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Christmas alternatives.

S

stevec67

pfm Member
Right, this Christmas is going to be officially crap. I can't go and see my parents, they are in hiding until vaccinated. Mrs SC67 is staying Darn Sarf for similar reasons. I'm Tier 3 so I'm going f*ing nowhere, sunshine. So that's me on my tod. I can amuse myself, don't worry about that. However I do fancy a nice dinner and a bottle on the day. I'm not a fan of turkey, I eat it once a year tops, usually through politeness. There's no way I'd cook it for myself.

I could go for the single man's trad steak dinner, but it's a bit lame. I like it, but I'd just as soon have a decent spag bol. The kind of things I like are thick wintry stews, stuff like beef bourg, boeuf en daube, beef in brown ale, etc. I also like Italian food, Middle Eastern, I wouldn't even turn down an interesting Oriental affair, I'm not averse to a nice tasty stirfry in an interesting sauce. I draw the line at a curry, nice as they are it's not Christmas food.

There's a duck in the freezer that needs eating.

I like cooking, I'll have time and so a bit of work is fine. I'm not interested in hours of prep to knit my own tofu though.

So that's the brief. Any suggestions?
 
Bone out that duck, stuff it with nice things, tie, roast and eat a couple of slices with a fine bottle. Enjoy the remainder cold a day or two later.
 
A few years ago I chose to spend the day on my own.
Early-morning get-up; stuck a seasoned shoulder of pork in the oven, low; cooked breakfast, then drove the Fisher Fury via all the wiggly backroads to down to Portland Bill and back (at c.0c!) - an utter hoot.

Got home c.5+hrs later - knackered, cold, hungry, threw veggies in to roast, set-up trimmings; showered & did the family calls/facetime etc meanwhile.

Dinner fell-apart on its own. Wonderful.


ETA - liking the Beef Wellington suggestion above.
My take-away - make something of the day on its own merits; wear yourself out doing something fun outdoors; after that - the family & food stuff is all added pleasure, not the point of the day.
 
mjw said:
Bone out that duck, stuff it with nice things, tie, roast and eat a couple of slices with a fine bottle. Enjoy the remainder cold a day or two later.
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Sounds good. Boning a duck is a task. Hard enough carving them when cooked, but boning it raw? That's a challenge. Like the idea though.
 
Hmm. Alternative chrissmuss enjoyed a few years ago with StevieD of this parish - throw the duck(s) on a charcoal barbeque, takes 45mins-1hr. Leaves the day free to enjoy things, and tastes magnificent.
 
I treat C*******s as any other day (I have no reason or desire not to) and indeed I like a nice dinner and a good bottle every day, so why pick one out as being apart from the others? Oddly enough I’ve just chuffed through boeuf en daube with some Gigondas tonight. (Still chuffing through the Gigondas in fact.) But if I wanted to pretend it was a special occasion I’d probably try to recreate a memorable meal - like perhaps one I had in Strasbourg, starting with salad of frisée, lardons and croutons with walnut vinaigrette, then warm salad of boeuf gros sel with crudités and sauté pots - and munster with Gewürztraminer VT to finish.
 
martin clark said:
Hmm. Alternative chrissmuss enjoyed a few years ago with StevieD of this parish - throw the duck(s) on a charcoal barbeque. Leaves the day free to enjoy things, and tastes magnificent.
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Not a bad scheme. I have one with a lid so I can fire it and disappear back indoors.
 
Last year I started radiotherapy on 23rd December. I had another lot on the 24th. They gave me the 25th and 26th off, but to make up for it I had an extra session on Saturday 28th.
I'd gone into my private lockdown at the beginning of December to ensure that I didn't get a cold or the flu which might set things back. A stomach RIG was inserted on 6th December.p in readiness for my not being able to swallow. I needed to use it from the second week in January until early March.
Radiotherapy ended on 31st January, thirty five sessions in total. I was just getting some degree of strength back and felt ready to start going out again when the rest of you joined me in lockdown.
Christmas this year will be amazing, even though my taste buds still can't recognise mince pies or Stilton.
 
A long, long time ago when we (me an’ ‘er) were even poorer than we are now we heard of this new fangled thing called Chicken Kiev which was right expensive, but we stayed in for a month or two and treated ourselves one Christmas. I can’t even remember it myself.
 
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