food
Christmas means a lot of food preparation as we like sitting around with friends and family, eating, drinking, chatting and generally catching up. The days leading up to Christmas Day involved preparing so much food but this means those days afterwards can involve meals made from leftovers. Ham, turkey breast and puddings can all be served for days afterwards with the addition of salads or custard or some other quick and easy variation.
Leftover ham, leftover cheese plus five eggs, a cup of yoghurt and spring onions and a great quiche, served either hot or cold.
Hot weather lunch .
The ham plus remaining cheese appears again in light quiches and sandwiches, same with the turkey breast and the cassata can top fruit mince pies, a wedge of Christmas cake or a crumble of shortbread. For some reason we had lots of chocolate fudge slice remaining, so that became a pudding, too.
Boiled the plum pudding for an hour, doused it in brandy, ignited it and ate with icecream, not brandy butter.
I hope your Christmas break was peaceful and enjoyable, anyway, even if you are tired of party food. We have had our son and my Mother staying so lots of visitors and visiting. Planning for the New Year, too. Last year, inspired by a few bloggers I have followed for a long time, I chose a word to think about when making plans. I wanted to be organised, control the business surrounding us, have some calm times. None of those plans worked out and we experienced a year of constant change, worry and upheaval. So, not even considering a word for 2023, it will just happen!
presents
This time of the year is awash with presents! I seem to have reached an age when I don’t really want things and find it hard to give hints or answer direct questions about what I’d like for Christmas. Luckily, my husband is very aware of the decorating and gardening magazines I really, really like and continues to update my subscriptions and my son is very aware of my passion for paints, pens, papers and art journals. Lovely treats. Do you find it hard choosing gifts for older people who don’t seem to want more things?
Luckily, we are a family of readers and each year anticipate unwrapping new books.
As our tastes and requirements change we often want less and even things which were once precious are now just ‘things’. Although I am not good at decluttering and progress in fits and spurts, we took many boxes of things into the Salvation Army depot before Christmas. We just don’t use the storage containers, the serving dishes or so many other things which were so important to the way we lived. I found things long forgotten when I emptied a cupboard recently. I hope someone else is now enjoying them.
trends
How we decorate our houses directly reflects how we feel. Post pandemic it is no surprise people are abandoning minimalism for warm, cosy and relaxing interiors. White is being replaced with warm earthy tones which seem more nurturing. So, it’s no surprise that Panatone’s colour of 2023 is Viva Magenta, a bold vibrant pink/red colour, full of warmth and energy and not just for interiors. Already featuring in fashion, makeup and multimedia marketing, Panatone claim Viva Magenta is ‘full of vim and vigour” Florals featuring magenta are very popular for fabrics and this is especially evident in clothing. I think it is rare to totally change all your wall colours and furnishings at once but easy to add a cushion, a new chair or some warm works of art.
Viva Magenta
Of course, how you want to live will influence the furniture and colours you chose and many of those things will stay with you for a long time. The climate, whether you own the house, your budget and the views of other people sharing the house probably influence your choices. Many people discovered during the past three years that their houses didn’t really offer the environment they needed to feel comfortable. Trends come and go but how you live and what you want to feel when you’re in your house will change more slowly.
2023 is nearly here
The New Year always feels like a new start. The papers, social media and TV are awash with planning resolutions for the New Year, how to stick to them and the rather disheartening fact that 80% of New Year goals are abandoned by the end of January. Do you set New Year resolutions? Do you stick to them? I’d really like to know!
I love meals made up of random leftovers, they are often the best type of meal sadly one that can never be recreated easily though.
My husband and I have stopped buying Christmas presents for each other for that very reason. I always buy my parents books as they love reading, luckily there are always new books to be read.
I am glad to hear that minimalism decorating is no longer a thing. My house is painted in warm earthy tones we started doing that when we moved hear twenty years ago, we were so go against the trends then but now we are way ahead of the curve!
I don’t set New Years resolutions as such usually intentions and I try and keep them to achievable things that I am likely to stick to for most if not all of the year.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Best wishes for a happy, productive and peaceful Mew Year!
Christmas has been and gone and the leftover ham featured in three quiches and was delicious. The remaining plum pudding has been served cold with cassata. The decorations are being taken down and stored because were have so many obligations nest week.
Reading lots of articles about SLOW LIVING and although the concept makes so much sense, the likelihood of adopting slow anything is highly unlikely during this month. Shame, but just the reality for now.
Enjoy 2023!
Deborahx