
Words by: Denyce Blackman
Photos by: Jaryd Niles-Morris
“Christmas is a time for foodies”. Of course, this would be coming from a foodie – well-known blogger and self-taught food photographer CJ Niles.
“Christmas for me is a time for family, food, celebration, a lot of love and a lot of eating!”
The 20-something year old behind Dine with Your Eyes has for the last two and a half years been documenting her food experiences, honing her skills in food photography along the way, to be shared with her online readers. Today, Cooking Sense finds her in her kitchen, pouring sorrel and tastefully decorating a traditional great cake.
As her luck would have it, the bubbly Bajan with British roots is expecting to double this year’s culinary festivities with two separate Christmas celebrations. Since most of her immediate family migrated to the UK, her mother’s birthplace, she began a yearly local Christmas tradition with her grandmother. However, this year she plans to surprise her mother by showing up on Christmas Eve.
“This will be my first big Christmas with my family since I was a teenager. So, before I leave, my grandmother and I will do our ham and a big spread. So we’ll have our Bajan Christmas before Christmas Day, then I’ll go and have my English Christmas on the actual day.
Growing up with a “fusion of Bajan and British traditions”, plus being around a family who loves trying different takes of traditional meals, has had an impact on how CJ imagines an ideal Christmas spread. For example, in her version of a Christmas fantasy feast, she’d swap out the traditional rice and peas for rice and kidney beans with coconut milk. She would keep the tossed salad and coleslaw (due to her “no beige plates” rule), but also include her mother’s potato salad with boiled egg. Flying fish is a must-have, but so are British Yorkshire puddings, a savoury bread dish topped with gravy or meat. The main event, however, is her Granny’s perfectly baked ham.
“Granny’s ham throughout the family is famous,” CJ declares, but, true to family practice, CJ’s grandmother still puts her own spin on things, or – in this case – leaves them out.
“My Granny is very particular. She doesn’t like cloves in ham, she doesn’t even like it to be glazed, although I’m a pineapple glaze person. So, she’ll make some sacrifices, like putting pineapple glaze at the side instead of all over. But still, there’s something about the way a grandmother cooks that is unexplainable but it tastes so good. There are certain things I wouldn’t even ask about because I don’t want to know too much! I just know it would be glorious and I won’t be able to replicate it.”
Then, once the main course is cleared and dessert plates come out, that’s when we see what CJ brings to the table.
The self-declared dessert aficionado has always had a knack for dishing up sweet things, and even rates restaurants based on the quality of their desserts. Her favourite yuletide treat is her speciality pineapple crumble.
“Pineapple crumble on a whole is somewhat unexpected because most people do apple crumble, which I also do sometimes. Whenever I do, I always use green Granny Smith apples, because those give the right amount of tart. I might cube the apples and put them on the stove to stew down or I might slice the apples, put them into the baking dish with the sugar and cinnamon, top it with crumble and let everything cook in the oven.
“But if I’m making pineapple crumble – my sister’s favourite – then I’d definitely put it on the stove with the cinnamon and sugar and let it stew down almost to a jam, then I put it in the pan, top it with crumble and so then the oven will just be to let the crumble crisp up and harden.”
In listing the final dishes of her Christmas fantasy spread, the cherry on top is a traditional great cake (with or without cherries on top). In true Bajan style, her fruits for her 2021 Christmas great cake have been soaking in local rum since last year.
According to CJ, “following the traditional great cake recipe is how you get it perfect– just following the recipe that’s been passed down and passed down.”
The size of the fruits, however, is what she advises makes or breaks a good dessert.
“For me, if the fruits are too coarse and chunky, the texture is off. It needs to be fruitcake and not fruit in cake. I personally do a mixture of buying candied fruit peel so they’re chopped up fine and then adding some cherries which could be slightly bigger. Then you also need the right amount of alcohol so it’s not overpowering, but not too subtle either. So it’s not like “this got rum in it?”
One thing she can attest to is, when it comes to fruitcake, CJ has inherited from her Grandmother a no-frills approach. Don’t mind the looks– how does it taste? She opts for minimal decoration, and during this interview, she’s added just a couple of plump stemmed cherries and an oven-dried orange slice to the centre of the cake.

“I can’t tell you how long this will last,” she admits, “Just don’t come next week and expect to find it here!”
Leading up to Christmas she’ll continue to plan the delicacies that she’ll be eating or preparing, including a special spiked sorrel for Christmas gatherings, another family tradition.
“Food for me is at the forefront of my Christmas traditions; food is like a unifier. Everyone comes together to eat and you cherish the memories of sitting around the table, surrounded by people you love, laughing, joking and sharing a Christmas meal – food is what makes it special.”
I and also my buddies have been going through the excellent information located on your web blog while immediately I had a horrible feeling I never expressed respect to the blog owner for those secrets. These men are actually as a result joyful to see them and have pretty much been loving them. Appreciation for really being really considerate and also for making a choice on varieties of brilliant subject areas most people are really eager to be aware of. Our honest apologies for not expressing appreciation to you earlier.
I intended to send you a tiny note so as to thank you very much the moment again for all the amazing advice you have documented in this case. It has been quite tremendously open-handed with you in giving without restraint what exactly a few people could have offered for an electronic book to get some bucks on their own, principally since you could possibly have tried it if you wanted. The thoughts additionally served to become fantastic way to know that someone else have the identical zeal similar to my very own to understand more in regard to this matter. Certainly there are several more fun instances ahead for folks who view your site.
a Maria – Dance, Maria [Official Music Video]! Click Here: https://youtu.be/E5DYlF6_x2U
Thank you for your own efforts on this site. Ellie delights in setting aside time for research and it’s obvious why. Most of us know all about the powerful form you render very important thoughts by means of the blog and as well as invigorate participation from other individuals on that area and my princess is always studying so much. Enjoy the remaining portion of the new year. You are conducting a first class job.
I simply wished to thank you very much again. I am not sure the things I could possibly have undertaken in the absence of the entire advice documented by you relating to that area of interest. It has been a very terrifying dilemma in my view, nevertheless coming across a new professional fashion you handled that made me to cry over contentment. Now i am happier for the assistance and trust you realize what an amazing job you are always carrying out educating others using your site. I am sure you have never got to know all of us.
I wanted to send you that bit of remark in order to thank you so much again relating to the remarkable suggestions you have provided here. It is so shockingly open-handed with people like you to give openly all that most of us would have made available for an e-book to earn some cash for themselves, most notably now that you might have tried it in case you decided. Those techniques additionally served to provide a good way to recognize that other individuals have the identical desire just as my personal own to know the truth a good deal more on the topic of this condition. I’m certain there are thousands of more fun times in the future for individuals that looked at your blog.
I like what you guys are up also. Such smart work and reporting! Keep up the superb works guys I have incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my web site 🙂
Best dating worldwide! Click Here: https://telegra.ph/Which-dating-site-is-the-best-01-05
Best dating worldwide! Click Here: https://telegra.ph/Which-dating-site-is-the-best-01-05
Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is excellent, let alone the content!
Rattling nice design and style and fantastic articles, hardly anything else we want : D.