Indulgences

  Very strange weather here, +10C today so quite unseasonal. I had a nice long walk this morning along the ravine, while the chicken carcass was boiling down, so now I have a big pot of soup to sustain me for a while.

  Still eating leftovers but they are dwindling, thankfully. Someone gave me a huge box of chocolates for Christmas and I have refrained from opening it until today. I will try to ration myself to two a day but, as you can see, three are already gone. This will be a real test of my will power!

They are sooo good, especially the dark chocolate!

Boxing Day

   Most of the apres Christmas cleanup has been done and leftovers will be brought out for dinner tonight. The tree is still up but that will go shortly. I'm not one for prolonging the season into the New Year. 

   Lucy the dog has not suffered any after effects of her over indulgence. I have made up a care package for son and DIL containing their missed plum pudding. Here are the before and after photos of the table.

I think a couple of people are ready for a post prandial nap! My SIL is the self proclaimed expert at loading the dishwasher so I left him to it. Then we settled to watch a movie - I may have nodded off at one point. What is it about turkey that causes drowsiness?

Another Christmas for the Story Books

   Too stuffed to write much but the family meal went off all right despite my trepidations. And there are lots of leftovers so I will be eating bird, stuffing and brussell sprouts for the rest of the week.

   A bit of a disaster though. When we went to eat we left a plate of cheeses out in the other room. Son and DIL's dog scoffed a whole chunk of blue cheese. Not good for dogs but she seemed OK. Then just as we sat down to the main course she got hold of a chunk of chocolate (my fault). Now that is serious for dogs so son and DIL left (with their meal on a plate) to check with a vet. Advice was to keep an eye on her but I am upset that they missed the plum pudding!

Naughty Lucy in her Christmas sweater!

The Night Before

   A bit colder today but still sunny. I went for a walk this morning while the bird cooked and it was very pleasant. 

   I did put the bird in a wet brine overnight and it seems to have come out nice and moist. I hate dry meat! It is now in the fridge along with the gravy, stuffing and some mashed sweet potatoes. The rest will be cooked tomorrow. Must remember to take stuff out of the freezer tonight before I go to bed. Nothing worse than trying to cook something from frozen with guests on the doorstep!