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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2014 20:31:46 GMT -1
Bejasus. Just me, or is it all feeling uber-frantic out there just now, this second week of November?
Relentless beating-over-the-head, there's no hiding from it, sadly. Unless you're a hermit that never goes out and/or a person sans internet.
A combination of a mild autumn and the fact that people are pretty strapped for cash means retail is getting ever more desperate by the day.
Tat's out on display everywhere. Meanwhile even middle-market outlets attempt to 'persuade' us that all our family members expect, (nay 'deserve'!) gifts costing £500 and above, as if that's somehow a 'norm'.
Plus we're expected to keep up with the fictional Jones's by completely redecorating our homes: all the while cognisant that no longer are seasonal visitors to camp out willy-nilly chez nous on floors with a variety of flung together spare bedding and a bottle of Egg nog.
Oh no. We are to cater for their every luxury need by investing in hundreds of quids worth of goods-- because it'd be an insult not to.
It's been a long, eventful, full-on year for those of us who work in arts and events in Scotland. I don't know ANYONE that's taken their full complement of leave this year and as a result, we're all tuckered out.
That's probably why hotels and restaurants are tempting us out with offers of Christmas dinner for only £70 a head before wine.
You know what, I can do a decent Christmas dinner for 6 for £70. Problem is, I need to plan it, shop for it, and you know, cook the bliddy thing, somehow magically fitting it in with full time work.
We're fools to ourselves, we really are. Cheap flights to Gran Canaria.....yes please (weary).
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Post by ozneil on Nov 11, 2014 20:53:32 GMT -1
Yep no sooner is halloween over (and we dont even celebrate it) that Xmas foods choc santas and other crap appears in Aldis. The rest havent got round to it yet. WE are planning a reduced (most of family on a cruise, working or overseas) family BBQ this year which makes it a dead cert for a rainy day. I wont wash car or water the garden as these are a far more certain ways of bringing on rain than any rain dance. Before "synney limpix" both these pursuits were forbidden on pain of death. The restaurants are offering fantastic Xmas meals for the whole family, they will take your first born as part exchange. Latest fad here is cold seafood for Xmas (oysters, prawns, crab, Balmain bugs, Crayfish etc) with idiots going to fish market at ridiculous hours to thet the stuff at inflated prices Balmain bug about 4" long  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2014 20:47:09 GMT -1
You couldn't make it up. Chez Rolo's oven went bang the other day. As in complete 'bang'-- not just something repairable via the odd fuse or bit of cable. OH no.  If an oven's gonna go, it'll do it right before Christmas, right, folks? Probably needless to say, said oven's the most recent purchase while other, much older, appliances continue on their relentless mission to serve, some of which 20 years old. GRRRRRR! The handle broke off the freezer door (10) couple of months back but it's still temporarily priseable-openable. Tumble drier door (15) broke earlier this year also, but left a wee shard that you can still open it wi. Both appliances still work fine mechanically and Mr R's found replacement parts on tinternet for about a fiver a pop. Sorted! (I do know folks that'd just have taken them up to the dump and spent a grand on new ones....  ) Now, to the REAL dilemma  Shall I tell my extended family I can't POSSIBLY do Christmas dinner now as the oven went BANG (and forget to tell them I've bought a new one today?) It's bloody tempting, I tell you.  |
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Post by ozneil on Nov 18, 2014 21:03:27 GMT -1
We bought a new wall oven a few years back. Was a bargain Fairly simple can set start time, cook time and finish time. Never tried any of them till other day found out when you set any of the times on completion of the task it doesnt actually do anything but beep and flash a light... doesnt turn oven on or off. Mind you it never actually said it did in the book of words Now we know why it was cheap. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2014 21:17:56 GMT -1
Aye, very good, I'm here trying to get a grip on the instructions of new oven that nobody knows I bought...it's frankly bewildering already. So. Shall I TELL or shall I not? is the question. Most Novembers I get heartily sick of the whole shebang. If I pretend not to have an oven perhaps one of my family will win the lottery and take us all away from it all, where nobody has to plan, shop, drag the lot home and bloody well cook. Then again, there's nowt better than having family and friends round our (wobbly) table on Christmas day. Hmmm. |
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Post by ozneil on Nov 18, 2014 22:05:44 GMT -1
We just hope it wont rain Otherwise Plan B, salad, Bikkies and Cheese instead of steak & chops burnt to perfection on BBQ by me
On these occasions I treat the family like Gods....... Give' em burnt offerings!!!
