My,oh my, what terrible thunder storms we’ve been having, not to mention the hail. After a particularly heavy hail storm I rushed out to check some new plants I’d recently planted and thank goodness they’d survived the storm. We do need rain but could do with the violent storms and hail but that’s one thing we can’t control – the weather!
I said I’d have more Christmas gift ideas for you this week but due to the pressure of work I’ve had hardly any time to browse the shops. Dreadful! So hopefully next week I’ll be out and about looking for more gift ideas.
Menu planning
Do you know yet what you will be doing over Christmas or who you’ll be inviting for Christmas lunch or dinner? Maybe you’ll be lucky and be invited to family or friends and just have to take a dish of something delicious along. But if not the sooner you can start planning the better and once you know who will be gracing you with their company you can begin the lists and menus.
By writing everything down I always cope better, so firstly I make of list of the names of who’ll be coming, adults and children. Find out if anyone is allergic to any foods or if someone really doesn’t like something. Once you know that information you can begin to plan the menu.
If you are having a traditional hot Christmas lunch, choose a cold light starter and try and offer an alternative dessert other than Christmas pudding, which can be very heavy after a big meal. Fresh fruit salad or an ice cream dessert is perfect.
If you are going the traditional way, start pricing turkeys now, and if you have room in your freezer even buy one to keep. Last year, turkeys became quite scarce towards Christmas Eve. Check out meat prices at butchers, and again if you don’t mind frozen meat, buy corned beef and gammon and freeze.
Many people don’t enjoy turkey so you may decide on leg of lamb or pork, even fillet steak.
Some of you may even braai, although to me that’s not Christmas!
The sooner you decide on the main course you can start to think about accompanying vegetables, potaotes, etc and the starter and desserts.
Buy your Christmas crackers now, or ask one of the guests to bring those and make sure you stress CHRISTMAS crackers. A friend of mine asked her sister-in-law to being crackers…. and guess what she turned up with? A box of assorted savoury crackers!! The adults weren’t too perturbed but the children were devastated! Also buy serviettes. Again, Christmas serviettes soon fly off the shelves as Christmas day nears.
Next week I’ll give you a couple of easy starter ideas.
Bouquets of the Week
A Bracken Gardens resident gives a thumbs up and a bouquet to Parthemon Jewellers, Bracken City.
To Mr Orlando Edwards and his assistant Jarryd, you truly are great guys. You still make time to help your fellow citizens, even though my problem was trivial and completely out of your field. From hardware to perfumery and jewellery, you resolved problems that neither the pharmacies, nor the hardware stores could do. Best of all they would not even accept payment, nor chocolates. Thank you once again for not making me feel as though I’m a nuisance and you really cared. May you be blessed and your business flourish!
*Ice cream lover says, “After a morning of shopping for necessities at Pick n Pay Steeledale I popped into Wimpy just near the tills for a soft serve cone. This delicious, refreshing treat cost me R4! What a bargain! A bouquet to Wimpy for making this super soft serve affordable.
*Mrs Smith from Ridgway gives a bouquet to Pick n Pay Southdale for their great service. “I always buy Pick n Pay’s cheddar cheese and the last time I bought it I wasn’t very happy with the flavour. I phoned Solly, Pick n Pay’s store manager Southdale and told him about the cheese and was absolutely thrilled when Solly organised for Shane to come and deliver another cheddar cheese, a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates to my home. Now that’s what I call service,” she said.
That’s it for this week. E-mail: juliem@caxton.co.za or phone 011 724 7000. Shop till you drop.
Julie
