A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

boultdj

gailey wrote: »

Merry xmas everyone.

Wondering if park savings is safe after farepack,

Want to be better prepared next year.

Park have a gurantie[sp?] in place, which mean's your money's safe, only reason I know is because I'v been and agent for 'em for the last 18 year's.

bluebag

Merry Christmas everyone, been away for ages as my mum is seriously ill in hospital and have been exhausted visiting her.
Kidnapped baby Jesus made me smile big time, it's what Christmas is all about, children and Jesus.
Pleased to read so many having a great Christmas.
Best wishes to all going through difficulties at the moment.

As I am under quite a lot of stress just now I thought I would do a bit of a shortcut christmas with as much ready prepared stuff as possible, I usually make everything from scratch. It went really well and I was so glad of the ease of it to be honest. It didn't cost much more than normal and there were very little leftovers and totally no waste... I was really surprised! Might do it again next year.

Have fun and remember to smile. bb x

lizzyb1812

gailey - the kidnapped/substitute baby jesus had me laughing so much - the perfect Christmas story. Just think, in a few years you will be able to embarrass the heck out of the 2 year old and the 8 month old too - just imagine their reactions when you tell that story to their first steady boy/girl friends :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Rowan9

Bluebag - sorry you have been having such a stressful time. Thinking of you and your mum.
Younger dog has been on tablets - finished now but I'd set my alarm for the morning ones and forgotten to change it. Ah well, it was actually good to get up, have tea and a slice of toasted fruit loaf (Warburtons, got 2 for 10p each on Christmas Eve - they say 2 slices = 1 portion of fruit and veg. Yum yum though I suspect not the healthiest way to have fruit!)
DS and his OH come through today so might see them later although we're off to rugby, kick off 5pm I think. DSSs come up tomorrow then DD comes home from a far flung place on 29th so we are having our 2nd Christmas dinner on 29th with gathering of the kids.
Quite a bit of left overs which I like. Have frozen the veg and that will get added to soup in Jan. No potatoes left over as I wanted to go to pub with DH yesterday so for the first time at Christmas I put in potatoes to bake. So easy. I also used Aunt B's yorkshires so that was a straightforward end to cooking yesterday. Going to slice the gammon, use most for salad and sandwiches and freeze some chunks for adding to pasta sauce. Didn't have pud and didn't open the Quality Streets. Saintly eh? Always make trifle at Christmas but waiting for 29th to make that so had bought a chocolate pud. It will keep too.
Might venture to M&S today if they are actually open as my slippers have been more or less eaten by the dog. If it's crowded though I'll just come home.
We decided to have a scaled down Christmas this year, present-wise, and it has been really good. I started work again, full-time, at the end of October and have really enjoyed the last week's holiday without going near the main shops. Quick supermarket shop on Christmas Eve and that was it. I don't go back to work till 5th so plan to do some reading and pottering although with family staying it may not go that way.
Hope you all enjoyed Christmas and get the chance to put your feet up today.
JGlasgow - I have been thinking of your sister and family.
Taurus - wishing you well and hoping we hear from you soon.
W

mardatha

Just goes to show that we can and will and do enjoy life on less!
WELL DONE LADIES, ALL OF YOU :beer: I keep thinking of Nella Last, she will be so proud and happy up there somewhere looking down at us all

Mrs_Chip

Happy Boxing Day everyone!

My favorite day of the holiday - Lunch will be HM Celeriac soup, left-over meat, bubble and squeak and loads of pickles, yum!

Ad no stress - the pressure is off and everone helps themselves. I think we have guests, but if they don't turn up it just means more left for us to use up.

Still no christmas spirit here, I hope that I will start to feel better once the weater improves. It has been grey and wet here for days, and I know this gets me down.

I got several lovely books as presents, cooking and veg gardening of course, so plenty to read. OH made me some gin truffles, first time ever he has made me a present! Obviously my OS muttering has started to get through.

The pork pies worked very well, we cut the one I made for us last night. Something to think about once my 'catering' kitchen is ready (of which there is no sign, I will start chivvying the tradesmen again in the new year, cannot be ar*ed at the mo).

Gailey - many giggles re the baby Jesus!
Taurus - if you are reading, hope you are on the mend, let us know how things are going.

Hugs for everone who needs them, I know some of you are going through tough times at the moment xxx.

kidcat

Well its the morning after the day before so to speak and my house looks trashed, there is not one room left untouched! We are off to my parents today for lunch and dinner - so at least I am not cooking. Packing car full of all recycling - we have two recycling bins that are overflowing and wont be collected for days, so am making use of space in my parents bins and my dad will take leftovers to his parishioners when he visits!! Many are elderly and wouldnt fill a recycling bin in six months only for our overflow:)

Have loads of leftovers - which will be handy as my mum has decided to stick with her usual ready made junk food for today (ignoring her high cholesterol - bit miffed as I adjusted our meal yesterday to suit her diet and my dads fads) she also has no idea of the quantities of food required for my lot so usually I come home starving and its lovely to dive into fridge, plate up a meal then blast in micro!!

DS got a very expensive telescope for Christmas that I assembled but cannot fathom how it works - there are so many lenses and eye pieces its way too complicated - he had asked for a basic one, point and shoot type of thing, but my parents went slightly OTT, so will need to spend time researching how these things work.

But todays major issue is that Sweep(hand puppet) is MIA - he hasnt been seen since yesterday lunch time, and I fear he may well have seen the chaos that is our house and run away. DD5 is very upset and interrogating everyone as to his whereabouts - not good at six in the morning!!

ginnyknit

OH and I had a good laugh about the Baby Jesus Gailey.
Taurus hope we hear from you soon x
All quiet here, OH having a good lie in and DGS on his way here soon - yay :T:T:T Missed him so much yesterday Pot luck meals today but got lots of bits left to make a fry-up. Dinner yesterday from the freezer was a great success, will definately do it that way again next year - no fuss no stress

OOH Mardatha, I feel so proud to be compared with Nella Last. We did do well didnt we - think we can all sit today and relax knowing we did our best and hopefully wont be shedding tears over getting in debt to 'do' Christmas.

katieowl_2

A good boxing day morning to you all.

We had a nice day yesterday, and there are loads of leftovers I had lots of helpers in the kitchen, which is always nice, and my friend who came insisted on hand washing my best plates afterwards, and we had a good laugh about them coming out of a skip (I kid you not - Indian Tree Pattern!!! Eight dinner and eleven dessert!) We watched a dreadful movie on DVD from Lovefilm, but it was so dreadful we all had a good laugh about it.

The DD's had done very well with the food gifts theme, and my elder DD had made lots of gifts, including some very excellent florentines for me, which being gluten free were much appreciated. Very proud of them both. DH got me food related books (James wong and a river cottage hedgerow handbook) and a gorgeous mug.

Now I am sitting here pondering the next challenge for the new year, I've been asked to teach some cookery classes, and I'm trying to decide the format I think will be best. I need to take a look at the kitchen they want me to use, and the equipment there. I suggested that the theme be 'penny saving cookery' and that I use the frugal cookbook I've been writing for a while be the backbone of the classes, as I can easily teach from that, but I'm wondering if the basics are too basic (IYKWIM) and whether I'd be best to pick maybe a soup, a main and a dessert and show them how to make, and eat those in the class?
Any input anyone???

Kate

kidcat

Katie - it really depends upon your audience, if you have people with no skills then the very basics will be ideal, but if they already have the rudiments then the starter, main and dessert would probably sit better.
If the audience isnt yet set, then you could decide how you want it to run then advertise at that level IYSWIM. HTH