Christmas Day Stress.

[Dava]

Sainsburys Nut Roast. Highly recommended for vegans & vegetarians. With roasties, veg, Yorkshire Pudding [not for the vegans]. I can have simple loin of pork as well, + pigs in blankets.

 

Bottle of champagne with presents & full bodied red with the meal.

 

Last cooked a turkey some 20 years ago and never again.  

 

The horde descends 30 Dec, they will have a mixed buffet.

 

Dava

[polybear]

I've had a Pizza for chrimbo din dins before now.  With a stack of Auntie Bessie Roasts on top..... 

Worked for me....

[caradoc]

Once Christmas dinner, and hopefully the washing up too, are done, relax by watching 'Gavin and Stacey' on BBC1; According to the Beeb's non-stop self-promotion, this will be the greatest thing ever in the history of mankind, including the original reason for Christmas !

[Metr0Land]

3 minutes ago, caradoc said:

Once Christmas dinner, and hopefully the washing up too, are done, relax by watching 'Gavin and Stacey' on BBC1; According to the Beeb's non-stop self-promotion, this will be the greatest thing ever in the history of mankind, including the original reason for Christmas !

 

Unfortunately this is inducing some stress!  I've only just 'discovered' Gavin and Stacey and am only up to Series 1 Episode 4.  So do I record the special and wait ages to view it or watch it out of sequence?  Decisions...decisions.......

[jcm@gwr]

40 minutes ago, caradoc said:

Once Christmas dinner, and hopefully the washing up too, are done, relax by watching 'Gavin and Stacey' on BBC1; According to the Beeb's non-stop self-promotion, this will be the greatest thing ever in the history of mankind, including the original reason for Christmas !

 

Never watched it, it's never appealed to me!

But it would have to be better than Mrs Brown's Boys 

because just about everything else is (apart from Celebrity Juice,

The Inbetweeners and The Office!)

[Joseph_Pestell]

46 minutes ago, caradoc said:

Once Christmas dinner, and hopefully the washing up too, are done, relax by watching 'Gavin and Stacey' on BBC1; According to the Beeb's non-stop self-promotion, this will be the greatest thing ever in the history of mankind, including the original reason for Christmas !

 

As a cynic/sceptic, my view on this (and other aspects of life) is that it needs this much hype, it's always going to be utter c**p.

 

Most GPs are offended that I take this view of the supposed wonder-drug, statins.

 

Certainly seems to be the case with the movie version of Cats which one would have thought a certain winner.

[MJI]

Having a chicken as it is nicer.

 

Sprouts are sprouts and enjoyed best as is

[Torper]

10 hours ago, Dava said:

Sainsburys Nut Roast. Highly recommended for vegans & vegetarians.

 

Except that our vegans and vegetarians don't much like nut roast....

 

DT

[Metr0Land]

42 minutes ago, MJI said:

Having a chicken as it is nicer.

 

 

Indeed.  Turkey can be very dry and if you have a small household you can't get a turkey small enough (unless you're happy with endless leftovers)

[adb968008]

How many people put a railway under there tree anymore ?

 

Merry Christmas from the ADB clan

 

 

(as an fyi, we made this video last week to have time to navigate the new copyright rules, apologies for the ads, the revenue goes to the song owner, in return for allowing youtubers like me to use it in this video).

try to spot the back up locomotive (a jinty).

The tracks spinning off was a bit of friday fun for my little one.. as my wife was at work (and technically i was).. this turned into a loop that went right down the lounge, into the kitchen, through the hall and back into the lounge and under the tree...

 

Edited December 25, 2019 by adb968008

[F-UnitMad]

23 hours ago, gwrrob said:

Is it too early to put the sprouts on yet.....

For next year, you're probably still just about ok....

 

The best use for sprouts is as replacement fillings in Ferrero Rocher wrappers, which you give to unsuspecting trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

[tomparryharry]

Oh Lord: Christmas, the stress...

 

Having to wake up at some sort of ungodly hour, assemble my Triang train set, and run trains all day.  Dinner, tea & supper... And then, Mum & Dad would say "Off you go, bedtime!"

 

Boxing Day... Arghh! doing it all over again!

 

The trial & tribulations of being 8 years old, and the world would never end.

 

Happy Christmas, everyone. 

 

Ian. 

[Nick C]

2 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

 

Indeed.  Turkey can be very dry and if you have a small household you can't get a turkey small enough (unless you're happy with endless leftovers)

We had a Turkey crown, have done for the last few years. Ready stuffed and wrapped in bacon from our local butcher, it was lovely and moist.

[TheQ]

On 24/12/2019 at 09:42, Sidecar Racer said:

Just in case anyone is stressing about Christmas Day..............!

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!!! 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...


