h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

s (and long barge-pole) to all our salonistas. I've had the snots for about four weeks now. When will it end??

Happy Christmas to all!

[GDZ]

No more shopping for me. Dinner's at my sister-in-law's house. We're having a locally-raised and -butchered ham with cherry sauce, roasted Brussels sprouts (my contribution), a savory bread pudding with aged Gouda (mine again), two other things which I can't remember at this moment and are not my contributions, and a chocolate cheesecake.

Oh, and . Plenty of .

Turned up a week late for Carol Service at local Church last night! I went to Crib Service this afternoon as advised last night it wasn't just for kids and has Carols to sing along to. Actually it was lovely, I sat at back, and the Crib and kids dressed as angels and sheperds was very Christmasey.
I popped into SUPERMARKET at 4pm for newspapers as fairly empty, only 4 deep at checkouts, but clearly had been very busy earlier as near door floor was filthy. There were still a few doing mega shops which seems a little risky as could end up with nothing for Christmas if went wrong!

Carols From King's 5.30pm tonight BBC2, 'nuff said!

[ltp]
Oh, Plenty of .enjoy or red-whine

Passes LTP a large glass of red wine!
.
If Christmas had to last only an hour I think watching Carol's From King's (college, Cambridge) with candles in my room would be the hour I would choose as sums up Christmas for me. Pure bliss!

> Your family and mine, Hyp. Makes the Festive Season a little... difficult, all the ghosts.

Yup... same here. Every year I get a little older and somebody dies... I think we celebrate the holidays so we can sit around and reminisce about those who have gone before, and who can't be here today. And we do it with lots of family and cheerful things, so it won't get us too down. But then we add alcohol, a depressant!

I'm so glad your cousin survived his heart attack. Usually the first sign of heart trouble is death. He's a lucky man.

> Man loudly announcing Christmas is all a con anyway, and that they'll just have a nice bit of beef this year, whereapon his partner wallops him in the midsection with a shopping-basket containing a goose like a canoe.

I love the festive holiday violence! Lots of pummeling each other with fruitcakes, roasted chestnuts, turkeys and geese. Works up a good appetite for the feasting later.

As for the cider thing, there's 'apple juice' which is just juice. Has very little nutritional content. Then there's 'apple cider' which has more of the yummy goodness of the peel, and is less sweet. That's what I used in the crock pot the other night with orange slices, cinnamon sticks, and nutmeg. Then there's the very best thing in the world - natural apple cider, which I think is just crushed apples in a jar. It tastes exactly like biting into an apple without all the tiresome chewing. Couldn't find any of that, but it's my favorite. And of course, alcoholic cider, which I love - especially Blackthorn or K.

We spent Saturday drinking hot apple cider with whiskey in it... yum!

I'm seriously considering the hot toddy. I feel like death warmed over.

*waves hot toddy in front of MR*

Consider it no longer, me dear. Sit down, drink, fall asleep.

Wake up feeling better.

I've just finished wrapping the last of my presents, J still has a few to wrap but will be unable to do so until after dinner. Kids also have some to wrap, they are to me. The running around to various relatives started this past Saturday, we should only have 4 places to visit tomorrow.

[Lentilla drags in a giant Cauldron Pot, probably left over from all the Halloween witchery, and plugs it into the wall. Odors of apple cider, cinnamon, orange, nutmeg, and pear begin to waft from the cauldron. She props up a bottle of spiced rum, and another of bourbon, up against the wall, along with several earthenware mugs.]

Me, I'm ready to start toddying.

Unceremoniously pours herself a mug and adds a healthy dose of the spiced rum.

*sets a bottle of very mellow and aged brandy next to the cauldron, and a few generously sized snifters*

For everyone already in the day, Merry Christmas.

>Unceremoniously pours herself a mug and adds a healthy dose of the spiced rum.

*Would like to see what it looks like when a mug of hot toddy is poured ceremoniously.*

Merry Christmas one and all!

Merry christmas salonistas .

merry fishies .......tod

Merry Christmas indeed to one and all

Relieved to hear that most seems to have come through SUPERMARKETS largely unscathed and that the cousin is on the mend. Hopefully, various lurgies are retreating, too!

As is custom in Denmark, we had our Christmas celebration last night, on Christmas eve. The four of us plus two mothers-in-law, two grandmothers and two mothers - so we were 6 all together .

Very traditional fare - duck with red cabbage and white as well as caramelised potatoes. The ducks are stuffed with apples and prunes and these go as a side dish, too. Oh, and - we splashed into a verrry nice Brunello di Montalcino. We actually had two - but it tastes of so much that we never got beyond the first. Which means there's another one for the duck leftovers today

We're almost done - the goose is nearly cooked, the taters are crisping, the 'nips are caramelising, the gravy is thickening, the is buzzing and the neanderthals are watching telly...




Merry Christmas, one and all

No goose, duck or ham here. Just 12 pounds of turkey-bird, my own home-made stuffing, spuds, carrots, gravy from the drippings, Caesar salad with a few extras ... simple stuff for two. Anyone in this part of the world need a good tummy stretching?