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Post by celyn on Nov 19, 2014 21:03:22 GMT -1
... Now, to the REAL dilemma Shall I tell my extended family I can't POSSIBLY do Christmas dinner now as the oven went BANG (and forget to tell them I've bought a new one today?) It's bloody tempting, I tell you. Go on, go on! It's not lying, remember it's being "economical with the truth". [/quote] |
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Post by notanimby on Nov 20, 2014 5:15:50 GMT -1
We bought a new wall oven a few years back. Was a bargain Fairly simple can set start time, cook time and finish time. Never tried any of them till other day found out when you set any of the times on completion of the task it doesnt actually do anything but beep and flash a light... doesnt turn oven on or off. Mind you it never actually said it did in the book of words Now we know why it was cheap. Apparently I'm hopeless at working our oven.............................  |
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Post by celyn on Nov 20, 2014 17:36:59 GMT -1
And you such a techy expert person as well. How very odd! Mibbe your wife can get you an instruction book as a pre-christmas present, then you'll be ready. Got loads of time yet. |
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Post by notanimby on Nov 20, 2014 17:39:18 GMT -1
And you such a techy expert person as well. How very odd! Mibbe your wife can get you an instruction book as a pre-christmas present, then you'll be ready. Got loads of time yet. hmmmmmm - cooking isnt my forte in the slightest - no point in learning at my age..........  |
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Post by ozneil on Nov 20, 2014 21:40:24 GMT -1
Cooking's a doddle apparently the whole secret is to keep stirring the water you are trying to fry eggs in to stop the water burning!
If all fails scream for SWMBO
Correction
Of course I meant boiling an egg!!! Frying an egg is done in a frying pan though how you stop the eggs rolling around the pan is as yet beyond me.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2014 23:03:10 GMT -1
Oh bejasus, Oz and Nota...<head in hands> Is it that you don't KNOW that WE know that you're pretending to be bad at a thing to get off having to do it? Ach, I've been summoned round my sis's tomorrow night to 'discuss' how we share the festive load this year...eeeek! In reality, we'll likely spend less than 2 mins deciding who's doing the main and who's doing the starters and pudding. There'll be a brief discussion how to best convey a cooked turkey 200 yards from one house to the other, possibly by sledge as in previous years. Then we'll forget all about it, crack open a bottle or two of red, get ourselves swathed in slippers and blankets, stoke up the fire and watch I'm A Celebrity Me and mine will get fed come Christmas day. It won't be 'picture-perfect', something will aye go a bit awry. Someone'll get a rogue Brussels sprout or an under/overcooked spud. I'm going to minimise distress this year by banning parsnips. Our dinner plates won't all 'match', neither will our wine-glasses. (Someone'll get a big tumbler full of wine (me, hopefully...) And someone will get the 'wee' cutlery, even though they're all grown up now. Unless............one of us wins the Lottery, in which case......it'll be turkey, Carribean style. |
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Post by celyn on Nov 22, 2014 0:55:44 GMT -1
... In reality, we'll likely spend less than 2 mins deciding who's doing the main and who's doing the starters and pudding. There'll be a brief discussion how to best convey a cooked turkey 200 yards from one house to the other, possibly by sledge as in previous years. Meh. Give them thin toast and pâté for starters. Or just crudités and tell 'em it's for their health. And why bother with pudding when christmas is awash with cake and mince pies. Mind you, I often used to make a trifle, as my Mum didn't like rich xmas pud things, and that's a good plan, 'cos you do it all beforehand AND the trifle-maker gets to sample a lot of sherry (just to make sure it's good enough, of course.) I do like the idea of the turkey on the sledge, though. ... Then we'll forget all about it, crack open a bottle or two of red, get ourselves swathed in slippers and blankets ... Now that's the way to do it! |
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Post by ozneil on Nov 22, 2014 1:24:59 GMT -1
Ya gorra have a pavlova to remind you of Oz and warm Xmases
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2014 2:10:31 GMT -1
I'll have you know I'm the Trifle Queen of New Orleans (pardon the plagiarism there..x) Just ask Nota. We've been known to compete as to who can demolish the (family size) Marks and Spencer's Amontillado Sherry trifle the fastest. It's a bit like people who compete over running marathons, except one HELL of a lot more enjoyable. |
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