Soon be time to hang your stocking up @Pat E 🎅 🧦 🎁 🎄
Nearly everything is done here … just the gammon to cook, a trifle to make and veg to prep … oh and make the stuffing and stuff the bird. I’ll make the breadcrumbs for the bread sauce when I make the stuffing … the milk and onion etc are infusing so will just have to be whizzed, heated and combined. OH is going to help with peeling veg … son is doing a present delivery to some special friends’ children down in Suffolk … think that’s everything sorted …
And remember folks … don’t get stressed … here’s some tips posted on Fbook by a butcher …
🎄 Here's my top tip
Christmas Dinner.... I have concluded that the inevitable stress of Christmas dinner is created by adverts, supermarkets and TV chefs... It's a Sunday dinner for goodness sake!!! The only difference is that you are allowed to open a bottle of wine before you open the kitchen curtains. 🍾
We do it quite happily 51 weeks of the year but can we the consumers be trusted to manage by ourselves on one day of the year...apparently not!
Here goes...
1. Turkey... It's a big fecking chicken that's all, 20 minutes per lb plus 20 minutes at 180 degrees - jobs a good un! Get yourselves a meat thermometer £3 off the Internet poke it in the offending bird if it says 75 degrees or over it's cooked!
2. Stuffing - regardless of what Jamie Oliver says, you do NOT need 2lbs of shoulder of pork, onions breadcrumbs, pine nuts and a shit load of fresh herbs to make stuffing....( no fecking wonder he's bankrupt if that's what he spends to make stuffing! What you need is Paxo and a kettle!! If you wanna liven it up squeeze 3 sausages out of their skins and mix that in with your Paxo before cooking .
3. Gravy - Jamie Oliver is copping for this one as well.... Bisto Jamie.... All you need is Bisto! I ( nor anyone else I know) has got time on Christmas Eve to piss about roasting chicken wings and vegetables, adding stock and flour,cooking it for another half hour, mashing it all up with a potato masher and then straining the whole sorry mess to make gravy
4. Vegetables... Never mind faffing round shredding sprouts and frying them with bacon and chestnuts to make them more palatable... If you don't like them don't buy and cook the fecking things!! If your family only eats frozen peas then that's good enough!
5. Roast potatoes... Yes I par boil mine then roast them in goose fat but Aunt Bessie also does the same.
6. Trimmings /Christmas pudding and the like.... Aldi or Lidl! (Oh and while we're on the subject of pudding - if Bird's Custard is what your family likes on the wretched thing then that's fine - you do not need brandy butter /rum sauce etc or anything else that costs a fecking fortune and takes 2 hours to make!)
7. Family.... Children.. Feed the little blighters first separately, if they only want turkey with tomato sauce - fine leave em to it, it doesn't matter. Once they are fed bugger them off to play with their Christmas presents so that YOU can enjoy your dinner in Peace!
Adults... Anyone that can manage to get their sorry arse to your dinner table is also capable of helping to serve up/ sort the kids out/ clear the table /wash up /dry up etc.
And Finally..... NO ONE.... And I mean no one APART FROM THE COOK IS ALLOWED TO GET PISSED AND FALL ASLEEP BEFORE THE WASHING UP IS DONE!!! Rant over
🎄 Merry Christmas! 🎄
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I love that, @Dovefromabove. I read it yesterday on another forum but didn't post it as I was in a rush. We will be having roast beef, cooked by son.
Morning all.
I'm with Son 2, DIL and 5 little ones. Last night we went to a lovely concert nativity play in a village church. First act was about Mary and Joseph falling in love, going to Bethlehem and the angel announcing the news to the shepherds. Mary and Joseph were played by professional opera singers from this area. They used a mixture of opera songs and carols. The singers were great and I really enjoyed it. We only stayed for the first act as the smaller children were too tired.
There has been great excitement as the family presents were laid out under the tree. Stockings for little Father Christmas presents will be put out tonight.
I'm going to do some baking with the children today.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Morning,oh wise Forkers. I need to pick your brains! Course having a puppy,then Covid,well behind by several months,(haven't even wrapped presents)Was knitting youngest granddaughter a cardigan, stopped in August owing to puppy, I couldn't remember where I had got to,so unpicked the other day,(last piece front button holes) then I missed ONE STITCH, the bottom rib is a pretty twisted chain design. Unpicked. Went to Sainsbury's very early Friday morning, bought one of their fancy "Finest" range cauliflower cheese, rather than making it. Having a quick infantry now, I couldn't find it. Turns out, Hubby put it in the freezer 🤬. It blatantly says "not suitable for home freezing". Will it kill me? What would you guys do? Normally I make myself one,and eat it over 2 days. He doesn't like cauliflower, and it's really difficult to make one small enough for one meal. My portion sizes are about a 5th of most people.oldest son and daughter coming for lunch tomorrow, which is why I bought it. I did buy some of their fancy bread sauce... no-one else likes it. Dove I also got sprouts with chestnuts 😁
It won’t kill you @Nanny Beach … the cauliflower texture might be a bit softer than you’d like …don’t thaw it … cook it from frozen and make sure it’s piping hot all the way through.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dove, thanks, I have already removed it from the freezer. I'm not a panicker, I will sniff the milk and yogurt and have it well past the fancy dates. I wouldn't have room in the oven to cook it a long time. Every year hubby says he doesn't like turkey...I say don't have it then (honestly men😳) we have a free range chicken, the nut roast is right in the bottom of the chest freezer 🤬. He's promised me we'll get an upright. Hope everyone has a good day tomorrow! Forecast is dire, would like to go and listen to the band in Eastbourne bandstand. Can't believe the silver is 12.30 tomorrow, aren't we all cooking then!! Will go Boxing day.
