For Christmas 2020 I was putting up decorations, baking, preparing food and capturing every moment with the camera. Since this is a planned event with predefined steps it meant that I could document it and decide which image to present.
The end game was a properly prepared and well presented Christmas meal and that is what I got every day during the Christmas season. For Christmas 2019 I really have to thank God that I was able to make it through that Christmas season. I was weak and eventually started sneezing. The pandemic COVID19 was only a news item about an issue in China and I am sure it was not flu. I had an event in March 2020 where I had to take pictures in a crowded place over two days. By March 2020 everybody was taking precautions due to COVID19 and I had flu like symptoms which I dismissed after recovering. Lockdown started in March 2020 and as part of a government survey I was sent a test kit which confirmed that I had COVID19 in the past and the follow up test confirmed that the anti-bodies which protected me had left my body. It is January 2021 and England is in another lock down.
I was able to put up the lights and Christmas tree and it looked good in the evening and during the day time.
Putting up Christmas decorations takes time but it is a good feeling when it is completed.
The Christmas cake was made in the shape of a loaf of bread. I wanted to create something.
Presentation counts. I cut and washed/sterilised some of the greens from the garden.
For afters I had the rum flavoured caramel coated cake or the plain cake with custard. Nice.
I decided that I wanted to add some food to my Christmas meal this year. This is my first time cooking my own green bananas and yam. I had to capture the moment. I practised cooking the food several days before Christmas. It was Ecuadorian bananas and Brazilian yam. As plain food it tasted quite nice but I still prepared something to cover it. Christmas here I come.
In the middle of December 2020 the government decided to make changes about Christmas gathering. The consequences of that change were small turkey crowns had all gone. When I arrived at the shop there was only one small turkey crown left. From the size of the jar you could see the turkey crown was small. I purchased some chicken thighs to make up the difference.
Christmas Day 2020 finally arrived and I realised that not everything could fit in the plate. I did not plan for this. The coconut creamed rice was in the blue rice cooker on the left, the turkey in the oven on the right and the green bananas with vegetables in the steam tower. The yam was not cooked.
This is the Christmas Day meal. There is no picture of the turkey because the jerk seasoning under the skin made it look bad but taste good.
When the turkey finished I started on the air fried chicken. The green banana made a difference to the Christmas plate.
My next challenge was to cook ackee. This is the first time doing this for myself. I did not have time to do the saltfish or the callaloo. I prepared ackee with steamed yam.
My COVID19 isolated Christmas meal for 2020 was extremely nice and colourful for presentation purposes.