Morning everyone,Ā well sleep here us a bit erratic at the moment,Ā probably too much planning wizzing round our heads. We braved the SMs yesterday M&S was absolutely heaving, quite a lot of things were a bit short dated, so another trip will be needed for last minute bits. We had a Christmas lunch at a pub yesterday,Ā some of the other cousins came too so there were 14 of us. Made me realise how busy we'll be on Xmas day as that's how many we will have , then 4 more for late afternoon/eve. Wish us luckš³š
Just popped by to say - we met @Dovefromabove's Rob!Ā What a lovely man.Ā We all went outside to watch the Old Glory Molly men arrive and do a couple of dances outside the cocktail bar we were in (all sinister stomping) then we said goodbye to Rob and followed the Mollies to the pub down the road for the rest of their performance.Ā Both the cocktail bar and pub were heaving!Ā It felt very much the place to be last night for the winter solstice.
Now off to get the Christmas veg and then to the farm shop to pick up the turkey.
@didyw š Ā ā¦ heās not really surfaced this morning ā¦ like most folks in the industry he has an enormous capacity for sleep when he gets the opportunityā¦ Ā glad you liked him ā¦ we think heās lovely too! But I might be a bit biased š„°Ā
Gardening in Central NorfolkĀ on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@tui34, I forgot to buy red cabbage! Probably subliminal, as itās never been that popular in the past, and it was never a tradition in my family.Ā I also forgot to buy bread sauce mix ( only son in law likes it) Iāve never tried to make it from scratch, so I thought Iād have a go. No cloves though, although Delia says you can use nutmeg instead, which I do have. I wonder if star anise might add an acceptable flavour? Good luck to all who have to brave the shops today. Weāre staying home today, Iāll be on bedmaking and tidying bathroom duties and OH can wrap the tree presents. Iād better transfer all my various food lists onto a couple of intelligible ones. One for me, what Iām serving and when, and one for the visitors, with all the drink choices and snacks, so they can help themselves to between meal or late night nibbles.Ā
Morning everybody, sorry, just didn't have time to post yesterday, son arrived first, then DIL and grandchildren - before lunch when I was expecting them after - cue a bit of a panic so we ate today's lunch yesterday! DaughterĀ then arrived much later than expected. Everybody mucked in with preparations for our festive dinner. The salmon fillet was so big, we had to cut it in half to fit it in the tin. Had a job to then fit everything in the oven so turned both ovens on. The Sainsbury's Bao's of Holly which was the starter was a disappointment however, not much of a taste but looked very pretty. Didn't do a main pud but everyone helped themselves to what they fancied.
It was great to have all the family together though which doesn't happen very often.
This morning they've all gone out for a long hike up to the top of the Cotswold Way but it's raining hard which is a shame. I've loaded the dishwasher - again and have collapsed into my chair with a coffee before they come back and the lunch onslaught starts all over again. Then son goes off to the rugby match and DIL takes the grandchildren home. Poor dog will be glad to see them again, apparently he looked very doleful through the window when they left. Her mother's been looking after him.
Plenty of red cabbage here @ergates ā¦ we have a huge one ā¦ Iāll cut it in half and lob some over ā¦Ā Ā we went to the farm shop early this morningĀ .., the fridges and freezer are nowĀ Ā rammedĀ Ā and thereās a load of veg being stored in a plastic box on the terrace.
Ā The farm shopās dairy supplier couldnāt deliver all the milk that was needed, (cows donāt produce more milk in anticipation of Christmas) Ā so rather than let us down the lovely Jake went to thd 24 hour Tesco late last night and got what was needed to fulfil the orders. Thatās what i call service ā¦ I canāt imagine Tesco doing the same if the shoe was on the other footĀ
Now 40 sausage rolls (with chilli jam) have been made and are cooling. Goodness knows where Iāll put them until Christmas brunch but Iāll find somewhere.Ā
When there was a chance that weād not have an oven I bought some lovely mince pies from Wrose ā¦ weāve decided that Iāll not make any of my own just now (OH says the bought ones wonāt get eaten if I do and thatād be a wasteā¦Ā ) so Iāve popped the shortcrust pastry in the freezer ā¦ Iāll probably make some for New Year.Ā
The milk for the bread sauce is infusing with onion, cloves and bayleaves.Ā (Yes, nutmeg would be fine ā¦ or a pinch of ground allspice ā¦ not Mixed Spice tho).Ā
Tomorrow Iāll cook the gammon, prep the veg for Monday, make a parsley, orange and thyme stuffing and stuff the fowl, make the trifle, wrap the pigs in their blankets, and take the prawns and smoked salmon out of the freezer ready to fill vol au vents for Christmas brunch ā¦ have I forgotten anything ā¦ ? Ā Too bad if I have ā¦ Iāve made a coffee and got my knitting out ā¦ š āļø š§¶Ā
Gardening in Central NorfolkĀ on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Afternoon all. Just finished playing fridge Tetris to fit in a 4kg goose, amazing what you can get into what you thought was a full fridge. Next up, freezer Tetris!
