STREAKY RASHERS!

Well, that's a pretty risky title if ever I've heard one!!!
But more about that later: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!
We hope you all are having a fantastic Christmas day full of love and family and thankfulness!!! We are wrapping up a great day, and I wanted to make sure to share everything with everyone!
We started our day the normal way. . .making coffee, heating up some scones and cocktail sausage rolls (closest thing to kolaches or pigs in a blanket I could find--not a suitable substitute, as the dog next door ended up eating my share!!). And then we opened PRESENTS!!!!
We are having a pretty simple Christmas, but we are really enjoying it!
Here in the pictures you see John and I unwrapping a gift of house slippers each. They are pretty important here!!! Mine are some nice Totes that are super-comfortable. I got John some Guinness ones. Pretty nice!!
For more pictures, please check out my dotphoto.com site at http://skoogler.dotphoto.com . You can see the "Show" which has music and is really cute, or you can just click on the pictures and read all of the captions. Captions are good and explain things. Hope you enjoy. . .
But let's move on to important things. . .the food!!! Well, we took an hour-long walk between presents and cooking to see all of the kids on their new bikes and a maniac on his new go-cart. He was being pursued by some fellas on a VW Polo who were honking and harassing him. Too much excitement!!!
But we got to the cooking just in time. . .What was on the menu, you ask?
* spiced beef
* ham
* mashed potatoes
* my Dad's famous (infamous?) green beans almondine minus the MSG
* awesome garlic bread baguette
* Irish Christmas pudding for dessert

So. . I know you are all wondering about the spiced beef.

Here is a picture of it below:
Cooking instructions were as follows: Put in large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for two hours per kilogram.
So we did just that, and this is what it looked like when we were done.
We had no idea what to expect, except that several of John's co-workers had highly recommended spiced beef--especially as leftovers on sandwiches. I opened the package hesitantly, but we were both surprised by the pleasant odor. The "spiced" part was very cinnamon, clove, nutmeg-y. When it started cooking, it was almost like smelling a chai tea latte. And. . . if you can imagine what chai beef would taste like, then that was exactly what it tasted like. Spiced beef. We can say we've tried it and do not have to try it again next year!


Our ham turned out GREAT! It was a super hammy-tasting ham and was delicious! We are making a lot of plans with the leftovers!!!
Our final Irish-traditional food item was the pudding (it still looks like a bundt cake if you ask me). This, too, was really spicy in the chai tea way and tasted a lot like fruitcake minus the nuts. In reading the label, the pudding includes all or some of the following ingredients: sultanas (fancy name for raisins?), sugar, breadcrumbs, Irish stout, candied citrus peel, apple, cherries, Irish whiskey, cane molasses, almonds, nutmeg. Pretty dense stuff! And no, we were not tipsy after eating it, despite the alcohol in the recipe! Very tasty, but we were so full by the time we got to dessert that we had about two bites each and were done.

But the leftovers are packed, the dishes are done. The night has fallen, and we are just reflecting on all that we have to be thankful for. Great family and friends. More blessings than we even know. This has been a fantastic year, and we are incredibly thankful and humble. This has been our best Christmas yet, despite being so far away from family and friends. John and I have really strengthened in our marriage and have spent some of the best times together. We are so thankful for God in our lives!!! We are so lucky to have these opportunities on our last Christmas before we are parents!!!! It's hard to believe that this time next year we will have a baby Koogler to open presents for!!!

But enough waxing nostalgic. . ..
Just so you all know, "streaky rashers" are not some sort of unmentionable disease. That's what our kind of bacon is called in the stores. "Rashers" are Irish bacon and it is thick and all ham--no fat like we have in the States. So I guess our thin, fatty bacon looks "streaky", thus the name. Call it whatever you want, I was just thrilled to find it and to be able to make my green beans. They were AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

We'll having more to come. Tomorrow is a HUGE holiday--probably the most important shopping day of the year! It is Boxing Day in England and St. Stephen's day here. Tons of sales and parties! We already know our neighbors are having friends over, so we anticipate a late night!!! But at least they invited us. . .It will give me an opportunity to wear my new awesome boots (see my dotphoto.com site for pics--they are absolutely fab!!!) if nothing else!
We certainly have enjoyed our first Christmas in Ireland! (Although we still have not found the channel that plays The Christmas Story movie for 24 hours on Christmas--very disappointing!!)
Much love and Merry Christmas to you all!!!