Good morning, G’Day and Happy Christmas Eve. It’s dark, wet and windy here so I hope Santa checks the weather app.
I hope everyone’s baking, making and cooking goes well. I love the post that Dove shared! People can really put pressure on themselves to make a glorified Sunday dinner. Don’t let me bore you with my fish finger sandwich on my own xmas dinner story again!
Take care all and don’t be shy to: saying no more/ doing things your own way/ enjoying the little things/ being thankful.
Morning all, oh heck why am I so daft? I did some DIY yesterday and used the mower to pick up leaves off the grass. Was quite tired last night. Just before bed time somehow I knocked my hand so now the knuckle joint on my index finger is swollen and V painful. I have to go and dig parsnips and get the sprouts from the plots. How I'm going to peel spuds & prep sprouts for fourteen, when I can hardly use my right hand I'm not sure 😬
Poor you @Allotment Boy have a medicinal 🥃 … Problem solved … they can do the veg when they arrive … Christmas Dinner can be ‘fashionably late’ this year 👍 The height of sophistication … trust me, we’re eating at about 6 ish. 😎
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Posts
And remember folks … don’t get stressed … here’s some tips posted on Fbook by a butcher …
🎄 Here's my top tip
Christmas Dinner....
I have concluded that the inevitable stress of Christmas dinner is created by adverts, supermarkets and TV chefs...
It's a Sunday dinner for goodness sake!!!
The only difference is that you are allowed to open a bottle of wine before you open the kitchen curtains. 🍾
We do it quite happily 51 weeks of the year but can we the consumers be trusted to manage by ourselves on one day of the year...apparently not!
Here goes...
1. Turkey... It's a big fecking chicken that's all, 20 minutes per lb plus 20 minutes at 180 degrees - jobs a good un! Get yourselves a meat thermometer £3 off the Internet poke it in the offending bird if it says 75 degrees or over it's cooked!
2. Stuffing - regardless of what Jamie Oliver says, you do NOT need 2lbs of shoulder of pork, onions breadcrumbs, pine nuts and a shit load of fresh herbs to make stuffing....( no fecking wonder he's bankrupt if that's what he spends to make stuffing!
What you need is Paxo and a kettle!! If you wanna liven it up squeeze 3 sausages out of their skins and mix that in with your Paxo before cooking .
3. Gravy - Jamie Oliver is copping for this one as well....
Bisto Jamie.... All you need is Bisto!
I ( nor anyone else I know) has got time on Christmas Eve to piss about roasting chicken wings and vegetables, adding stock and flour,cooking it for another half hour, mashing it all up with a potato masher and then straining the whole sorry mess to make gravy
4. Vegetables... Never mind faffing round shredding sprouts and frying them with bacon and chestnuts to make them more palatable... If you don't like them don't buy and cook the fecking things!! If your family only eats frozen peas then that's good enough!
5. Roast potatoes... Yes I par boil mine then roast them in goose fat but Aunt Bessie also does the same.
6. Trimmings /Christmas pudding and the like.... Aldi or Lidl!
(Oh and while we're on the subject of pudding - if Bird's Custard is what your family likes on the wretched thing then that's fine - you do not need brandy butter /rum sauce etc or anything else that costs a fecking fortune and takes 2 hours to make!)
7. Family....
Children.. Feed the little blighters first separately, if they only want turkey with tomato sauce - fine leave em to it, it doesn't matter. Once they are fed bugger them off to play with their Christmas presents so that YOU can enjoy your dinner in Peace!
Adults... Anyone that can manage to get their sorry arse to your dinner table is also capable of helping to serve up/ sort the kids out/ clear the table /wash up /dry up etc.
And Finally.....
NO ONE.... And I mean no one APART FROM THE COOK IS ALLOWED TO GET PISSED AND FALL ASLEEP BEFORE THE WASHING UP IS DONE!!!
Rant over
🎄 Merry Christmas! 🎄
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I'm with Son 2, DIL and 5 little ones. Last night we went to a lovely concert nativity play in a village church. First act was about Mary and Joseph falling in love, going to Bethlehem and the angel announcing the news to the shepherds. Mary and Joseph were played by professional opera singers from this area. They used a mixture of opera songs and carols. The singers were great and I really enjoyed it. We only stayed for the first act as the smaller children were too tired.
There has been great excitement as the family presents were laid out under the tree. Stockings for little Father Christmas presents will be put out tonight.
I'm going to do some baking with the children today.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Wet and windy here too.
Just put some croissants in the oven for our breakfast.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.