The Bluestocking: Next stop, Christmas!

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

Join us as we open our slightly wonky advent calendar. 🌲

(copies available behind the bar £12.50 each, no refunds)

That , a good piece of beef and some king Edward’s potatoes is about right for us.

I am the visitor instead of the visited this year

I have ran a Xmas eve doo (my daughters birthday) for my wider family and all her mates and my sons as year progressed a running buffet etc, and a Christmas day dinner for all and sundry for 33 years.

so when I think about it I catered for well over 100 people over 2 days, every year I mean WTF I am not even posh.

how I did it is now beyond me it tells my age and lack of energy now.

I've had to buy a jar of cranberry sauce so that one spoonful will be used. The rest will stay in the fridge for not less than six months before being thrown away so the packaging can go in the recycling. In the interim I will make desultory searches for a palatable recipe that could use it up.

Wow! Well done and enjoy the well-earned rest.

A lot of my family work in catering so I was a fairly competent cook by the time I finished primary school. Despite this I still get really stressed if I cater for more than about 6 people (there will only be 6 of us over Xmas this year so fortunately not stressed).

I turned away in horror from the news, and happened upon a Saving Lives at Sea episode about the saving of the Lili B and crew off Hook Head in Wexford in 2020.

Three volunteer lifeboat crews spent 22 hours saving the ship from running onto the rocks - not just a danger to the crew, but an environmental disaster from the diesel on board. They had to get close enough to the ship to throw tow-lines on board, in dangerous high seas.

They held the ship steady till a tugboat arrived to tow it into harbour.

The courage and selflessness of the lifeboat crews was a comfort - as long as the world still has heroic people like that in it, it's not all bad.

G'night all x💙

Wow @Hedgehogsrightsarehumanrights !

We will be 10. Us 4 and some friends we like. No extended family. I'm actually looking forward to it.

It is the time of year to buy thon French cheese that smells like old socks.

We buy it every year, so somebody must like it.

My sister makes a very nice Christmas cake.

She doesn't drink.

I keep meaning to ask how many years a bottle of brandy lasts her.

One of those part baked baguettes, some brie and your cranberry sauce. Perfect lunch

I can get through leftover cranberry sauce very quickly by having it on toast, ideally with a sprinkling of cinnamon. Or with yogurt.
Not that there often is much left - we don’t have turkey nowadays but DH likes it with ham and then in ham sandwiches.

And bacon if you’re not vegetarian.

I don't drink brandy, but do have a bottle of "cake brandy" in the cupboard. It is pre-Covid, so at least 6 years old, probably older and there is just under half a bottle left. I haven't made a cake this year, so it won't be running out any time soon

Waiting.

Nice car salesman. Almost as chatty as me.

They have a nice car. It might even be here at this showroom.

Doesn't mean I'll buy it though.

Depends how pricey it is.

@ErrolTheDragon and @FuzzyPuffling great suggestions. I might even buy a second jar of cranberry now so we have plenty left over 😂

I'm really, really not fond of fruit, with numerous exceptions, in savoury meals. I admit I've never tried it on toast, perhaps in lieu of marmalade, so I should give that a go. Does anyone have a recipe that uses it in a muffin? It's that Oceanwave/spray brand if that makes any difference.

Good luck with car, etc. Myrtle.

I had a car that got recalled a number of years ago. When I went to the desk at the dealers to collect it, the lady asked me, 'Is it mint?'. A bit confused (wtf did have to do with anything?) and embarrassed, i admitted it did have a few dings and scratches. She gave me the strangest look. I then remembered what colour my car was and PMSL. It looked like the green triangle from a tin of Quality Street.

cranberry has a similar sort of bitter/ tart tang to marmalade I guess. Some of them aren’t quite solid enough for all of the jar to work as jam so the syrupy stuff goes in yogurt.

Cake, you could make your own cranberry sauce, just the amount you know will get used
Cranberry sauce recipe - BBC Food
I mean, it's not like you've got anything else to do between now and 25th is it?😂
edited to all the all-important laughing emoji!!!

I've already bought a jar 😔 but at least it was reduced 😃

That link is 'page not found' for me. I literally just need a heaped teaspoon's worth. I bet half of that'll stay on the plate. It's for fella's Dad. I might just gift wrap the rest and he can take it home.

Gin.
Whisky.
Bailey's.
ALL THE WINE.

Didn't get the job.

So sorry to hear that @MyrtleLion.

Enormous drinks trolley on its way.

Oh Myrtle! Well, they don't know what they've missed.

Sorry to hear that -it's so disappointing, Myrtle

So vey sorry, Myrtle. This job search process is brutal. 💐

I'm so sorry Myrtle. It's still impressive you got through the whole application and interview process despite illness and ongoing surgery recovery/infection etc. When another job comes up in the new year and you're feeling less exhausted you'll be in a better position.

Thank you for all your support. 💙

It was less money than I'd been on before and I have been hoping for a significant uplift in salary. So it may have been for the best.