Four: The Pacific Christmas

Scotch and dry butterflied pork with baps and prawns. Photo / Janna Dixon

By the time we get to Christmas Day, all I want to to is be lying around on some island. Create a laid back atmosphere in a shady spot of your garden or your local park. Gather up all your lava lavas, buy some leis from the $2 shop, grab some sunhats, spread some tapa cloth and get into a Pacific mood. Serve your food in wooden bowls lined with banana leaves. Decorate with shells, hibiscus flowers, flax baskets and woven mats. Make a big jug of Hot Samoan Boys Bloody Mary to start the day.

Pacific Bloody Mary

Hot Samoan Boys chilli sauce is made with village-grown birdseye chillies. Add to this tomato juice, Worcester sauce, fresh squeezed lime and ice. Decorate with tropical flowers.

MENU

* Start the meal with prawns as we did for the outdoor Christmas. Grill them on a barbecue or just blanch them and make sure there are plenty of lemon and lime wedges.

* Buy some soft white baps and serve with the Scotch and Dry Butterflied Pork. Your guests can graze on big hunky pork-filled baps at their own pace .

* Finish with an array of tropical fruits. I used watermelon, pineapple and blueberries but you could be more exotic with paw paw and mangos. Cover this with ginger ice. Make this by infusing a light sugar syrup with grated fresh root ginger, strain, cool and freeze, then slush over the fruit just before serving. Chill out, slow down to island time and enjoy the day.