A winter picnic to banish the January blues

Karla, Daniel and their family gather every Boxing Day for a picnic in Camber Sands. Photograph: Mimi Mollica for the Guardian

To mark the end of the December festivities, Karla, her husband Dan and their grownup children (and dog, Joko) made their way to Camber Sands, Kent, for a windswept walk and picnic …

What did you have to eat?

We had roast beef sandwiches on granary bread, with horseradish and very crunchy cos lettuce. I popped the beef in the oven that morning, and roasted it on some bay leaves, shallots, heritage carrots (purple on the outside, orange in the middle) and a few lovely golden beetroots. We also had satsumas, which I bought from my local Turkish supermarket, and a box of traditional homemade Czech pastries called kolace. The recipe has been passed down through the generations from Dan's grandmother, Franceska, who was from Valašsko. It's a really special pastry and you can use it for anything – savoury or sweet. Sometimes I make a big sausage plait but this time I used up the last of a shop-bought jar of mincemeat, to which I added some chopped apple, orange zest and brand