‘Tis the season to be jolly, fa-la-la-la-laa-la-la-la-la!

Christmas is fast approaching and everyone is thinking of their holidays – lounging in the sun, eating merry puddings, drinking merry cocktails and just generally taking it easy and relaxing. if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere somewhere, you might be all wrapped up in a holiday scarf, drinking eggnog and enjoying various pumpkin-spiced-goodies. Aah – the holidays – enjoyed everywhere!

I think most people might have their Christmas trees and decorations up already, but if you’re a traditionalist the tree will only go up 12 days before Christmas (UK) or on Christmas Eve (Germany). The Americans start to ‘deck the halls’ straight after Thanksgiving, which is close to the beginning of December in any case… But honestly, some people have their homes all kitted out by the middle of November already and some even as early as the beginning of November!

Retail shops tend to put up their decorations earlier too and have their merchandise on the shelves from mid-October, which frankly, is just too early in my opinion. But then again, I suppose they only have a short period in which to sell all their Christmas merchandise.

There are no traces of Christmas in our house yet – apart from the delicious and boozy fruitcake I baked on Tuesday. Perhaps some mince pies and eggnog next week?
{This fruitcake might not make it all the way to Christmas, let alone get a cap full of brandy every week – it’s just too delicious! I even had some for breakfast this morning..!}

In the spirit of the ‘jolly season’, I made venison kebabs with figs in a Port reduction:

I used venison kebabs that we had made for us – marinated in Woolies’ BBQ marinade. Of course, you can make your own marinade too! You could also use any meat for your kebabs…

For the figs, you will need:

Turkish figs, dried

Port {Cape Ruby}

Castor sugar

Water

Cover the figs in Port in a small sauce pan and bring to the boil.  Add a tbs or 2 of sugar and a splash of water and let it simmer until it has reduced to a rich, syrupy sauce and the figs are soft.

Serve with buttery butternut mash {I added a dollop of butter and a bit of water to the raw butternut and let it steam in the microwave} and a green salad {lettuce, mangetout, cucumber, avocado and feta cheese}.

Delicious – enjoy! x