So that was Christmas

 I did spend Christmas at home with my parents. I'm glad - it was good to be elsewhere, it is a lousy day to spend alone etc. But I'd be lying if I said it went well. They are out of the habit of having people around, I am paranoid about covid even with a solid run of clear LFTs (do the nasal ones work? Latest rumour is they are worthless, yay freaking out even more), and, well dementia is a bitch, and so is progressive hearing loss in people in denial. I'm tired and disheartened and the opposite of festive. And that's before we get on to 129k positive tests reported today, and 1 in 20 people in my borough currently having the virus. 

I am, to put it mildly, having to make my own festivity this year. 

I am trying - viz, cranberry cordial made from The Little Library Christmas. It smells wonderful - popped cranberries, sugar and cinnamon.

I would recommend though adding a little more water than the recipe. This was so thick it practically attained sentience oozing its way out of my decanting funnel. It was a perky Confined Cocktails option though, and may vitamin up my post-Christmas sloth.

I don't have any Christmas leftovers, apart from some goose fat, but it's pleasing to have cooked a full on Christmas dinner at least. 

Let the record show: goose, gravy, baked sprouts, roast potatoes, Flemish carrots, parsnips...

Mid service. It's so much easier for three people than fifteen

Other than reporting that 2 hours is plenty for a small goose, and that sprouts roast with soy and lemon are lush but still very farty, I have nothing thrilling to report.

In honesty, I've started to get the post-Christmas gluttony blues, and they started *before* the damn holiday. It's inconvenient - goddamn pannettone to open still, and that is delicious but currently unwanted. But it comes upon me always. 

The trouble is, instead of bitter leaves and citrus which I often want at this point, I have been longing for bland and slightly gloopy. And it has resulted in far too many consecutive risottos.

There was:

Something I had down on my list of possible dishes as yoghurt and spinach soup, but which has a pudding rice base so especially by day 2 is risotto mixed with yoghurt.

Orzo with peas, parmesan and lemon, which actually is risotto just made with rice-sized pasta.

And, for much-needed post-Christmas comfort - rice pudding, made Scandi style with not much sugar in the mix, but butter and cinnamon on top. (This then created lots of leftovers due to you know pudding rice grows, so I shall be having ris a la malta for ages. More risotto.)

To mix it up, I have swapped the carbs, in a post-Christmas way making dinner out of just potatoes as big chips (plus lemon, plus a shake of oregano and some feta added 5 minutes before the chips were done). 

And today, I have mixed it up more by making an actual pie - leek and artichoke and cheese/egg innards (from New Kitchen Basics).

... cupped in filo. It's not meant to be bundled up like this, but I didn't want to make the filling too big, and this is the outcome. More pastilla than pie in looks. Also, a *hell* of a lot of butter in the recipe to keep the filo damp. 

I'd do less butter another time, but it worked really well.

Starting to feel the need of fruit. I might have a satsuma. I have  already had some M&S clementine and passionfruit juice, which does very nicely in a Garibaldi (not actually whisking the orange juice - if you buy it in a little carton you can just shake it hard to give a bit of a froth *taps nose*). I am also pondering whether it's possible to stew pears in spiced beer, as an unasked for Xmas bonus delivered me a bottle of alcohol-free lager for which I have no other possibility. I shall keep you posted.