Christmas 08 was great for three main reasons:
- My Christmas, my rules. So no bloody turkey (it isn’t that I don’t like turkey – just I prefer all other meats). Had beef fillet wrapped in parma ham and porcini instead if you are interested – Jamie Oliver inspired deliciousness.
- Because of Thanksgiving the shops don’t start with all the Christmas paraphernalia in October like they do in the UK. I don’t think I heard a single carol before the beginning of December and I haven’t heard Slade once. As a result you aren’t completely fed up with the whole event long before it has started.
- Christmas a deux. If you don’t have children to enable you to vicariously enjoy the whole santa thing – then keep it simple. Champagne for breakfast then TWO Bond films. Bliss.
Something that the whole season of goodwill did highlight is how we really are two very different nations when it comes to food. The chap requested a trifle instead of Christmas pud. No problem I thought. Well it wouldn’t have been if you could buy custard. Or trifle sponges in the culinary cul-de-sac that is Pennsylvania. I managed to make them so trifle-less disaster avoided – thank goodness you can get sherry here.
Getting Parma ham was hard enough. “I’ll have some Parma ham please” I said at the deli counter. “What’s that?” asked the fantastically corpulent chap behind the counter. “Ham from Parma” I helpfully explained. “huh?”. Turns out they call it Prosciutto here – or more accurately prosciut (pronounced like some bad extra in a Goddfellows movie.) Urgh. That just means ham in Italian. Not sure I’ll ever learn the language. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I want to.