We slept quite well apart from the midnight rainstorm and awoke to our first ever Christmas alone as a couple - and we've been married for over thirty years!
We've always spent Christmas with my family and our children at my parents, apart from one year when we hosted the gathering of the clan!
After a light breakfast, toast being the order of the day, I braved the chill outdoors to fetch Jane's present from the car. Yes, honestly, some nautical cookbooks and a rectangular frying pan really was to her liking! (The cook books had been requested, the frying pan was a surprise)
 |
| Pressys! |
My present is insulated trainers, because I'm always suffering from cold feet! Unfortunately the supplier failed to deliver them in time so they are currently a virtual present!
With breakfast and presents out of the way, I got down to the business of dressing the ship with flags having bought a signal flag set as the boats Christmas present! After some faffing about it looked pretty good in the winter sunshine
 |
| Dressed Overall, although there were no takers on the offer indicated by the hoist to starboard |
 |
| Ingredients and pans at the ready |
And now it was time to cook the dinner. This would be a challenge on a two burner spirit stove but I'd come up with a cunning plan!
At the heart of the meal would be a spatchcock, or in French a poussin. An immature chicken with the sternum removed in other words. With a single wrap of foil to prevent it from burning, this went into our double skillet for thirty minutes being turned over half way through.
 |
| Two burners are all you need! |
Now I added the first of three cheats on the form of some mixed ready to roast vegetables which we'd bought frozen in a large bag. I'd decanted sufficient for our needs into a container along with two more containers containing two helpings of steaming vegetables and four frozen Yorkshire puddings!
After another half an hour or so the steamed veg went on and the Yorkshires were added to the roast. Thirty minutes later and voila! A pretty decent roast dinner for two!
The bird was cooked to perfection (roughly 90 minutes and turned several times over a fairly low heat for double skillet owners). The roast veg and Yorkshire puds were tasty if perhaps a little soggy.
Dinner was accompanied by a decent red wine and followed by watching the first episode of "The White Queen" on DVD, our youngest and his girlfriend having bought us it after we missed episode two when it was broadcast
A phone call home to my parents and brother fulfilled family duties - the kids mostly seem to be working today, it's a sign of the times I guess
.
We skipped tea, and spent the evening playing monopoly on the laptop before retiring fairly early after a very nice day.
No comments:
Post a Comment