Anna Buckley

I got up at 6 am, Christmas eve, couldn’t sleep and thought I may as well start the day. Coffee on, grab the milk and something just isn’t right. Nothing in the upper part of the fridge feels cold. I check the freezer and there is tundra like snow spewing out…it’s frost free and shouldn’t be happening. Of course I go straight to Mr. Google and my online repair man tells me the fridge needs defrosting! So I’ve given you a shot of what my chaotic kitchen looks like at 7am.Now for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere this wouldn’t be so bad as it’s probably freezing outside. But here in Australia Christmas is usually swelteringly hot! Luckily the forecast is for an unusually mild, if not cool, 21 c day. The frozen food was still rock hard and is now keeping the turkey and the duck breasts cold. The filet steak for boxing day was fine and the lamb legs, for a family dinner on the 27th, are good as well. I’m boiling water to put into  the freezer and will take up position on the floor and point the hairdryer at the offending iceberg in an attempt to expedite the process… if you don’t hear from me over the next few days I’ve probably electrocuted myself! Now the only reason I haven’t had a complete and utter nervous breakdown is that we got all the last-minute things out the way on Tuesday. My parents had arrived on a trouble-free flight the night before and yesterday we got off to an early start…my Dad has given me full permission to show him, glamorously, in his pajamas. With breakfast out the way, and Dad now dressed, we headed off to the Vic markets to pick up the last of the food items.  Prawns, or shrimp, are traditionally eaten at Christmas and I bought 1.5 kilos. Next we snuck around to the deli section for a yummy borek pastry…spicy lamb and cheese and spinach. Purchased a selection of summer fruits, dropped the lot in the fridge and headed out to the mega shopping complex to get the last of the presents. Surprisingly it all went smoothly and last night we had a lovely dinner with a surprise visit from a dear friend and, quite fortuitously, ate the prawns that night!

So this dear readers is a picture of the ricotta, citrus and berry tart I was going to do a post about today. It is what I will be taking to Christmas lunch tomorrow with my darling cousin and twenty members of our extended family.

I was going to give you detailed instructions but know it will take far to long and I don’t have the time as I now have a kitchen crisis to deal with. I promise I’ll give you the recipe in the new year but for now you’ll have to  be content with the shot and use the blueberries and cherries as an idea for decorating your own cheesecake!

Thanks so much for welcoming me to the blogging community, it’s been an absolute joy and all I ask is that you breathe deeply, no fridge crisis is really that bad, and have a gorgeous Christmas, much love Anna x.

Love you to read my books The Lost Woman series follows the sexy adventures of Christina as she makes her way through a world of new media, design, fashion,  travel, and … men. The complete series is available now at Amazon, Kobo, Google Books, Barnes & Noble and iBooks, both as eBooks and print books. They can also be ordered from any book store, or by mail order on the BOOKS page.