Dinner, 30/12/14: Veg & Bean soup with Chorizo

Basically, this was a soup to get rid of some of the stuff knocking about the house, and some vegetables I inherited from a friend who has gone away for a few weeks, whose cat (and house) I am keeping an eye on - hence the last minute addition of a courgette. This was the end of the brussels sprout tops, along with carrot, potato, leek. And a little chorizo for flavour. Served with crusty bread (and a loaf of garlic bread, also from my friend's fridge!)

Dinner, 29/12/14: Chili con Carne

And what nicer to come home to after a day out and about, than a meal that someone else has cooked? Geoff made chili while we were gone, which was tasty anyway, and all the more so from my not having to cook it when I got back from being out!

A day in Portsmouth

Took Alex to Portsmouth Harbour for the day - we had resuable tickets from the summer - it was lovely. Really cold, but not rainy, and not at all crowded - a nice change from the summer, when it was fairly packed.  A lot of the small boats were stacked up for winter.

 Here's a view of the HMS Warrior, a 19th century warship.

Flags flying...

Decorated for Christmas below decks!

Side on view of the wheels.

These buildings are the Royal Naval Museum - of course with a crane in the background - how could I resist?

Alex decided that I wasn't going to take his picture - at least, not from the front. Or maybe he was just cold!

 A few pictures from inside the Mary Rose Museum - really nice as it wasn't crowded and you could really get close and see what was in the glass cases.  These are various canon shot of different sizes.

And the dog skeleton found in the wreck - ship's dog!

Here's the ship having air of the right temp and humidity pumped through to dry it out properly.

We had a look through the museum, including the Nelson exhibit, which I'd not done before. There were very few people in there. Here, Alex is trying to figure out what something is by touch. I think it was a bosun's whistle. 

Heading on board the Victory for our guided tour. Because it was off season, they were only doing tours, which was great - no extra cost, but you did have to book a time. The tour was very good - pitched just right with some interesting information but not too much. 

Here's where Nelson fell when he was (fatally) shot. 

View of the bow end of the Victory - with a crane, of course!

General view across the harbour. We looked into going up that cool tower, but decided it was more money than we wanted to spend on going up a tower. Maybe next time.

Dinner, 28/12/14: Creamy Sausage and Rocket Linguine

A standby. From the recipe below, only I used spaghetti instead of linguine, and didn't skin the sausages, and chopped all the rocket into small pieces instead of leaving some whole for a garnish, and chucked in some sour cream which wanted using, and...

Dinner, 27/12/14: Pork & Turkey Curry with Okra & Flatbreads

Yum.  Using up the leftover Christmas meats (we had some last night as well, cold, along with cold stuffing, Bubble & Squeak made from the leftover potatoes and brussels sprouts and the leftover carrots, fried up) - and even better, I didn't have to cook it - I came home from a day out with the girls to find it had been cooked already and was waiting for me.  How lovely is that!

Portobello Road Market

Bailey's Cheesecake

Dessert for Christmas Day - we decided on Bailey's Cheesecake. We usually like to have something which isn't too heavy, as we've all just eaten a huge meal.  This was very nice and not too rich. 

I did modify the recipe slightly - once I'd done the biscuit crumbs for the crust and put them in a tin the size the recipe said, I decided the base was way too thick, so I put them in a larger tin - and then upped the ingredients in the middle by chucking in a half a container of cream cheese, a bit more Baileys and some extra whipped cream. Probably should have added a little more gelatin (technically I used vege-gel) as well.  And we had already decided to skip the coffee gel on the top, though I'm sure it would have been nice with it. It was very nice with just shaved chocolate, though.

Dinner, 25/12/14: Roast Pork, Turkey, Yorkshire Puddings, Roast Potatoes, Sprouts with Bacon, Chantenay Carrots, Parsnips with Mustard, Sage & Onion Stuffing, Chipolatas, apple sauce, cranberry sauce and gravy

My Christmas dinner plate - yum!

Here's the table set before any food was on it - we eat with friends (who live just a few houses away), and use their house as they have two tables, so it's easier.

Here are the ladies with the meats - Lana is holding the turkey crown (wrapped in bacon) and I'm doing game show hostess hands towards the roast pork shoulder.  Mmm. 

Chantenay carrots with dill butter

Sage & onion bread stuffing

roast potatoes, turkey, cranberry sauce (overexposed - sorry)

roast pork and crackling, brussels sprouts with bacon, yorkshire puddings, apple sauce (just peeking in at the left)

Christmas 2014

Alex (up first out of the kids, but still not before about half past eight) about to delve into his stocking. 

Olivia's stocking, waiting for her (with a bag of very large marshmallows)

and Sarah's, with Mr Reindeer pepping out - just realised now he doesn't have a red bow around his neck, like the others!

This was a little magic trick box from Alex's stocking - everyone had fun trying to work out how to get it open. 

Sarah tries to explain to her dad why she DOES need another pair of shoes. 

My new mug, made by Olivia

A little birdie picture, also made by Olivia - the bodies of the birds are little stones. She got the idea from Pinterest, bless her.  I love it!