Christmas number two in Dhaka

Another year another christmas.......
But this year there was a lot more cheer in the air as my mother and my wee sister managed to make their way to the fair streets of Bangladesh. Although it took Dara 2 days to get here and her bag was a lovely surprise on christmas day, and my mother travelled through half of the UK to get here; they were here and it felt like christmas. Sofia and Michel kindly hosted the christmas eve dinner - yes we did a Nordic christmas and had our dinner on the nigt of the 24th. I have to admit it was rather nice waking up christmas morning and not having to think about violating a turkey and all the other business involved in the preparation of a traditional Siobhán christmas dinner.
The dinner was wonderful with christmas food from all corners of the globe and included pepparcupas (there spelt right for all you who won't let it go) from Linda's grandmother in Sweden and Irish christmas pudding from my grandmother in Tipperary (yes it is a real place), which we happily set alight with brandy for dessert. The setting was lovely and the wine flowed aplenty. The turkey, many thanks to Anil, arrived to us compliments of the German butcher without a day to spare, but tasted amazing. Tasmia brought a wonderful roast, Shams a great rice dish and Katarina made her delicious dish which she insists we call crap so here it is a great chickpea and potato dish officially known as 'Katarina's crap'.
We enjoyed choclate cake, flour and all, and a delicious lemon pie compliments of the hostess as well as the christmas pudding for dessert. The evening ended with a musical session with exquisite playing and singing from Shams, Sofia and Dara.