Christmas for the spoon-challenged
Dec. 25th, 2025 01:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baroque_mongooseI made it to church this morning, and I can't tell you how glad I was about that, having missed it for the last three Sundays due to blood pressure shenanigans. This year, for I think the first time since the church was planted, we were indoors; in the past we've been unable to book the school hall on Christmas morning, so we've made the best of things by having an outdoor service under the big Christmas tree on the Green. It is evocative and atmospheric, and we've had more than a few random dog-walkers and other passers-by decide to join us and sing some carols, which is always lovely to see... but... it's chilly. And, while I am very much a winter bunny and I like chilly, that doesn't mean I like sitting out in it, especially since I can't move around very much to keep warm. In previous years it's always been "Merry Christmas, lovely service, see you on Sunday, bye!" as I shoot off back to the flat to thaw out.
But now the school no longer deals with hiring out its own hall; there's an external company that does that, and they're vastly better to deal with than the school itself was. (I know about dealing with the school from experience, having run a couple of concerts in there. It... had quirks.) This is just as well, as it is not only cold today but quite windy. Even with an extra layer on, I didn't want to be out for too long.
Having said that, I'm still not quite 100%, though I have been functioning a lot better this week. And I'm reading about everyone else's Christmas dinners and even that is making me feel a bit tired. It started with an overnight e-mail from d'Artagnan wishing me a merry Christmas, and mentioning that he was tending something that was cooking in the adjacent room... at nearly 1 am. That's what I call an early start. Alexandre from the SCA was baking from 6 am and posted a photo of some magnificent-looking bagels. Various other people on other Discord servers, or Mastodon, were doing similar... maybe not starting quite so early, but nonetheless expending more energy than I have even when I'm running at 100%. It was all very impressive and very daunting.
Well, this is what I did.
Last night I made up the stuffing. It says "add to boiling water" but that's not the most practicable way to do it, so instead I put the stuffing in a little crock pot, poured the requisite amount of cold water on it, stuck it in the microwave for a couple of minutes, took it out, stirred it, decided "that needs a bit of oil" and so added some, then left it to cool down overnight. This morning I put it in the fridge.
Come lunchtime, I transferred the stuffing to the air fryer for 18 minutes (it said 20 on the packaging, but that was for a conventional oven, and 18 turned out to be plenty). I then got a not-chicken breast out of the fridge, decided that brushing it with oil would be a sensible move and therefore did so (I think I was absolutely right, and it'd have dried out too much on the surface otherwise), and stuck that in the air fryer for 7 minutes as soon as the stuffing came out. Meanwhile, I put some broad beans and chopped onions from the freezer into another little crock pot and roasted those in the microwave, and as soon as those came out a little jug of gravy went in (made up from Marigold gravy powder). Total faffing-about-in-kitchen time: minimal. Quality of meal: omnomnom. (And I shall do similar tomorrow, but I'm out of broad beans so it'll probably be peas.)
No potatoes. There was a lot of stuffing, and it contained all the carbs I required. I don't have a huge appetite and I hate feeling bloated.
So I am having a very merry (and low-energy) Christmas so far, and I hope everyone reading is having the same!
But now the school no longer deals with hiring out its own hall; there's an external company that does that, and they're vastly better to deal with than the school itself was. (I know about dealing with the school from experience, having run a couple of concerts in there. It... had quirks.) This is just as well, as it is not only cold today but quite windy. Even with an extra layer on, I didn't want to be out for too long.
Having said that, I'm still not quite 100%, though I have been functioning a lot better this week. And I'm reading about everyone else's Christmas dinners and even that is making me feel a bit tired. It started with an overnight e-mail from d'Artagnan wishing me a merry Christmas, and mentioning that he was tending something that was cooking in the adjacent room... at nearly 1 am. That's what I call an early start. Alexandre from the SCA was baking from 6 am and posted a photo of some magnificent-looking bagels. Various other people on other Discord servers, or Mastodon, were doing similar... maybe not starting quite so early, but nonetheless expending more energy than I have even when I'm running at 100%. It was all very impressive and very daunting.
Well, this is what I did.
Last night I made up the stuffing. It says "add to boiling water" but that's not the most practicable way to do it, so instead I put the stuffing in a little crock pot, poured the requisite amount of cold water on it, stuck it in the microwave for a couple of minutes, took it out, stirred it, decided "that needs a bit of oil" and so added some, then left it to cool down overnight. This morning I put it in the fridge.
Come lunchtime, I transferred the stuffing to the air fryer for 18 minutes (it said 20 on the packaging, but that was for a conventional oven, and 18 turned out to be plenty). I then got a not-chicken breast out of the fridge, decided that brushing it with oil would be a sensible move and therefore did so (I think I was absolutely right, and it'd have dried out too much on the surface otherwise), and stuck that in the air fryer for 7 minutes as soon as the stuffing came out. Meanwhile, I put some broad beans and chopped onions from the freezer into another little crock pot and roasted those in the microwave, and as soon as those came out a little jug of gravy went in (made up from Marigold gravy powder). Total faffing-about-in-kitchen time: minimal. Quality of meal: omnomnom. (And I shall do similar tomorrow, but I'm out of broad beans so it'll probably be peas.)
No potatoes. There was a lot of stuffing, and it contained all the carbs I required. I don't have a huge appetite and I hate feeling bloated.
So I am having a very merry (and low-energy) Christmas so far, and I hope everyone reading is having the same!
