A new Christmas meal tradition

In keeping with the holiday theme, new regular contributor Kathryn Lagden, shares her 2010 Boxing Day cooking adventure.

This year I’m hosting one of our three family Christmas dinners on Boxing Day. I expect that by December 26 we’ll have had enough turkey and trimmings, so I figured I’d cook up something a little different this year. I decided tourtiere, a dish traditionally served on Christmas eve in Quebec, would be keeping with the festive season while offering my family something a little different.

The idea was the easy part. I’ve never actually made meat pie or pastry before so I was a little nervous about the execution. A trial run to work out the kinks was definitely in order. I settled on the recipe from the Canadian Living website for both the tourtiere and the pastry.

Preparing the filling was fairly straightforward. While I browned the pork I prepared the vegetables and measured out the seasonings. I was a little trepidacious about adding all 3 onions as the quantity seemed to overpower the other ingredients. Not to worry though, the onions cooked down and everything melded together nicely.

I did not add any “summer savory.” I have no idea what this is and I couldn’t find it in the grocery store so I just skipped it. The cloves and cinnamon give this dish a wonderful flavour but I’ll likely add a little rosemary next time as well.

A picture of the filling cooked and ready to pop in the fridge to chill is on the right.

Why was I so nervous about making pastry? Likely because pastry seems to have a reputation as “difficult” and truth be told I didn’t even know where to find lard in the grocery store. (Turns out it’s in the baking aisle, not with the butter in the refrigerated aisle!)

I followed the recipe *exactly* to minimize any risk of poorly turned out pastry. When I divided it into two round disks (pictured right) I thought it looked a bit dry (are those cracks supposed to be there?) but no way was I going to mess with it at this point!

One great thing about this dish is that both the filling and pastry need time to chill in the fridge. So I prepared everything in the morning and later that afternoon it was very easy to roll out the pastry and assemble the pie. Getting all the time consuming tasks done in the morning makes this a great choice for entertaining since you want to be with your guests, not in the kitchen.

The final outcome was pretty darn delicious (if I may say so myself!) The meat was flavourful and the pastry was light so I’m considering the trial run a success! I hope my family enjoys our unique Christmas dinner.

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Escape the Mall Challenge (for charity) – part 2

It was Saturday, December 11 and all through the house not a creature was stirring except for a mouse… well, besides me and my laptop.

My challenge was to make sure things arrived within plenty of time to write about them and donate them by Dec. 22 – and prior to Dec. 16 – if I wanted to donate them to HoHoTO.

The folks from Media Profile made some suggestions that I initially disregarded. Heck, I’m a shopper I like choosing what to buy and from where. However, after a bit of pre-shopping online snooping and learning some of my favourite online stores didn’t accept PayPal, I at a bit of humble pie and used some of their suggestions.

First off, I started with some online browsing. LUSH was first on my list as I looked for a gift for a “Grandma”, yes, she’s a hip grandma. The had lots of great gift ideas and even had a page of gift ideas for people who celebrate other holidays than Christmas this time of year.

Next I spent some time browsing through SonyStyle and Newegg. I knew I’d buy a teen the same item I bought my own sons, Sony’s iPod + iPhone Speaker Dock/Clock Radio. Since eReaders are one of this year’s hot new gift items, I wanted to buy one for “Dad” but I was somewhat open-minded and looked at digital video recorders and camera too. As an alternative to bath products, I researched digital photo frames for grandma so she could enjoy it for viewing family photos.

I saved things in my shopping cart and moved on to Newegg for some comparison shopping. The prices were a bit lower but I’m a stickler for value, which doesn’t always mean the least expensive. They didn’t have any brand name eReaders but I was tempted to buy a digital frame and memory card from for Grandma at a fraction of the SonyStyle price. I really liked how both stores clearly identified the types of payment they accepted. It took away the guesswork and the digging I’m often used to with other online stores.

Deciding not to waste any more time, it was time to return to SonyStyle. I didn’t love having to register with the site first and I found it slow but I did appreciate them telling me which items were out of stock or backordered and the estimated shipping dates. I also thought their shipping and delivery options somewhat confusing. I settled on an eReader and case for Dad, and the iPod dock for a teen but decided to skip the digital frame for Grandma, opting for bath products instead.

Next, it was time to buy something for a little one. I shopped with a little four-year-old fried in mind. I checked out a few different Canadian-owned smaller online stores. There were some wonderful handcrafted toys and other goodies you just don’t see at the mall. Problem is, some of them really ding you on shipping costs. I settled on a doll with a matching outfit from honeybunch. Their shipping was the least expensive.

As for Grandma, I settled on a pre-wrapped gift box of bathtime goodies from LUSH.

The BFF gift: purchased Friday night…
I bought an awesome scarf and mitt set from Preloved on eBay.

So there you have it – after just less than two hours of online shopping – I spent $500.

Wanna know what I actually received on time, what I spent, what I saved the scoop on delivery charges and how online shopping with PayPal compared to my trip to the mall? Stay tuned for part 3 and don’t forget to vote where you’d like to see the remaining gifts donated.

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Bargainista and friends’ holiday wish list

Behind the scenes a team of us have been busy discussing ways we can improve Bargainista in 2011, especially returning to more frequent blog posts. Have you noticed we’ve been having a busy December? We’d like to kick things off by asking some regular contributors and friends of Bargainista to share one gift she wants most this season. As for me, Hanukkah is over and I’m not expecting any gifts unless I buy them for myself but I’m going to play along.

