Hi, I'm Marcelle (Instagram: marcellerogers) a musician from Phillip Island, Australia. I'm also a cook with a food blog Marcelle's Eats, a wife, a mother of two adult children and an avid photographer.

Christmas in Australia means coping with the heat, either in air-conditioned comfort or relaxing under a large shady tree. Luckily, where I live in Victoria is blessed with dry heat, so when the temperatures soar into the late 30’Cs and 40’Cs, it’s almost bearable. The weather for Christmas this year was about 30’C, so I made cooking minimal; other than reheating the mock turkey and blanching the vegetables, I roasted a tray potatoes and put together several side salads.

Christmas used to be a large family gathering at my beloved parents home, but since they’ve moved into a villa in a retirement village, most of the family gathers at our place by the sea. After an early morning walk along the seashore, we read the nativity story, opened presents around the tree and ate a midday feast on the back deck under the large tree before the afternoon heat.

Our favourite foods are summery salads, lightly blanched vegetables, my beloved mother’s vegan mock turkey with vegan bacon, apple and cranberry stuffing, pudding with chilled cashew custard, a Christmas cake for nibbles and non-alcoholic white wine refresher with summer fruits.

My beloved daughter commented, "I absolutely loved the pudding. Generally, I'm not much of a pudding person as I would much rather a good chocolate dessert. However, this pudding was my favourite dish of the day. It was luscious and had so many taste bud surpirses. With the addition of the cashew cream, this dessert is taken to a whole new level. Yum!"