Basically, we have decided to have the family Christmas lunch at our house this year as it is our first Christmas as a married couple. So my immediate family and my husband's - looking at around 12- 15 people.
Problems:
- our house is tiny! We have nowhere in the house that all those people can even sit together at the one time
- we do not have a backyard - well there is technically a backyard but we do not have access to it. We are working with our landlord to resolve this.
- working on the fact that we will have the backyard we have two marquee/tent thingies that we can put up - problem = backyard is mostly concrete
- we do not have enough space to store cold/hot items and only have a tiny, really old stove
- Hubby is a chef but doesn't want to spend all day preparing food and plating it (as we cannot plate it the day before due to storage issues)
I know it sounds like a lot of trouble but we would really like to do it.
Any ideas?
4 comments:
Rather than pre-plating, could you consider a buffet-style service? Once you have backyard access, you can pick up a cheap trestle table, or borrow one from somewhere.
Re: storage. Drinks are easy to do with an esky and ice cubes (from the local servo) - or Ice in the laundry tub always works. If you do that "the morning of", the
Depending on if you have air-tight containers (tupperware or similar), you can also scale the system up - fill a bath tub (or several buckets) half full with ice the evening before, and put the cold meats and salads in there under the ice, then cover with old towels.
Yes, you'll need to wash the towels afterwards, but it will stay cold enough overnight.
Can't really top Locust's advice, it is very good - ice and tubs. You can even get cheapos from a $2 store with wheels on to make access a bit easier.
Concrete is fine, no one will care! Otherwise, if you like the idea of grass you could move the whole thing to a local park.
Park or home you could always do a bbq, I'm sure one of the other men folk would be happy to take the tongs and give your hubby the day off cooking. Preprepare the salad and store as suggested by Locust.
Or, get everyone to bring a plate of salad or a desert (no storage) then all you have to worry about is bbq-ing the meat on the day.
I was very lucky that the year I hosted Christmas for the whole family I was working at a deli/cafe. I did the Christmas eve shift and because the store was due to be closed until after New Year I was able to bring home a stack of salads.
I bought a leg of ham, and some other cold meats at a discounted rate and was able to slice them in the industrial slicer and arrange platters in the airconditioned comfort of the deli.
I didn't get home til quite late Christmas eve and stayed up to get the house in order. But it was well worth it because the next day I set the table, put out the platters, stocked the esky with ice and that was it! Stress free :)
Thanks A!
Basically one thing I forgot to mention is that Hubby is a chef - so he wants to have really good food and not just a standard bbbq and salads.
But you have given me some ideas and I'll have a chat to him about it :o)
That's ok Cassie. I get so excited about Christmas and family and FOOD!!
You can always make bbq food and salads gourmet, plenty of options. Good quality meat and seafood is the key. I'm sure your cheffy hubby can come up with some creative marinades and salad combos.
Anyway, good luck and keep us posted!
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