It's amazing what someone hammering nails into your eyes (a rough approximation of what sinusitis feels like) does to your appetite. What's got me through, in terms of sustenance, are clementines. We bought a pallet of them a couple of weeks ago, kept them in the shed and topped up our fruit bowl on a daily basis. The idea was that they're healthy AND Christmassy therefore making it easier for the kids (and us) to dig in to something other than mince pies (we bought a pallet of them too). I thought they'd be a great top up food over the festive period. I didn't anticipate them becoming our staple diet. But they did (well, mine at least, the kids reverted to mince pies). After a fitful night's sleep my swollen tongue would be desperate for the sweet juice of a clementine segment. I dreamt of those clementines.
Yes, it's been shit. But I do over-exaggerate a tiny little bit. Christmas Day was brilliant! Despite not being mad, I invited 15 people over for Christmas lunch - bearing in mind we moved in to our new house 10 days before and our new kitchen has it's challenges, the main one being that it's tiny.The reason I'm not mad is that I was the hostess with the leastest. Those lovely people at Knorr kindly provided the turkey and then it was a BYO Christmas, James and Vasha bought the roast pots, peas, and butternut squash feta salad. Kate and Rak bought the bread sauce, sprouts, mince pies, Uncle Brendan made a delectable Christmas salad of pomegranate, clementine and mint. Uncle Tristan surpassed himself with a delicious nut roast (like a veggie stuffing) and the gravy. The six kids just bought chaos and mayhem. Everyone bought booze, the day swung by.
And then it stopped. Until today. I feel a bit cheated. Where's my New Year's day hangover? Why can't my palate be jaded by the excesses of the last few days? Oh well, that's what January is for.
I hope you are enjoying a healthy hangover today, and have been left unscathed by the norovirus and all those other horrible things out there. Oh yes, and Happy New Year!
Claire xx
Rubbish! Xmas virus seems to have hit half the country. At least you had a nice Christmas day - am super impressed with the foodie contributions from your guests. Def worth inviting that lot!
ReplyDeleteHope 2013 brings good health and happiness xxx
Yes, the guest list wasn't entirely altruistic, I knew they could all cook! I hope you had a good Christmas.
DeleteI know how you feel. I realised today that after being struck down by the lurgy myself I'd only had half a slice of turkey, a small piece of Christmas Pudding and no mince pies. I took one of my home made Christmas Puddings to my Mum's house for new year to be told that "no-one will be up for that today they'll have had too much" erm, I WAS!
ReplyDeleteI feel so grumpy about it but I know what you mean that you don't feel able to say anything. I'm thinking about Christmas part two later in January. I'm not sure though that anyone would want it with me. My husband had three turkey dinners before Christmas day so I'm not hopeful. :-(
Poor you Mamacook! That sounds miserable. Plus side must be that turkey is cheaper in Jan (I imagine). I'm already planning Phase Two of NYE as I type. My husband invested in some baileys so he could make us the super-sophisticated Baileys Chocatini which I'm already fantasising about but can't quite face yet...watch this space for hungover burblings sometime soon.
DeleteI sympathise - I slipped the disc in my jaw (yes, really) a couple of weeks before Christmas and spent the whole time totally spaced out on serious pain killers and no alcohol - at least the pain was under control (worse than the little labour I experienced and definitely worse than post C section pain) but it was grim. The nice osteopath appears to have massaged the disc back and I['m off the drugs but the Christmas virus knocked out our new year guests. Glad you had a good Christmas Day though. Will you get a new kitchen from Father Christmas as a late present???
ReplyDeleteIf only Father Christmas were that generous - he'd need to knock down a few walls first though, and I'm not sure if I trust him after all that sherry! And slipped jaw? Sounds hideous. You poor thing. I hope 2013 is more stable for you. xxx
DeleteSorry to hear you've been sick, but I'm jealous of your pallet of clementines. I ordered a lovely box from Mr Tesco and was substituted some dodgy satsumas! Hope 2013 is good to you.
ReplyDeleteYup, they were gorgeous. Damn that Mr Tesco and his substituting, you just never get what you want, do you? Have a wonderful 2013 Janice. x
DeleteGlad to hear you're feeling better - on the upside, at least you weren't ill for Christmas day itself. How exciting to have all those guests coming to see your new house! x
ReplyDeleteYes, it was great to be able to open our doors to all our friends. The kitchen is tiny, but the rest of the house is quite big, so we can have more than one man and his cat round, which is great. Hope yours was good. xx
DeleteDear crumbs,
ReplyDeleteJust thought I would say thank you for your 1st Jan blog as it has provided me with a bit of comfort. I too have the sinus infection bug, ouch.
I am going to follow the clementine diet for a few days, I am sure if I fancied fruit this much the rest of the time I would not be ill!
Happy New Year, let's hope the rest of it is bug free.
Hannah
I've also been on the clementine (Waitrose, boxy things) diet since Dec 15th. Not that I'm counting or anything! They have literally saved my life! Have now moved into the glue-factory stage and am getting thoroughly bored with it/myself. What is it about Xmas that reduces half the population to snivelling wrecks? Gah.
ReplyDeleteOh you poor, poor thing! Hoping you are feeling back to normal and ready to meet 2013 with bells on x
ReplyDeleteDefinitely on the mend, although I know I'm not cured until I fancy a glass of wine - haven't had booze for 8 days and counting...that's a personal best in terms of not drinking, although it's more that I can't drink, rather than I'm not drinking...
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