Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

silvercar

Xmas is unplanned. Depleted numbers as DS2 will be elsewhere. DS1 may come home for a few days. parent angling for an invite but she requires activities every minute of every day which is frankly exhausting.

30th wedding anniversary looming that we have done nothing about other than mutter that we should really have a party....

silvercar

In my whingy moments I moaned about dentists here.

Jazee

Morning all. SingleSue, I think you've done really well with your boys and should be so proud. And thanks for asking about the Christmas shopping.

I am all done except for the purchase of one bag of fudge. Need to wrap everything and get two parcels in the post. We (the whole family) set ourselves a challenge this year of not spending more than £20 per person (doesn't include partners) and it's been really good, getting bargains and having to really think about what someone would like.

Still poorly here, day 7 of flu so going to take it easy.

Have a great day everyone.

SingleSue

I'm getting there with the Christmas shopping, have completed all the nieces and nephews (9 of them) plus their respective parents and my ex mother in law. I have a set budget of £5 per person for this section of my list (sounds organised but in reality it is not a written list, more of a vague thing in my head). It's actually quite surprising what you can get for a fiver, when looked for properly, it is actually quite easy to get something nice for it. All told, using offers etc, it actually works out over all of them at less than £5 per person.

I've got a couple of things for the boys, their limit is £40 each and two things for my mum (total of £20 each for my parents) but I am really struggling with something for dad, I can't get him Merlot for every present, that would be far too boring!

I've been buying since the summer, so nicely spread out and affordable.

Ooohh, have also put our order in at the local butcher for our Christmas day meat, last year it worked out cheaper (and was so much nicer) than buying frozen at the supermarket! I'll be making our stuffing and mince pies as per normal but although I cracked vol au vents from scratch last year, it was too much faff, so I have already purchased the cases for these (Boxing day buffet).

Now if only I could give other people ideas on what to buy me, I have no clue apart from decent pots and pans which is not exactly sexy or Christmassy.

vivatifosi

Hey Sue,if you want pots and pans and that's what would make your life easier, does it matter?

ivyleaf

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'd have thought:
- scoop out the seeds part of tomatoes
- avoid raspberries as they're too hard to deseed
- peel strawbs as the seeds are only on the outside skin

Nah, I just eat them as they are, sometimes cutting tomatoes in half if they're cherry tomatoes, slicing them if they're normal-sized ones

ETA Christmas, hmmm.....we are away for a couple of days just beforehand and will get back on the 23rd and be tired on Christmas Eve, but I think we will order something from the butcher to collect that day. Not sure what, as it will be just me and OH for Christmas dinner this year so we won't want anything too big, though of course leftover meat will be used for curry etc. Not really feeling well enough to think about it much, but OH has ordered some little gifts online for family members, and we know son-in-law1 just wants a particular voucher so he's easy to shop for!

PasturesNew

My current Xmas dinner plan is pretty much thought out except the turkey bit. Not sure whether to buy a whole crown and shove it in the SC, or buy a whole breast and cook it, or buy some ready-cooked breast and nuke then bake it for 10 minutes.

There'll be: yorkshire, little sausages, stuffing, roast spuds, roast parsnip, brussels with chestnuts, carrots, cauli, brocolli, peas, gravy. Maybe mashed spuds too.

Not sure if there'll be a baked onion - probably not/no need.
I might/not make a nut roast too.

No breakfast.
No starter.
No afters.
No cake.
No mince pies.

It'll be served 2-3pm ish. It'll take me 30 minutes total to cook, max, including all the serving up/clearing up.

Just one big course of dinner .... then it'll be onto the nibbles/sweeties from mid evening onwards.

silvercar

ivyleaf wrote: »

Pyxis No, not too scary though does look marginally scarier from the front.

Maggie I have diverticular disease too; the first thing i was told after the colonoscopy (3 years ago) was that I'd need to avoid anything with tiny seeds, such as tomatoes, raspberries and strawberries (all of which i really like), but the literature i was given to take home said it is really a question of trial and error, since a food that upsets one person's system may be fine for someone else, and I am indeed able to eat tomatoes, raspberries and strawberries

Atm I'm having problems higher up; I've been producing too much stomach acid, so have now been told to double my acid-reducing meds. Also having a blood test next week, as I'm getting pain that could be from my pancreas. Such fun. Hoping "It will all be over by Christmas"

Think it is a case of finding what suits you individually. My Grandmother had this, fairly badly; she could eat fruit but had problems with nuts.

michaels

PasturesNew wrote: »

My current Xmas dinner plan is pretty much thought out except the turkey bit. Not sure whether to buy a whole crown and shove it in the SC, or buy a whole breast and cook it, or buy some ready-cooked breast and nuke then bake it for 10 minutes.

There'll be: yorkshire, little sausages, stuffing, roast spuds, roast parsnip, brussels with chestnuts, carrots, cauli, brocolli, peas, gravy. Maybe mashed spuds too.

Not sure if there'll be a baked onion - probably not/no need.
I might/not make a nut roast too.

No breakfast.
No starter.
No afters.
No cake.
No mince pies.

It'll be served 2-3pm ish. It'll take me 30 minutes total to cook, max, including all the serving up/clearing up.

Just one big course of dinner .... then it'll be onto the nibbles/sweeties from mid evening onwards.

Are you having the xmas day I would envy most or will you be with your siblings?

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

Are you having the xmas day I would envy most

Yes. Big slippers, comfy pants, box of chocolates and vegged out on own sofa all day

EDIT: Well, not a box of chocolates, it's a £1 bag of mis-shapes from Poundland/similar that I'm after.