Christmas is probably the most widely celebrated and appreciated (and most commercial) religious festival. It is a festival celebrated by the Christian church commemorating the birth of Jesus.

Much as I love Christmas, I think it can be a difficult period. We want love, friendship, health, money, peace, and success in time for the Yuletide. We want every star and planet aligned for us, while the constellations balk at these demands.

Nostalgia and sentimentalism, I think, is the root of this. Many of us harbour picture-perfect notions of Christmas from our childhood only to realise later that it isn't all baubles, Rudolph, carols and candy canes after all.

But all is not disingenuous. If you are Christian, this goes without saying. For me, Christmas means my family, friends, and of course, the food.

My family has a tradition of having two consecutive feasts - we have turkey on Christmas Eve and another roast meat on the day itself. My mother would order turkey and trimmings from Marco Polo Hotel or the Raffles and so those flavours are what I hanker after every year. Since assuming kitchen responsibilities since the age of 16, I try to reproduce these flavours but with improvisations and additions.

The menu for this article has been modelled after a Christmas Eve dinner at Chez Koh. We do not always have starters but when we do, it is usually a salad or a soup. Mains is a sensitive topic to me. There has to be roast turkey, dark gravy, cranberry sauce, gratin dauphinois and a bowlful of piping hot sprouts. I was not brought up on bread sauce and so don't mind dispensing with it.

Christmas dinner is bliss for the eater, but it is tough on the cook. I don't know a caterer who provides decent turkey so it pays to roast your own. Purchase adjuncts if you must; we don't need unreasonable demands. Timing is everything.

And then there is the nightmare of food shopping. It is easy to be besieged by consumerist lust, so keep focused; turkey is not cheap so you're better off cutting back where you can. Let caprice take the back seat for now. Lastly, draw up an itinerary. You will be thankful.

» HOT SPICED CIDER
» MINCEMEAT PALMIERS
» PUMPKIN AND HAZELNUT SOUP
» MUSTARDY LEAVES WITH GREEN APPLES AND VACHERIN MONT D'OR CROUTONS
» RED AND GOLD TURKEY
» PANETTONE, SAGE AND PORK STUFFING
» A SOVEREIGN GRAVY
» CRANBERRY SAUCE
» GRATIN DAUPHINOIS
» EVE'S MASH
» BRUSSEL SPROUTS, CHESTNUTS, RIESLING

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