Below are the most recent 7 friends' journal entries.

Friday, December 25th, 2009
frandowdsofa	7:56p	Christmas Day Fit the Third Main course of dinner finished in time for Dr Who. Goose breast, roasties, buttered parsnips, celery and sage stuffing, sprouts with chestnuts, cranberry sauce, pear chutney, cointreau gravy. Dr Who - my, isn't LJ quiet. Are we in shock, or were we all tweeting? Home-made pudding with choice of extra thick double cream (me), cornflour white sauce with Armagnac for John, in time for Christmas Corrie. Appropriate wines, coffees etc. Bendicks, liqueurs etc. will be served for Poirot. Have talked to Dad, who stayed at Home Alone, but found lots of people to go to for dinner. So that's good. Oh, and tiddley-pom. Current Mood: full (3 Comments |Comment on this)
frandowdsofa	4:10p	GIP one of my favourite lines Current Music: white christmas (Comment on this)
frandowdsofa	1:17p	Christmas Day Fit the Second Oh this is wonderfully stressless. We're at the big mug of tea and cheese footballs stage. Got Spooks out of the way, and are looking to Heston's Christmas Feast for last minute inspiration. Cranberry sauce made and cooling. In an hour we shall put on the TV showing of White Christmas and get down to the peeling and chopping. Oooh, cucumber jelly sheen on cured salmon, there's an idea. No whale vomit in this house, though. Incidentally, our cat has not climbed, pissed on, or otherwise trashed the tree. Nor done anything remotely amusing or festive. Just the usual slouching about on radiators, whingeing about the snow, and begging for food. Current Mood: content (Comment on this)
frandowdsofa	10:58a	Christmas Day Fit the First What a lovely day. It's sunny and bright, with plenty of snow still on the ground. The Christmas Fire is lit, starting with the end of last year's Yule Log. We had a lazy breakfast, fresh blueberry pancakes and treacle smoked bacon, with maple syrup and butter. Fresh made lattes with real espresso. No presents this year, although I had a few from work, including leaving gifts. And we had an Old Peculier hamper to unravel. Listened to the service on Radio 4. Have decided what trimmings to have with the goose, and reckon if we start about 2 pm we can be dishing up for 5. So we've settled down to watch our TV backlog (we've been out and about so much in the last couple of weeks). Starting with the RI lectures, along with a good mug of tea. Current Mood: relaxed (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
frandowdsofa	11:18p	More Christmas Eve We had a small but perfectly formed simple dinner. Victoria Wood was disappointing after a strong start, shame. Now we have sorted more of the dining room - snack area, cheeseboard, booze zone. Breakfast ingredients are sorted and I've found the recipe for the blueberry pancakes, and the espresso pot. I have had a shower, John has a whisky and I have a hot chocolate. Gremlins will take us through the rest of the evening, possibly with some munchies. Outside is defrosting, but the park is still solid white. No sledgers at the moment, and it's still difficult to drive up the street, so it's very quiet in our neck of the woods tonight. Current Mood: peaceful (1 Comment |Comment on this)
frandowdsofa	6:25p	Home safe I don't actually like the Three Oranges episode of Dad's Army. It's nasty rather than funny. Still, Carols from Kings now, the fire is lit and John's menacing the nut bowl. I went to work this morning, once we'd remembered where we had to put the car yesterday evening. I wasn't there very long, we had a cooked breakfast out, back to the office to finish off a few things and eat a massive buffet. The IT guys set up the now traditional Deal or No Deal in a corner. I cleared my desk, set my out of office, and stuff like that. We had my leaving presentation. I didn't blub until I got out to the car. It was very strange. When we got home I curled up for a short winter's nap, and we've started moving again now. John has made enough space in the dining room for tomorrow, and found a few interesting things in the process. Everything that should be is out of the freezer and defrosting. There's cabbage slow cooking in chicken stock and cream to have with sausages for tea later. Anything else can wait until tomorrow. Happy Christmas to everyone, travel safe. Current Mood: jubilant (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 20th, 2009
frandowdsofa	1:41p	In 3 - 2 - 1 ... I have been stockpiling things, and this morning we went out into the snow. The veggie box with extras comes on Tuesday, and the King Williams Quiz should be in Thursday's Guardian. I have goose, a gammon joint, and salmon to cure. We also have a bottle of Bristol Cream and mincepies for the tree trimming this afternoon, a tub of Cheese Footballs, a jar of Barry Norman pickled onions, and a box of Bendicks mint chocolates. The charred remnant of last year's Yule Log has been found ready to start the Christmas Fire. I have scribbled all over the Christmas Radio Times. There's an evensong with carols at the Cathedral tonight. Christmas may now commence. (7 Comments |Comment on this)