Been in to the village to collect the Christmas order from the butcher - we're having duck this year. Got some extra spuds, sprouts and satsumas while we were out. We're very lucky to have great shops locally. It's busy, but much more civilised than the SM. Dropped a present round to the new neighbours and a couple of last cards and that's it done now. I'll do a bit of housework and make some bread tomorrow. Fires are lit, music is on loud, I am officially On HolidayĀ
Hope you all have a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas, however you chose to spend it.Ā
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
āIt's still magic even if you know how it's done.āĀ
Posts
We braved the SMs yesterday M&S was absolutely heaving, quite a lot of things were a bit short dated, so another trip will be needed for last minute bits.
We had a Christmas lunch at a pub yesterday,Ā some of the other cousins came too so there were 14 of us. Made me realise how busy we'll be on Xmas day as that's how many we will have , then 4 more for late afternoon/eve. Wish us luckš³š
Now off to get the Christmas veg and then to the farm shop to pick up the turkey.
Gardening in Central NorfolkĀ on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I also forgot to buy bread sauce mix ( only son in law likes it) Iāve never tried to make it from scratch, so I thought Iād have a go. No cloves though, although Delia says you can use nutmeg instead, which I do have. I wonder if star anise might add an acceptable flavour?
Good luck to all who have to brave the shops today. Weāre staying home today, Iāll be on bedmaking and tidying bathroom duties and OH can wrap the tree presents. Iād better transfer all my various food lists onto a couple of intelligible ones. One for me, what Iām serving and when, and one for the visitors, with all the drink choices and snacks, so they can help themselves to between meal or late night nibbles.Ā
It was great to have all the family together though which doesn't happen very often.
This morning they've all gone out for a long hike up to the top of the Cotswold Way but it's raining hard which is a shame. I've loaded the dishwasher - again and have collapsed into my chair with a coffee before they come back and the lunch onslaught starts all over again. Then son goes off to the rugby match and DIL takes the grandchildren home. Poor dog will be glad to see them again, apparently he looked very doleful through the window when they
night all
Plenty of red cabbage here @ergates ā¦ we have a huge one ā¦ Iāll cut it in half and lob some over ā¦Ā Ā we went to the farm shop early this morningĀ .., the fridges and freezer are nowĀ Ā rammedĀ Ā and thereās a load of veg being stored in a plastic box on the terrace.
Ā The farm shopās dairy supplier couldnāt deliver all the milk that was needed, (cows donāt produce more milk in anticipation of Christmas) Ā so rather than let us down the lovely Jake went to thd 24 hour Tesco late last night and got what was needed to fulfil the orders. Thatās what i call service ā¦ I canāt imagine Tesco doing the same if the shoe was on the other footĀ
Now 40 sausage rolls (with chilli jam) have been made and are cooling. Goodness knows where Iāll put them until Christmas brunch but Iāll find somewhere.Ā
When there was a chance that weād not have an oven I bought some lovely mince pies from Wrose ā¦ weāve decided that Iāll not make any of my own just now (OH says the bought ones wonāt get eaten if I do and thatād be a wasteā¦Ā ) so Iāve popped the shortcrust pastry in the freezer ā¦ Iāll probably make some for New Year.Ā
The milk for the bread sauce is infusing with onion, cloves and bayleaves.Ā (Yes, nutmeg would be fine ā¦ or a pinch of ground allspice ā¦ not Mixed Spice tho).Ā
Tomorrow Iāll cook the gammon, prep the veg for Monday, make a parsley, orange and thyme stuffing and stuff the fowl, make the trifle, wrap the pigs in their blankets, and take the prawns and smoked salmon out of the freezer ready to fill vol au vents for Christmas brunch ā¦ have I forgotten anything ā¦ ? Ā Too bad if I have ā¦ Iāve made a coffee and got my knitting out ā¦ š āļø š§¶Ā
Gardening in Central NorfolkĀ on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hope you all have a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas, however you chose to spend it.Ā
āIt's still magic even if you know how it's done.āĀ