Green Girl Gardener

It’s  nearly here. It’s Christmas Eve Eve. Sir Cliff has been on telly this morning so now it’s really Christmas!

I am letting myself have a relaxed morning before I leap into action later with last minute prep. Olive and Tinkerbell are also suitably relaxed.

I feel I deserve this chilled out morning given the torture that I put myself through yesterday, and by that I do, of course, mean that I went to Tesco! Now I don’t want to swear, so I will just say OMFG and let you fill in the F with either the rude or the polite version (probably according to whether you’ve also experienced the Tesco experience this Christmas!)

I had done a click and collect order (only one substitution – twenty four pigs in blankets instead of twenty. Excellent!) so that part was easy.  The rest of the car park was crazy – I’ve never seen it so busy – and I needed to brave the store for a few bits and pieces that I’d forgotten to order. The chap who gave me my click and collect order very helpfully told me that there had already been an accident that morning in the car park caused by two people vying for the same parking space. Bit of a left twix right twix moment I think (if anyone remembers that advert)

Anyway I actually managed to find a space reasonably easily. Everyone else was driving round and round the aisles closest to the door so I headed as far away as I could and happened to turn up an aisle just as someone was leaving. Score! Inside, however, things weren’t so easy! There were people dawdling around with trolleys laden to the hilt (one day, that’s how long they’re closed, one day!) and people dithering in front of the whisky selection (seriously, it’s all vile, save your money and get a nice bottle of Sauvignon instead). I got in and out as quickly as possible and headed home hoping to goodness that I hadn’t forgotten anything!

The last couple of years when we’ve cooked our own Christmas dinner for the first time ever, I’ve found that by the time it’s all been cooked I haven’t actually wanted to bother eating it, even though it did look delicious. This is last year’s.

Whilst I was stuck in traffic I pondered on why I don’t feel this way when we’ve cooked a Gousto recipe. I came to the conclusion that it’s because you follow a recipe card with Gousto and don’t have to spend all day remembering what you’re supposed to do and when. So, this morning I have written myself a Christmas Lunch Cheat Sheet! Hopefully this will help.

For Christmas 2016 and 2017 we ordered Tesco’s Christmas box which contains pretty much everything you need for your Christmas lunch, including crackers and a half bottle of champagne. It’s a pretty good deal at £40, but we didn’t feel the quality was that good last year, so this year, for the first time, we’re doing it all from scratch. When I say from scratch, I’m not faffing around making my own Yorkshire Puddings or chopping a red cabbage, but it’s pretty much from scratch.

These are all our goodies. In fact I suppose a lot of it’s preprepared, but honestly, Christmas is for spending time with your loved ones, not slaving away in the kitchen. 

We’re having a chicken rather than a turkey because there’s only the two of us and the cats for lunch (yes we do give our furry girls a little Christmas dinner). We have encountered an issue though!

See the sell by date? Bother! I have a Facebook poll currently running with the options being ‘freeze and defrost on Christmas Eve’ or ‘risk it’ – I now know who the risk takers amongst my friends are! I have since checked and it says not suitable for home freezing and I’ve googled sell by dates on chickens and scared myself silly with talk of the Campylobacter bacteria so we’ve decided to cook this one today and buy another for Christmas Day. We’ll have it with chips or wedges tonight so it doesn’t seem like Christmas dinner. 

You know what that means right? Oh gosh, deep breaths. Dear Tesco, I’m so sorry I maligned you yesterday, I really didn’t mean what I said when I was stressed. Please forgive me and let me back through your doors (and more importantly, back out in one piece).

Dear readers, I may be some time. 

Merry Christmas from our household to yours. Hope you all have a cracking time.