Panettone v Porridge (No contest really)

Got a fantastic Panettone from TK Maxx (where else?) in a beautiful holly decked box. The Panettone itself is full of whole almonds, big bits of candied peel and has a toasted sugar top. I can never understand articles on what to do with leftover Panettone. Why would there be any? Just toast it and eat it...

Anyway, really wanted a big, fat toasted wedge with a cup of tea this morning, but felt v guilty especially after the goose and pastry yesterday. So, decided to go for a run (wore new running/yoga/ballet workout DVD gear - not done any yoga or ballet workout yet but I'm sure I will). Was out for 6.5 minutes, and felt very virtuous when I got back, so decided that I actually fancied porridge. Yes porridge. Had some organic oats made with water and a splash of milk, then gussied it up with a teaspoon of orange flower honey and a fistful of blueberries, chucked into the pan for the last 30 seconds.

Much, much nicer than it sounds - and it means that I can have a glass of wine at lunchtime. The bar that we are going to is quite nice, in a self-consciously, mid 30s way but does mostly Mexican influenced food, and there is probably less calories in a multi pack of Jammie Dodgers than one of their salads. Oh well, I suppose a ten minute walk in heels will work some of it off.

Easy Like Monday Morning

So lovely not to be at work on a Monday morning. I LOVE Christmas. Think it should be celebrated for at least a week. We really don't need shops to be open and people to be legging back to work. It's so nice to have time to spend with friends, relax and do the things that we are too busy to do at the rest of the year...such as start a blog.

I really wanted to write a foodie blog to see how easy it is for an ordinary person to stick to their foodie principles. I want to eat locally and seasonally, as much as possible. I want to come home from work and relax in the kitchen, but the reality is that most weekday cooking feels like an additional chore. My husband Ade is actually a much better cook than me - he cooks instinctively. However, he gets to do all the flashy, weekend stuff that involves a trip to the butchers, three trips to the greengrocers and half a bottle of Fairy to clean up the debris afterwards. I get to do the boring stuff - the Monday night chicken, Thursday night chops and trying to think of an interesting way with some lentils and a slightly past its best red cabbage. I am quite lucky in that I live near a proper street with proper shops which include a couple of good butchers, three greengrocers, three Asian shops and a fishmonger which means that if I plan properly I can get seasonal and local stuff on a Saturday morning. Despite my beloved Nigella, Nigel and Jamie telling me to shop in my lunch break (1. What lunch break? 2. I don’t drive and I work on the edge of a big council estate with no food shops in walking distance) I usually end up in Morrisons on a Sunday morning. Now, Morrisons in Hull is quite cosmopolitan, but is no Selfridges Food Hall. On Jamie’s Christmas, Jamie advised people to go to their local market and buy a box of figs. Great if your local market is Borough Market, but if your local market is anything like Hull Market you are more likely to get a good deal on a Vileda Super Mop and a bag of Terry’s All Gold mis-shapes. I think this is the reality for most of us. With my credit currently heading for the Casualty Dept, I want to make sure that I am spending my money wisely. We don’t have much food waste and we try to compost what we do have, but I love travel and I love clothes so every penny should count. If I know where I am wasting money I can get a grip on it – well, that’s the theory anyway, but I guess once it’s gone its gone!

Also, I used to be fat. Really fat, but since August 2006 I have been gradually losing it and I am now fairly slim. But, I am terrified of getting fat again. I love the new me. I love being able to buy whatever I want and know that I will look great. I am no longer an invisible fat girl. To stay this way, I have to manage what I eat…and that is where this comes in.

Goose Grease

Ade is now proudly stashing a huge Kilner jar full of goose fat in the fridge. He says he feels like any self respecting French guy, who should have a supply of goose fat at this time of year. I suppose he could rub it on his chest, to keep out the winter chill when he goes surfing ...

