Christmas Eve dinner starts here in about 20 minutes. Picked up 1.6kg of king prawns and some salads this morning. Will follow them up with a chocolate slice and white choc and raspberry ripple ice cream. I've got some marinated chicken to grill on the bbq for Christmas Day, and I'll grill some mushrooms, corn, capsicum and onions. All the above washed down with a Pinot Noir/Chardonnay sparkler.

Have a happy Christmas everyone.

Mark

That's torn it - I'm slobbering already
Have a great time.

Hi Mick,

Well, yesterday I woke to a note from Mrs. Weave saying gone to M&S early. There had been no discussion beforehand regarding the Christmas day meal. I said a few prayers to St. Anthony to find me a ready meal Lasagne or similar but no    .

Looks like were having the traditional works, Turkey, Ham etc., nothing pre done except the Aunt Bessie's Yorkshires 

I wouldn't mind except that I do most of it and then can't be bothered to eat it. At least I'll have lots of cold cuts on Boxing Day  .

Hope everyone enjoys their feasts and no working on the back of the layout for a few weeks as you'll break something at the front 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS to all.

Cheers weave 

Re: What does your Christmas dinner consist of? After this mornings shopping expedition, most of Sainsbury's it would seem 

Christmas is not an Official Thing in these parts, but for reasons lost in the mists of time as part of the garbled adaptation of vaguely Christmassy elements chicken has been adopted as the must-eat poultry of the season, and bizarrely Kentucky Fried Chicken has established itself as the leading provider thereof - there'll be a queue outside pretty much any KFC store this Christmas Eve with people waiting to pick up their pre-ordered chicken (which, best I can tell, KFC raised in a brine bath and fried with the same oil they've been using since 1971).

Other options are available, such as here at the Railsquid Household Informal Christmas Party:



Tomorrow is just another working day and all the Christmas decorations will come down to be replaced by New Year ones, New Year being the main celebratory day of the season featuring food which looks like this:

Thanks railsquid.

You've now got me thinking that I've got a whole year now to weigh up the pros and cons of a KFC bargain bucket on Christmas Day (I think the motorway service station one is open - research to be done) or an inevitable divorce    .

Hope you have a good one whatever you do.

Cheers weave 

Quote from: weave on December 24, 2019, 02:22:44 PM
Thanks railsquid.

You've now got me thinking that I've got a whole year now to weigh up the pros and cons of a KFC bargain bucket on Christmas Day (I think the motorway service station one is open - research to be done) or an inevitable divorce    .

Should you feel the need to compare, this is what KFC is offering in Japan this Christmas: https://www.kfc.co.jp/sp/campaign/xmas2019/

Quote from: weave on December 24, 2019, 02:22:44 PM
Hope you have a good one whatever you do.

Cheers weave 

Ta, I am actually technically on vacation on Christmas Day for about the second time in 12 years of living here, which translates into me looking after the Squidlet to give the Mrs. a break. Was planning to take him to the big railway museum but the little blighter's gone and caught something so that might not be an option... On the plus side he went to bed very early so I got a decent ballasting session done.

About 15 people invaded us last night.

Ended up eating chili con carne.

My individual M & S christmas pudding survived intact - spot the Monty Python reference.

Still some booze left over

Hi Joe,

Cant beat a big batch of chilli con carne with rice and bread to soak up the booze. My local pub, many moons ago, used to do it every New Years Eve as part of the limited ticket package. Always went down well.

Glad you've still got some booze left.

Happy Christmas.

Cheers weave 

the Pork joint is in the oven,
sprouts ready in the saucepan,
assorted veg in another,
roast potatoes likewise ready,
parsnips ready as well [SWMBO doesn't like them, but I'm cooking so  ]

to be followed by either ...

xmas pud
or
home made trifle ....
had to finish the sherry off last night, well you don't want it to go off do you 

hopefully everything should come together around 17:00

BUT

while we are stuffing ourselves, let us remember those far away, looking at rat-packs, or even if a christmas dinner, maybe only one can of cheer.

WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE 

06.00 start on the yard for us again today.
09.00 I can escape to cook us some beautiful croissant and choc au pain served with orange juice and coffee
09.30 off on a 1hr 20min round trip to collect Mrs EC dad, he can drive but a 45min journey for him twice a day is not ideal with the rural roads he has to use.
11.09 Turkey basted and in the oven
11.30 Mrs EC is home and we get to open presents while I nip in and out to keep dinner rolling on
13.09 Turkey out to rest, mad prep and finishing dinner and final prep on my apple pie
13.35 Carve THE best cooked turkey I've EVER cooked
13.40 all 3 of us get to enjoy Turkey, goose fat roasties, mash(both from our own spuds & mrs ECs request) sage and onion stuffing, pigs in blankets, steamed broccoli/carrots and cauliflower, honey roasted parsnips (our own) my yorkshire puddings and gravy. Not able to wash it down with much as I'm the return leg driver too!!
14.30 Warm fresh apple pie and custard
14.50 wash up
15.20 back to work
16.45 run Mrs EC dad home
18.20 home, beer in hand, sat down with nothing to worry about, relaxing enjoying looking through my presents
22.30 out for final check and water
23.30 bed

Ready for a 07.30 late start tomorrow, a lie in whoop whoop

Boxing Day here now. Yesterday's fare at Chez Bealman was smaller than usual, and munched on throughout the morning, as things were a little different this year with a GrandBealette on the scene. The Bealettes were all going out for lunch, so we basically had prawns and nibbles while the presents were handed out:

Christmas was a little different for us this year. I have recently acquired a future son-in-law so we were invited to his mums house for Christmas dinner along with my mum and some friends of theirs.
Daughter picked up my mum and then us and drove us to her intendeds' this was going to make a nice change for me as usually I'm the sweaty spot rushing round the kitchen like a loon.
His mum had made vegetable soup which we had with fresh hot rolls, this was followed by a traditional lunch of perfectly cooked turkey, roasted and mashed spuds, brussels, roasted carrots & parsnips (food of the devil however you dress them up), stuffing, cranberry sauce & gravy.
Whether it was the fact that it was cooked by someone else or the fact he has done a bit of chefing in the past I don't know, but it all tasted very good indeed (and all gluten free for his mum). Followed by homemade sticky toffee pudding and vanilla ice cream and all of this washed down with copious amounts of red wine because I wasn't driving for once 
Daughter and her intended then did all the dishes also, before pouring me into the back of the car and depositing at home.
So all in all, a different but very enjoyable Christmas day for us.
On a side note, one of the other guests was what he described as an amateur artist called Mark Ireland, he showed me some of his work on his phone and I was blown away, just loved his style and immediately ordered two prints from him. So what I saved on buying a bird and all the trimmings I spent on art work (and then some, maybe too much wine after all  ), you can see some of his work here https://markireland.art/work
Right, I need more coffee now 

The artwork is certainly different. I think I'd probably need a few vinos before I ordered any though 

Anyway it sounds like a great day was had! 

Hi Lawrence,

Sounds like a lovely pampered day. Just a quick note to say change gusts to guests as you're going to get lots of sprout jokes 

Cheers weave 

PS Not really my thing but I can appreciate Mark's talent.