Eden Spodek
Yes, you already know I’m a bit of an Apple fan girl and not having an iPad – touted one of the biggest game changers not only in 2010 but for years to come – seems peculiar to many of my friends and family. But money doesn’t grow on trees and you can’t have everything. I love jewelry and other pretty things but I’m also practical and a bit of a geek so yes, if I was writing a letter to Santa, an iPad would be top of my list. If you’re wondering which app I’d download first, that’s easy: Flipboard, hands down!

Rebecca Atkinson
Living in New Brunswick, I really thought that in December my biggest concerns would be snow, but apparently Mother Nature has other plans this year. With seven inches of rain falling in 24 hours (yes seven inches), the one thing I really want for Christmas this year is rather low-tech. All I want is a good raincoat. Having to walk a dog, batten the hatches during rainstorms and run to and from the car to daycare or the house – makes one see umbrellas and down-filled jackets just aren’t quite cut out for that kind of task or weather. Since we are dealing with a flooded basement, I know I won't be spending this kind of money for an occasional rain jacket anytime soon, so if the Hydroil 3 from Mountain Equipment Co-op ended up under my tree, I’d be pretty happy. Plus it comes in all kinds of fun non-yellow colours.

Jenny Bullough
I am an ebook addict. I never go anywhere without either my Kindle, my Kobo, or my Sony – sometimes all three in case the battery fails! Oh, and I also have an iPad, which does other things although I primarily use it for reading books. While I am fully on board the ebook technology train, so help me I still like the feeling of opening a cover on something rather than just picking up a tablet, and my devices need protection from the sticky, curious fingers of my 2-year-old; so Incase Convertible Book Jacket for iPad is right up my alley!

Connie Crosby
It’s a little crazy, but the thing I want the most for Christmas is a Kobo wifi ereader from Chapters•Indigo (in mauve, please!). I am feeling a bit spoiled already because I am reading ebooks on the Kobo app with my iPad which was also a gift, but I have a vacation in the sun coming up in the new year and we all know you can't read the iPad screen in the sun. I use my iPad already a lot in my work, and I like the idea of having a separate device for vacation to make it easy to carry a selection of guilty pleasure reads. Plus, since I fell in love with ebooks, I have already spent money on a number which I hope to share them friends and family. What better way than to just lend out my Kobo?

Kathryn Lagden
All I want for Christmas is an Electrolux 36" Dual-Fuel Free Standing Range. Look at the SIX burners on this baby! With one of these ensconced in my kitchen I could make a roast, boil two pots of veggies, make a gravy, simmer apples for my toddler, fry up some potatoes, and have room to spare in case a friend dropped in and I needed to heat up milk for hot chocolate. OK, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but my current stove is so old that it does not have a light in the oven and regardless of where I put the dial it only really has two settings that – on and off. In fact, when a part broke I had to call four repair companies to find someone who had even heard of it!

So I would be delighted to find this shiny new beauty under the tree on Christmas morning. Although, to be honest, finding it already installed in the kitchen would earn Santa a double serving of shortbread and milk!

Michelle Tampoya

What I want for Christmas? A pair of Frye boots – in particular, the Veronica Slouch boots in dark brown size 8! Pre-baby and pre-mortgage days, I would of had this in an instant. But the days of throwing down green for yet another pair of brown boots just isn’t within financial scope. Although, I could argue that all of my brown boots have heels making is particularly difficult to walk during 3 degree weather when ice may be possible. I could also argue that I can’t really “dress-down” my current brown boots, meaning that I don’t make good use of my casual brown jackets. Come to think of it, there are more reasons why I should have the boots than not...hmmm.

What’s on your holiday wish list this year?

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Christmas wishes

In this week’s baby bargainista column, Jenny wonders how she’ll maintain the magic of Santa for her daughter because the only toy her little one wants doesn’t exist.

My Christmas shopping has begun, and I’ve already hit a major snag in my plans for what to place under the tree.

My 4-year-old is obsessed with this new animated show on CBC, Animal Mechanicals. The show features five transformable (and of course, adorable) characters, Rex the Dinosaur, Unicorn, Komodo, Sasquatch and Mouse, who live in a colorful “snap-together-take-apart” world. In each episode the Animal Mechanicals must overcome a variety of small challenges that require them to use their unique “Mechana” abilities.

Number one daughter has determined that the only thing she wants from Santa this year is Rex, the Animal Mechanical dinosaur. I’m only too happy to oblige – but unfortunately, no toys exist for this little-known animated series!

Perhaps as a parent I’ve been overly conditioned by the Disney merchandising machine to expect that every new show or movie will have accompanying toys on the shelves well before the holiday season. I thought surely some toys must exist somewhere (Japan? China?). I was genuinely shocked when my online searching only turned up multiple pages (including a Facebook group) populated with pleas from other parents desperate for these non-existent toys.

Usually I decry the commercialism associated with children’s entertainment; today, I find myself uncharacteristically wishing that Animal Mechanicals was made by Disney or Nickelodeon or another large conglomerate instead of a small, independent Halifax animation studio.

Now, I’m sure she’ll be excited to open any presents and happy with anything she’s given. I only wish well-meaning relatives and caregivers hadn’t filled her absorbent little brain with assurances that Santa can do anything, make anything, and bring her anything she wants. I hate the idea of disappointing her even a little. Maybe it’s time we told her the awful truth: Santa doesn’t have the licensing rights to make those toys.

Life was so much simpler last year, when all she wanted from Santa was a teddy bear!

What’s your child’s Christmas wish? Are you having any trouble sourcing the perfect gift for your little one(s)? Let us know in the comments!

Weekly Wish ....