Orphan's Christmas '08

My favourite dessert was this one - made by Ivan from a recipe I found online. This was the only Christmas leftover I didn't mind eating!

Mango, Lychee & Passionfruit Salad

Serves 8

40 lychees, peeled, seeds removed (or 4 tins, drained)

4 mangoes, cheeks scored

1/4 cup mint leaves, torn

Passionfruit Syrup

125 ml passion fruit pulp (1/2 cup or 5 black passionfruit)

2 oranges, juice of, strained

1 lemon, juice of, strained

¾ cup caster sugar

For the syrup, pulse the passionfruit briefly in a food processor to loosen the seeds. If you have plastic blades us them so you don't cut the seeds.

Transfer to a pan with remaining ingredients and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves.

Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until syrupy. Cool completely.

Place lychees and mango on a platter. Scatter with mint and drizzle with the passionfruit syrup. Serve immediately.

Boxing Day with the twits

We had our orphan's Christmas lunch food marathon this year with the usual suspects this year, which left my sisters (aka The Twits) to their own devices for the day. To make up for the fact that we "Ruined their Christmas" by not spending it together, Neil and I had them round for Boxing Day lunch.


We knew straight away what we were going to serve:

• Cherry tomato, bocconcini & pesto tartlets
• Neil Perry's succulent chicken with tzatziki (from Good Food)
• Spinach, walnut, goats cheese and pomegranate salad with lemon vinaigrette
• And Lee bought around her specialty - vegetarian couscous salad.

And what's Christmas (or Boxing Day) without a decadent sweet treat like Blueberry cheesecake!

Post-dinner (and once the food had settled a bit) we headed down to Double Bay for a kick around with Neil's new football. It was a great day!