You've spent most of your money on Christmas presents and now you're wondering how to squeeze out a yummy Christmas dinner with the little you have left.
We put this dilemma to nutritionist and lifestyle
specialist Dr. Heather Little-White who shows how as little as $1,000 can provide a festive meal for a family of four.
Then again, if you have the cash (or credit) you may want to throw on your Christmas outfit and have a multi-course dinner at a restaurant. We have a sampling of who is offering what, and for how much.
By Heather Little-White, Contributor
Our traditional culinary Christmas cuisine is a carry-over from the plantation days when slaves and other workers got an annual three-day holiday break.
The days were spent in celebration with drumming, street parades and masquerade, out of which John Canoe became popular in Jamaica.
Feasting was an integral part of the celebrations and pork was one of the main items. Young pigs would be hung on a special hook, known as the kreng-kreng, and gradually smoked to be ready for Christmas. The processing of pork in the form of ham is a major part of today's Jamaican Christmas menu.
It was customary for slaves to roast most of their foods for Christmas and this has been passed down, the oven plays a significant part in the preparation of
Christmas meals in Jamaican households.
A Christmas spread these days may include ham, roasted chicken, turkey
or duck, along with the traditional ham and pork. Gungo peas, which comes in season at this time of year, to make rice and peas, spiced up with coconut milk, is also a must. Sweet potatoes and ripe plantains are excellent accompaniments. Sorrel is the accepted drink and fruit cake the standard dessert.
With careful shopping you can keep your food bill under control. Knowing when to buy at the market and using wholesalers are helpful. While preparing an expensive menu offers more options, of course, these are often laden with rich, fatty foods and excessive amounts of protein foods. Take care to trim all visible fat and limit the use of fats from animal sources.
I'm not cooking this Christmas!
'TIS A NIGHTMARE before Christmas because in your head, the thought of cooking, then washing dishes, just fills you with dread.
For some people the scenario is the same each year. You spend the hours leading up to Christmas Day slaving over a hot stove or with your head in and out of an even hotter oven, and then what happens? By the time you're finished you're too tired to enjoy what you've worked so hard cooking and baking while everyone else chows down on the good stuff.
You may be thinking that there's got to be a better way to sample the joy of Christmas minus the hassle of cooking. Well, you have a number of options. You could suggest that someone else in the family take a turn in the kitchen this Yuletide season or you could wrangle an invitation to have a Christmas Day meal at someone else's house.
Or you could throw convention aside and treat yourself, your partner or family members to dinner at a restaurant. There are many places offering Christmas lunch and dinner, ranging from simple suppers to elaborate multi-course meals.
We checked out a few places to bring you a sampling of Christmas Day offerings in the Corporate Area, Montego Bay, Mandeville and Ocho Rios.
The Terra Nova's El Dorado Restaurant, Kingston
Savour Jamaican Christmas favourites at the Terra Nova's Christmas Eve brunch, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eat all you want for $900. Brunch will include traditional items -- ackee and saltfish -- along with honey glazed ham, roast turkey with the special Terra Nova stuffing, and a range of puddings and other holiday favourites.
There'll also be a Christmas Day buffet lunch between 11:30 to 3:00 p.m., plus a Christmas Day dinner.
DINNER MENU:
Appetiser: Vegetable Minestrone Soup
Main Course: Salad Imperial
Roast Turkey with a Cranberry Sauce
Sugar-cured ham with a raisin sauce
Rice and peas
Sautéed Vegetables
Dessert: Christmas Pudding with a Brandy Sauce
Coffee/Tea
Price $950
Appetiser: Island Spice smoked Marlin
Main Course: Seasonal pumpkin
Green Tossed Salad
Sugar-baked ham with a Pineapple Glaze
Roasted Chicken
Gungo peas and rice
Steamed Mixed Vegetables
Dessert: Christmas Pudding with a
Brandy Sauce
Coffee/Tea
Price $1,200
The Devonshire Restaurant, Kingston
For traditional Christmas fare with lots of flair, the Devonshire Restaurant in Kingston serves up a three-course Christmas dinner, and Christmas lunches, until year-end, beginning this week. Lunch runs between noon and 3:00 p.m., dinner between 6:00 and 9:45 p.m.
DINNER MENU:
Appetiser: Gungo peas soup
Main course: Chinese Roast Chicken
Gungo peas and rice
Sugar-baked ham and pineapple
Honey baked plantains
Steamed vegetables with onion butter
Dessert : Christmas cake with brandy
sauce
Wyndham Rose Hall
Resort and Country Club, Montego Bay
Three wise reasons to spend Christmas Day at the Wyndham Rose Hall Resort and Country Club in Montego Bay:
1: Buffet at 6:30 p.m.;
2: Cabaret, featuring Uzuri Ensemble at 8:30; and
3: Party at the Cricket Club, 10 p.m.
THE MENU:
Salads:
Assorted Seasonal Green, with dressings
and condiments
Tossed Caribbean Salad, with candied
walnuts, Hickory-smoked Bacon and
Warm Sherried Vinaigrette
Lemon Thyme Marinated Asparagus and
Tomatoes
New Potato Salad, with Wild Mushrooms
and Roasted Garlic Dressing
Entrees
Roast Turkey with Giblet Sauce
Rum and Cardammon Roasted Leg of
Ham
Blackened Medallions of Beef with Horseradish Cream
Grilled Fillet of Salmon, with Natural
Juices and Fresh Tomatoes, Capers
Sweet Potatoes with Passion Fruit Glaze
Broccoli Au Gratin
Puree of Fresh Potatoes
Orange and Cinnamon Glazed Carrots
Roasted Herb Bread Stuffing
Take your pick of desserts from their assorted array of fresh resort-baked pastries.
Mandeville's Bamboo
Gardens (formerly
Bamboo Village)
Anyone for Chinese? OK, so you rarely see the words 'Chinese' and 'Christmas' in the same sentence. But if Chinese food is your thing then, by all means have a chopsticks kind of Christmas.
Mandeville's Bamboo Gardens began its special Christmas lunches and dinners on Monday, and will be serving them daily, right into the New Year. An extra-special dinner will be served on Christmas Eve.
MENU A: Single-person
Appetisers: Wonton soup
Sweet corn and chicken soup
Main Course: Fish fillet with pineapple
Chicken chops
Dessert: Ice cream
Cost: $550 per person, tax included
Menu B: Family/Group
(minimum party of 4)
Appetisers: Combination of fried
shrimp, spring rolls, fried wonton,
seafood and fish maw soup
Main Course:
Seafood casserole, a la Bamboo Gardens
Honey-roasted chicken
Beef with seasoned vegetables
Pineapple and seafood fried rice
Dessert : Christmas pudding
Cheesecake
Lychee
Cost: $780 per person, tax included
Almond Tree Restaurant, Ocho Rios
Searching for some peace on earth? How about Christmas dinner under the stars with nature's music of gently breaking waves to soothe you? At the Almond Tree Yuletide specialities can be had from December 13 until the end of the year. Lunch is served between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.. Dinner, 6:00 p.m. to 9:30.
MENU:
Appetiser: Red Peas Soup
Main Course:
Roasted Stuffed Tom Turkey
Baked Tender-Sweet
Rice and peas
Sweet Potato Pata
Dessert: Christmas Pudding
Price $17.50 US
It's wise to make early reservations, especially if your party is more than four people. And tip your waiter/waitress a little more generously than usual. After all, it's Christmas.