Sunday 28th December 2008: Fit, Fat & Full

Fit, fat and full. It's not a good feeling.
Goose was utterly delish. The main problem with goose is the unappetising colour of the meat; the breast and leg is all a bit mid brown. Tastes gorgeous though. Also, discovered that the secret to making the meat juice gravy stuff taste less slurry like is a big spoonful of Waitrose redcurrant jelly in the pan.
Made a couple of filo pastry wraps with the delectable Nigella mincemeat. Came out of the oven bone dry and crispy. Tarted them up with a good shake of icing sugar (the saviour of many a pudding in this house) and a massive spoonful of brandy double cream on Ade's. Is there anything nicer than hot pudding and cold cream? Asked myself if there is really any point in trying to make diet puddings. I guess I have to consider how awful life would be without a pudding. Unbearable...
One of the downsides of going out for Christmas lunch is the lack of leftovers. Now, personally I hate having a festering carcass in the fridge for weeks on end, but a goose is small enough to yield enough meat (not to mention a couple of spoonfuls of stuffing: Paxo tarted up with chopped, dried apriocots. I can't bear sausagemeat stuffing) for sarnies for the next couple of days. All I need now is a coffee and an After 8 (totally common, absolutely essential) to finish a perfect, relaxed and luxurious Christmas meal.

Sunday 28th December 2008: To Bake or Not to Bake?

Just had a message from Carol saying that we are meeting in the Ruby Lounge at lunch tomorrow. When she invited the girls for lunch I thought it would be a Christmas get together at her house. Was desperate for a nosey round her new place. Also, I have made her a bottle of cranberry & orange vodka (Mail on Sunday magazine - very easy. Bottled in a beautiful bottle from Lakeland, it looks very impressive, girly and vintage. How perfect!) And was going to take some of Nigella's ultra chocolaty chocolate iced biscuits for a house warming pressie (and because I am greedy and wanted an excuse to try them).
If I take them to a bar it will look weird because it will look like I have bought Carol a Christmas pressie, but not bothered with anyone else. Guess I could just take the vodka and leave the cookies in the freezer. How annoying?

Sunday 28th December 2008: Cooking My Goose

Went out to The Boars Nest for Christmas lunch. Was fabulous, as always apart from a fellow diner who I suspect hadn?t received any festive smellies in his stocking. How unpleasant! The main course was roast rib of beef, which was almost as pink as we would have had it at home. The only thing was that afterwards I felt really hard done by because I hadn't had a bird. Christmas lunch is a feast and should have a statement dish, but it doesn't have to be turkey or duck - but for me, somehow it does. Fortuately, Ade felt the same so yesterday we went to Aldi and bought a goose (excellent value at only £19.99). How festive is this - it was the last goose in the shop. Felt very Ebenezer Scrooge, but after the ghostly visitations of course. Never cooked a goose before, but it can't be any harder than a turkey. It's smaller for a start. Consulted the oracles (Nigel, Nigella and Jamie) and it was no contest really; Nigel's roast goose recipe in Kitchen Diaries (how apt!) is very simple and includes an idea for a juniper berry gravy. I am pretty rubbish at gravy. Maybe it's because I had a proper 70s childhood, with gravy made with copious amounts of gravy browning and elbow grease, but I can't seem to reconcile the thin meat juices and wine concoction that I produce with proper gravy. I am going to shove a couple of apples inside the goose rather than make apple sauce. Ade can have some roast spuds done in goose fat (how jealous am I?) and other than that its carrot and swede "crush" (thanks for some excellent Christmas telly Caroline Ahern, not to mention a recipe revival but I will forego the "knob of Stork"), broccoli and some braised red cabbage & Bramley apples that have been languishing in the freezer for a couple of weeks. Also have to consider pudding. Have made some of Nigella's Cranberry Mincemeat, which is utterly, utterly beautiful and tastes like distilled Christmas - fruity, sweet and sharp. Need to make something that isn't too calorie and fat laden, so have got some filo pastry out of the freezer. Not sure that filo pastry will enhance the mincemeats glorious colour, texture or taste. Ideally would make some shortbread style pastry, tip the mincemeat over the top and serve with very cold, yellow cream. Whatever I do, it will be accompanied by Elmlea single - depressing beyond belief. Slightly addicted to Whittard's Christmas Tea (Heaven help us all if they go out of business - can't live without their Santos coffee) accompanied with some plums coated in very thick, dark chocolate from Lidl. Absolutely gorgeous: juicy fruit and chocolate that crackles. Yum! Lidl do some fantastic stuff. Their Christmas ranges have been fantastic. I guess if it was all piled on a stall at the Christmas Fair in York or Lincoln I would have been prepared to pay four or five times more for it. Might have a quick cuppa before I start worrying about the pud.