One of my passions in life (the other is social issues) that only my friends know about is cooking. Ask my friends who have come to my home, chatted around my kitchen table and enjoyed, appam, puttu or pancake for breakfast, and roast chicken, pasta, or a variety of curries for dinner.

Food and family around a large table has always been part of Sunday gatherings and festivals at my parents home in Singapore. Now the family is spread out in three different continents. However most members now live in Perth. The family get togethers are always an ocassion for feasting and our experiences of food have extended far beyond the traditional Malayalee food of my mother’s table.

I am reminded of the joy of getting together around a table now that Christmas is here and once again I am in Perth to celebrate the event with my siblings and their families. When we sit down to dinner on Christmas day there are 44 of the immediate family. The family is still growing and the latest addition to it is one month old Zoe.

So for this Christmas dinner I have been assigned to cook the family’s favourite, the mutton curry. There will be the traditional roast turkey, glazed Ham, salads of different cultures, Greek and Lebanese vegetable dishes and dips, rendang, and a variety of desserts whose origins I am not sure of. But they are always a delight.