The last Monday before holiday
I LOVE THIS DRESS!
It's so comfy and lovely and I look forward to wearing it every Christmas!
We had our annual department bonding session and went to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition in the Natural History Museum. It was amazing, I recommend it very very highly. SO beautiful!
One of my favorite buildings in London.
Ahhhhh carousel!
Ice rink Christmas tree!
Dress 20 - Primark (old old old!)
Leggings 20 - Primark
Boots - Asos
The last Tuesday before holiday
This is another one of those dresses that I didn't realise how much I love until putting it on this month. Oddly it's also from Lovedrobe!
The colour is just beautiful, a sort of pale mint green.
The crochet bodice is what I love. I think they had this style in black and blue too, if you see one on ebay then snap it up because it's ace - size up at least once though!
Dress 26 - Lovedrobe
Cardi 18 - Dorothy Perkins
Leggings 22 - Very / South
Boots - Simply Be
The last Wednesday before holiday
Daytime!
Ahhhhh the last day at work until January 5th! So so SOOOO very good! Over 2 weeks with no commute!
So this was a two outfit day. We went to Meat Liquor for lunch so I wasn't going to wear my party dress during the day (I always spill in Meat Liquor - it's so fecking dark in there that I can barely see my food let alone get it in my mouth!) so here is OOTD-1.
We had cocktails! Henrietta Fizz is the best one. We tried the XXXmas burger and XXXmas dog. The dog was okay but the burger was yummy - like the best Christmas left-over bap ever!
T-shirt & Cardi 20 - Primark
Trousers 22 - Dorothy Perkins
Boots - New Look
Evening!
I finally have this dress! It seemed like a good choice for my works Christmas Party!
It quickly got silly....
Then I started dancing.....
Look how jealous my boyfriend is of my moves.
I always run towards the camera like a maniac. I don't know why!
I had to include Sam because I loved her outfit. Her
dress is from YMC (she LOVES ymc), and I wish I could get this kind of dress in plus size!
She is so damn HOT!
Dress 26 - Lovedrobe via Simply Be
Bracelet, tights, clutch - Primark
Shoes - Ecco
Thursday FIRST DAY OF HOLIDAY
Wrapping Christmas presents and watching Christmas films was my main job today!
I bummed around in one of my new Primark jumpers!
Well warm and snuggly!
I made my first ever spinach and feta pie!
It came out rather well considering I made up the recipe and have never cooked filo pastry before!
Jumper 20 - Primark
Jeans 22 - Dorothy Perkins
Trainers - Nike
Friday
I'm afraid that there are no outfit pics from now on because I've been busy making a stupid amount of Christmas food! This is our faux Christmas Eve meal - Devilled eggs, black forest ham & cream cheese canapés, cheese and pickle sausage rolls and maple pecan salad. All of this is so easy....
- Devilled eggs are just boiled eggs - take out the (fully cooked) yolks and mash them up with mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, English mustard, pinch of salt and a touch of agave syrup (or a tiny bit of something sweet for balance, pich of sugar would be fine!) then put the mixture back in the the eggs.
- Sausage rolls are just pre-rolled puff pastry (unfurled and cut down the middle length-ways) filled with a mixture of good quality sausage-meat - I buy Sainsburys taste the difference myself - which has been mixed up with a generous grating of cheddar cheese and a generous tablespoon of Branston pickle! I spread it out thinly in a (surprise surprise!) sausage shape down each half of the pastry then you can wrap the pastry round the meat to make two massive long sausage rolls. Chop them up into sensible sizes then bake them at 180 for about 20-25 minutes. So good. SO much better than bought sausage rolls and totally mouth watering when they're still warm from the oven!
- The Salad is from the Nigella Christmas Kitchen book but I can't find it online so I'll just put it up here... well easy! Bit of Garlic oil in a frying pan, cook up some pancetta, add in some pecan nuts when it's started to crisp, then splash in some maple syrup and let it coat everything. Take the pan off the heat and leave it for a minute or two then put in a dash of vinegar - cider / white wine / sherry vinegar is best but whatever you've got I reckon! *If you put the vinegar in when the pans still very hot it will evaporate and trust me, vinegar fumes will choke you, so let it cool just for a minute or two!* Stir it all into a big bowl of spinach just before you serve it. Best salad ever!
Top shop are refunding me for the necklace that arrived in pieces so I decided to try to make something out of the remnants - It's not long like the original, but wearable I think!
Saturday
Today was the big faux day! I defrosted our little Turkey in it's brine bath overnight and then opened presents with my boyfriend before making Christmas dinner!
I got some Simply Be leather knee-high boots, the Asos Dress I once sent back and then regretted sending back (you'll see both of these as an outfit post soon!) and
these earrings that have pretty much been on my personal wishlist for two years! They're estrogen molecules, so very very cool. I also want one of her chocolate molecule necklaces!
I made stock with the turkey giblets (simple - fry the giblets in butter for a few minutes, add an onion, some celery, some carrots and a bay leaf then add water and leave to simmer for a few hours..... or you could just use a stock cube!). P's anything that goes in the oven gets it's own foil tray so we don't have to wash up too much on our holiday!
So there we have the feast!
- Turkey
- Cranberry sauce
- Bread Sauce
- Pigs in Blankets - good quality chipolatas wrapped in smoked streaky bacon!
- Devils on horseback - Prunes soaked in sherry, stuffed with stilton and wrapped in pancetta or bacon! baked for about 25 minutes with the pigs in blankets, both of which are so good dipped in the bread sauce that I kept eating them while cooking everything else!
- Stuffing - Small Pantone blitzed into breadcrumbs (I use the sort that has fruit in it and you can get a small one for £1 in Lidl!), 1 onion, 1 stick of celery and 1 eating apple finely chopped (I do it in my food processor), mixed with good quality sausage meat and some pancetta & chestnuts that have been fried off in some butter. I've tried many home-made stuffings and this is by far my favourite!
- Red Cabbage - chopped red cabbage, one apple (cubed) and one sliced onion. Splash of water, generous glug of balsamic vinegar and a spoon of sugar - in a pan with the lid on, cook low for 1-2 hours, mixing occasionally!
- King Edward potatoes, parsnips and carrots all par-boiled then roasted in goose fat.
- Brussel Sprouts - halved and boiled for about 4-5 minutes so still crisp.
- Gravy - Turkey juices mixed with flour / tomato puree / dark soy sauce / allspice / redcurrent jelly / mustard, splash of port and the turkey stock I made in the morning.
Blimy, I'll need to eat nothing but fruit and veg in January to recover from this, but it's so worth it!
My next post will be my family Christmas, in which I will be doing no cooking, but I will have to get properly dressed for!
xx
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