches and the different combinations that I put on top of them

So as for the preparation; getting the ingredients was pretty easy, kneading the bread for about 10 minutes was not so smooth on the wrists or on my patience especially given the limited space in my kitchen. As a whole the major requirement was patience, patience to do it correctly and to regularly check the recipe I found online. It is not a great virtue of mine but given the fact that I didn't literally have to wait and watch it slowly rise, it was not a problem.

So now that I have broken my baking bread virginity, I have promised myself not to go back to buying cheap, poor quality bread in the shop. That would be far too easy. This will involve a lot of planning in advance but if forced to have the option of bread or no bread, I know which one I will choose.

For those who are interested - Brown Bread Recipe