ON THE TWENTYTHIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS

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 A wet and miserable day again but it wasn’t going to be a problem as I had today marked out as the start of Christmas Day preparations. I was going to start some cooking. Cranberry relish, thanks to Delia Smith. I’ve been making it for more years than I care to remember and as I no longer use the cook book I think I may have strayed a little from the original. But main ingredients are all in there. Cranberries, of course, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, orange peel and juice, sugar and of course a splash, or two of port toward end of cooking. 

Soon it was bubbling away and the kitchen was beginning to smell a lot like Christmas. The red cabbage was next. I always think it tastes better after a day or two as the flavours all fuse together. Easy to heat up too in the microwave on the big day. I just stir in a tablespoon of cranberry jelly to give it a nice shiny appearance Something else I don’t need to worry about on the day 
Red cabbage and red onion, dash of red vinegar to set the colour of the cabbage plus the Christmas spices. Much the same as the relish minus the port but with addition of juniper berries, dried cranberries and grated apple. I let it cook slowly for as long as it takes to soften down. ( note to self) don’t forget to remove spice bag. Not the first time I’ve left it in there.

There are some things that just say Christmas and will stay out in the kitchen through a good part of December. They work in mincemeat, are essential to make Christmas puddings, cakes and even to add flavour to biscuits. I’m talking about the spices, dried and fresh. I like fresh ginger as opposed to ground although there are some things the ground ginger is better in and bay leaves of course. I’m fortunate to have a bay tree at the front door so have a constant supply.  Of course, port, sherry, red wine are a must, and sometimes a little glass of sherry will slip down nicely during the cooking process. Oranges too a must as are clementines and cranberries. I keep frozen ones in the freezer in case I cannot buy fresh. This year I was lucky and managed to get fresh in supermarket. 
 

So with todays cooking done it was time for lunch before settling down for the afternoon film. The Kranks today. Always good for a laugh. 
First lunch. During Christmas week we tend to up the anti from the usual lunches. Today I made pigs in bao buns. East meets west. Bao buns courtesy of M&S. always have some in the freezer and in 90 seconds they cook in microwave. They’re always lovely and soft. I also cheated and bought pigs in blankets. How easy was this lunch. All I really needed to do was cook the pigs in blankets and put in the buns with a teaspoon of my cranberry relish. Delicious and a bit different from the usual roll on sausage with HP 
sauce. 


So another successful day. One day closer to Christmas and thankfully no restrictions.
Tomorrow I’ll be doing as much preparation as I can to keep work to a minimum on 25th. 












 


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