'Being Sensible': Advent #10

Welcome to Advent #10.

A very short advent post today as a response to an email I received encouraging me to ‘go all out this Covid Christmas' because ‘when there’s just a few of you, it’s an excellent reason to cook up a storm.’

Yes, there are logistical issues if (like me) you adore turkey but are the only meat eater in the house. (A slightly unsatisfactory solution is to buy a small crown or a giant turkey leg and try not to cry that this year there will be no boxes of Pavo Encebollado, Pavo en Relleno Negro, or Pavo Pavo en Sak K'óol in the freezer.) As for other leftovers, whenever I see ridiculous suggestions for ‘what can I do with leftover chocolate/mince pies/lebkuchen/crackers’ that all involve adding in another six ingredients to make a meal, I roll my eyes and think, “just fucking eat them.” Or maybe don’t buy so much in the first place?

“In my experience, clever food is not appreciated at Christmas. It makes the little ones cry and the old ones nervous,” wrote Jane Grigson, which reminds me of the time my first set of inlaws* came round for Christmas lunch (*racist, homophobic, hypocritically-religious old gits who I couldn’t wait to be rid of) and my chef brother served them a goats cheese and potato roulade. It was delicious (and so eighties), and I still laugh at the memory of their miserable old faces. I should have served them a Birds Eye frozen turkey dinner instead; they’d have enjoyed that.

So this Christmas, if your plans have been thwarted (and that seems to be most of us), do what you want to do, not what you think you ought to do. Rejoice that you are not spending Christmas chez The Family Stone. And never, EVER deep fry crushed leftover mince pies and call them ‘festive energy balls’.