>21st of Advent
>
Christmas- or at least the Christmas fruit and veg box- came earlier than expected today.Brussels sprouts on their stalks, chunky carrots and parsnips, fresh thyme and rosemary, organic oranges and lemons and much more. Not to mention some Creamy Lancashire and Cheddar cheese. Howbarrow Organic has done us proud. This being the first time I am not just cooking but also hosting at home for Christmas last night I wrote a plan, with timings, for the big day. Not including the list of things to get out of the freezer and other preparations on Christmas Eve there are nineteen separate instructions. NINETEEN! And somewhere amongst this I need to open presents and be of good cheer. Actually I’m really looking forward to it and now that I’ve got it all worked out I’m pretty confident it will all go fine, just as long as I don’t chop any more fingers between now and Christmas day…
>Pumpkins
>
C loves carving pumpkins. He’s even got the hang of talking to the small, costumed visitors who come to the door on Halloween (they scare him, but not because of their costumes!). So when Howbarrow said that pumpkins were on a special offer price this week we had to have one. Then they decided to give a pumpkin in every veg box, so now we have a touch of pumpkin overload…that’s a whole lot of soup. Or maybe muffins? All recipe suggestions gratefully recieved!