2. Stuffing - regardless of what Jamie Oliver says you do NOT need 2lbs of shoulder of pork, onions breadcrumbs,pine nuts and a **** load of fresh herbs to make stuffing....( no fecking wonder he's bankrupt if thats 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


Rant over
Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas dinner was mostly cooked last week as and when we had time,  it's defrosting now for final heating in an hour or so before final assembly. 

 

As for 2, we have sage growing the garden , SWMBo likes her crusts of bread cut off,  so they are saved in the freezer,  , all we buy are onions which come very cheaply in 25kg sacks from the local farm shop.  Much cheaper than bland Paxo and you can adjust the onion / sage balance to your choice. 

[45156]

Ours was incredibly cheap, and also quite delicious - to wit

 

Prawn (2.79 Aldi) and Smoked Salmon (£2.99 Aldi) with a mixed leaf salad (49p Aldi) in a home made sauce of my own invention Plenty of prawns left for toorrow.

 

Free Range Corn Fed Chicken (4.71 Lidl) enough left for tomorrow as a casserole

Mini Roast potatoes (15p Lidl) plenty left

Roast Parsnips (15p Lidl) plenty left

Sprouts (15p Lidl) plenty left

Roast Carrots (15p Lidl) plenty left

Cabbage (49p Aldi) plenty left

Pigs In Blankets and stuffing by using chipolatas (1.29 Aldi)

 

Jane Asher Xmas Pud (£1.59 Home Bargains)

 

I feel full to bursting, for under fifteen quid for two.

 

 

[Ian Smeeton]

 Stress free here.

 

Eggs Benedict for Breakfast

 

Aldi 3 Bird Roast with Parsnips, carrots, sprouts & small spuds from the garden, along with a couple of Roasties.

 

Nice Muscadet, (Aldi-very good) with a smoked salmon & cream cheese starter, followed by one of my 40th Birthday bottles (from nearly 20 years ago) of Ch Prieurie Lichine 2000.

 

DEEElish

 

Then I beat the Boss at Cribbage.

 

Just the two of us, so most of the washing up done as we went along.

 

Most of the wine into me.

 

A bit of Soldering done on PSJ's fiddle yards, and now I am struggling to stay awake.

 

Regards, & Here's to a stress free 2020

 

Ian

[jcm@gwr]

Breakfast consists of a homemade porkpie (pork mince & sausage meat in pastry),

warm with mustard, then the cooking starts.

Full works for us, cooked by SWMBO & daughters, enjoyed by us, plus 1 daughter & 1 son.

(1 daughter went to her boyfriends, 1 son went to work [station staff])

My only job before was to get everything, I did all the shopping, (and paid for it),

my job after was to do all the washing up, still ongoing!

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by jcm@gwr

[DaveF]

 

Many years ago I asked Mum what was the most stressful thing about Christmas dinner.

 

Her reply was that there was no stress, as long as cook remembered to put the turkey on early enough.

 

I should add that she and Dad ran a boarding school at one time and a number of the staff, both teaching and household, lived there all year round.

On Christmas day Mum normally did almost all the meal apart from putting the turkey in the oven very early in the morning.

 

Our Christmas dinner usually meant having about 30 friends and relatives for the day, with around fifteen staff as well.

 

Nowadays I just cook for Mum and I, very easy to do.

 

David

 

[adb968008]

Half the family is polish.. so theres a lot of food..

 

starting christmas eve.. 12 dishes..

 

beetroot soup

pea soup.

egg style soup with garlic (zurek to those who know)

Pierogi (potato/cheese) & (forest mushroom)

Slices of Herring in onion/lemon juice

fried carp

potatoes

Mixed cabbage salad

Cabbage leaf with a haggis like vegetarian dish inside

red cabbage salad

ginger biscuit

chocolate cake

chocolate wafer

mulled wine, added Orange,  Chopin , Hibiki 12yr old, 2008 Montalcino di Brunelo, liquer home made (in raspberry, rhubarb and Forest strawberry & another 1 beer.

 

midnight mass & a big hangover.

 

christmas day (my turn to cook)..dinner for 12..

 

Turkey, basted with a mix of: sage, pepper, salt, polish garlic (serious stuff), All spice, paprika, rosemary, thyme, olive oil. 
Added Polish bacon slices to the outside, 2 onions inside and half a lemon.

 

stuffing made from fresh sage, Minced Pork/Turkey, onion, garlic, 2 eggs, salt, pepper, bread crumbs

 

mashed potatoes, pierogi, cabbage salad, forest mushrooms, mushroom sauce, pickled gherkin, roasted potatoes.

 

Gravy made from turkey juice, boiled water & flour, slightly cooled in the feezer for 10 minutes to let the fat settle at the top, then remove, spoon off the solidified fat to Reduce heart attacks, then reheat to serve.

 

After eight mints with ice cream.

 

mulled wine, Chopin , 18 yr Glendronach, 2015 Jordan Black Magic, liquer home made (in raspberry, rhubarb and Forest strawberry & another 1 beer.

tomorrow.. bigger hangover than today.. ive managed to find a glass of water to keep myself steady to write this.

 

to come... another turkey to cook... but english style throughout.

 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2019 by adb968008

[Kingzance]

Traditional Christmas Dinner here after a grazing meal on Christmas Eve that included salad, jacket potato and slices off a lovely smoked gammon. 10 plus the dog fed with turkey, strips of bacon, pigs in blankets, Yorkshire Puds (Aunt Bessies), shredded sprouts, glazed carrots,  baked cauliflower and broccoli concoction to a recipe by Jamie Oliver (no wonder his restaurants failed) and a rich low-fat turkey gravy. No one wanted pudding until a long time later!

We will do something not dissimilar this afternoon involving the other half of the turkey, some real cauliflower cheese, broccoli, swede and carrot mash and more crispy roast spuds and Yorkshire’s for the children. Tomorrow the health police will be coming to arrest me for contributing to the obesity epidemic.....

[Mark Saunders]

1 hour ago, Kingzance said:

Traditional Christmas Dinner here after a grazing meal on Christmas Eve that included salad, jacket potato and slices off a lovely smoked gammon. 10 plus the dog fed with turkey, strips of bacon, pigs in blankets, Yorkshire Puds (Aunt Bessies), shredded sprouts, glazed carrots,  baked cauliflower and broccoli concoction to a recipe by Jamie Oliver (no wonder his restaurants failed) and a rich low-fat turkey gravy. No one wanted pudding until a long time later!

We will do something not dissimilar this afternoon involving the other half of the turkey, some real cauliflower cheese, broccoli, swede and carrot mash and more crispy roast spuds and Yorkshire’s for the children. Tomorrow the health police will be coming to arrest me for contributing to the obesity epidemic.....

 

You will be able to slip away unnoticed as the Health Police, Vegetarians and Vegans will be fighting at the front door as as to who has the right to arrest you!

 

 

[Kingzance]

12 minutes ago, Mark Saunders said:

 

You will be able to slip away unnoticed as the Health Police, Vegetarians and Vegans will be fighting at the front door as as to who has the right to arrest you!

 

 

Mark - I love that comment!

[APOLLO]

Vegans ? I think I ate a roasted one Yesterday - (couldn't manage a whole one though - a bit too sickly !!).

 

Loads of Turkey etc left - but that's for tonight - Xmas dinner Mk2. Also no taxying family today so I can have a drink with it. (I don't mind being the Taxi driver on Christmas day provided they all bu**er off by 9pm. !!).

 

New Years Eve we're having a Thai buffet and I am having a drink or two - so NO taxying !!

 

Brit15

[SM42]

19 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Half the family is polish.. so theres a lot of food..

 

starting christmas eve.. 12 dishes..

 

beetroot soup

pea soup.

egg style soup with garlic (zurek to those who know)

Pierogi (potato/cheese) & (forest mushroom)

Slices of Herring in onion/lemon juice

fried carp

potatoes

Mixed cabbage salad

Cabbage leaf with a haggis like vegetarian dish inside

red cabbage salad

ginger biscuit

chocolate cake

chocolate wafer

mulled wine, added Orange,  Chopin , Hibiki 12yr old, 2008 Montalcino di Brunelo, liquer home made (in raspberry, rhubarb and Forest strawberry & another 1 beer.

 

midnight mass & a big hangover.

 

 

You got alcohol?

 

Non here for Wigilia. (Christmas Eve)

We ended up going to a friends this year as they couldn't come to us due to a very recent family addition and we all cooked a little bit towards it.

Beetroot soup, wild mushroom soup,  cabbage and mushroom pierogi, carp (mind the bones)  piernik (ginger cake) and two different cheese cakes were Mrs SM42's contribution.

This was added to the Greek style cod and another cod dish (of which I gave no idea what was in there apart from cod,), fried cabbage, and Szarlotka (apple cake) and carrot cake for afters and I think we hit the 12 dishes

 

I just had to get the soup 15 miles in the car without spilling any. Easier said than done when you have several roundabouts, speed bumps and Worcester's one way system to navigate.

 

Yesterday was a more traditional dinner, turkey crown, pork joint and veg. Due to a timing error visiting mum it ended up a bit late though and was more like tea than lunch.

 

Hope everyone has recovered a bit.

 

Polish cakes for breakfast for the next 3 days now.

 

How will I cope?

 

Andy

Edited December 26, 2019 by SM42

[APOLLO]

Never been to Poland but I like Polish food.

 

A new Polish supermarket opened in Wigan town centre earlier this year. Very clean and friendly Polish staff. A nice selection of Polish beers, and the meat counter has some superb hams, sausages etc. My wife buys her pork from there as it is always fresh. I like to try out various sliced meats (for sandwiches) with curious names - I've had nothing yet I did not like.

 

Brit15