@Nenya you usually need to put stuff into your virtual basket in order to secure your spot but it doesn't actually have to be what you will eventually buy - ie I stick three boxes of Pinot Grigio in and that gets my order up to the minimum required for free delivery. Then the day before I amend my order, adding in what I do want and taking out the Pinot.
Beware, though - my DiL used to do that with a bottle of Bolly, and one day completely forgot her order, so the delivery man turned up with just the Bolly, only to be told to take it away again! Luckily they live in a city so he wouldn't have had to trek out into the sticks on a wild goose chase, as he would have here...
@Nenya you usually need to put stuff into your virtual basket in order to secure your spot but it doesn't actually have to be what you will eventually buy - ie I stick three boxes of Pinot Grigio in and that gets my order up to the minimum required for free delivery. Then the day before I amend my order, adding in what I do want and taking out the Pinot.
Thank you - you've preempted my next question which was, is there a delivery charge? I was getting a bit bogged down in the whole Delivery Saver scheme on the Tesco website, alongside what I thought I was reading about there being free delivery if the order is over £40.
It seems strange to take wine off the order... but three boxes every week would be going some.
I presume you can amend your order up until a certain time?
11pm the night before for my supermarket deliveries, which I usually book for 07:30 - 08:30 I am more than pleased that I can amend it that near to delivery time..
Being able to amend it that close to delivery is indeed very helpful.
I'm looking forward to saying in the course of conversation with Nenlet1, "Oh, and I'm expecting my first online delivery next Thursday (or whenever)." She's been trying to get me to sort it for a very long time - "It'll change your life, Mum."
My veg box delivery came with the usual small meat items, plus a Christmas veg box, a month's worth of posh cheeses and some charcuterie. We already have meat in the freezer, cream in the fridge and a mound of baking supplies so we can live without going to the supermarket if necessary, though we might pop in tomorrow evening to increase the flavoured cream supply.
We will need to pop to the corner shop to get more milk though, as the milkman doesn't deliver on Boxing Day.
Finished my pre-Christmas marking an hour ago and now need to go and do some tidying.
@Nenya you usually need to put stuff into your virtual basket in order to secure your spot but it doesn't actually have to be what you will eventually buy - ie I stick three boxes of Pinot Grigio in and that gets my order up to the minimum required for free delivery. Then the day before I amend my order, adding in what I do want and taking out the Pinot.
Thank you - you've preempted my next question which was, is there a delivery charge? I was getting a bit bogged down in the whole Delivery Saver scheme on the Tesco website, alongside what I thought I was reading about there being free delivery if the order is over £40.
It seems strange to take wine off the order... but three boxes every week would be going some.
Ah! I am acquainted with Tesco charges...
Yes there is a delivery charge - it varies by time slot, and you should have been able to see it when you selected the slot. The order summary you received by email will include a line for "pick, pack and deliver" which will tell you what the charge is.
£40 is the "minimum basket value" for delivery. If your order is below that, they will charge you an extra £4 to deliver.
Delivery saver is a regular monthly charge (£7.99) for as many delivery slots as you need, and generally works out to be cheaper if you have one slot a week or more.
The other thing to be careful of is substitutions - I tend to allow these for specific items only, otherwise the swaps can get a bit weird. (However, for the next couple of weeks I think I may have to be happy with whatever turns up )
Indeed. I book a slot about a week ahead, populate it with some items I know I'll need, then come back nearer the time and add others. I often make multiple revisions as things occur to me.
No money's taken until you get the final order, as there may be substitutions - in the case of Sainsbury's you're not charged more if this is a more expensive item.
With substitutions, the usual practice seems to be that the driver draws them to your attention on delivery and if they’re not what you want, you can simply return them to him/her and they’ll be refunded.
Sometimes you get a little bit of a bargain with a substitution when you get a better quality, or larger quantity for what you would have paid for the original item.
Yes there is a delivery charge - it varies by time slot, and you should have been able to see it when you selected the slot. The order summary you received by email will include a line for "pick, pack and deliver" which will tell you what the charge is.
£40 is the "minimum basket value" for delivery. If your order is below that, they will charge you an extra £4 to deliver.
Delivery saver is a regular monthly charge (£7.99) for as many delivery slots as you need, and generally works out to be cheaper if you have one slot a week or more.
I see. I haven't even registered yet, let alone booked a slot. So if I order less than £40 worth of goods there's a delivery charge plus an extra £4?
I didn't really mean to take up two threads with this...
As Tesco's is a ten-minute walk away, and Sainsbury's and Aldi a ten-minute bus ride, I don't think I could justify having groceries delivered, even if I was available to receive them.
However, when I got home from work today, there was a package from Marks and Sparks about which I'd been receiving text messages; I was fairly sure that I hadn't ordered anything from them, but it turned out to be a lovely box of comestible goodies from David's sister and b-i-l - a bottle of WINE, some olives, nuts and little cheesy biscuits.
It made a nice end to a rather mixed day. The other day, my boss presented me with a panic button ("because you're waiting at a bus-stop and this isn't the best area in town"). I didn't particularly want it, but it was meant well, so I put it in the bag I carry my lunch, my hat and gloves and my mask in. As I was going for the train this morning, I thought I'd forgotten my mask, started ruckling about in the bag for it and inadvertently set off the panic button, which resisted all attempts to make it stop. (Fortunately, its battery wasn't in the first flush of youth, so it wasn't quite as piercing as it might have been).
Once I got to work, I got a Bloke With Tools to dismantle it and remove its battery, and its dismembered remains are now in the drawer of my desk. I shan't be using it again.
Then I broke a filing cabinet; this time not actually my fault, as someone had left something sticking up in the drawer below the one I was using, and it refused to budge. Enter Bloke With Tools, stage left ...
The afternoon was nicer: we had a very enjoyable little get-together which included a rather fun quiz (at which I was embarrassingly rubbish* - I'm usually quite good at that sort of thing), and a Secret Santa from whom I got some nice Bayler & Harding shower things and some chocolate vodka liqueur.
* except for the "pop music from the 80s" type questions, which I'm old enough to remember, unlike most of my colleagues).
As I'm now on holiday until next Tuesday, I'm relaxing with a glass of WINE.
Had a reasonably productive day, not dissimilar to Monday - we're on our pre-Christmas-and-post-New-Year-school break, so no youths to annoy right now!
However, one school place just announced that they'll be doing the first full week of January in distance learning mode, due to purportedly increased infection rates in the Festivities... which got quite a few of us rather miffed, because we and they are wearing masks at all times, and we all much prefer teaching (and learning) on site! So we'll see how that goes. I'm in touch with some of our colleagues to see what reasonably fail-safe methods of giving them online testing there are. We might have to seriously think this through if they decide on a prolonged closure.
Yesterday I got a load of cardboard (boxes et al) to the local recycling place, paid some bills and popped by one of the schools with an assortment of Walkers Biscuits of which I'd ordered several from Blighty, via eBay. They were gratefully received by the secretaries and head, and should feed them for a few weeks, lest they be greedy. And I finally got round to designing and printing my 2020 Season's Greetings, which shall be posted soon, and should arrive locally on Christmas Eve (the post office here is very efficient!), and if not, ho-hum, they're also good for New Year. And I did some big, weekly shopping, which enables me to avoid any of the frantic last-minute queues closer to the Feast. Tomorrow, an end-of-year dentist's check-up, so I should - no wailing and gnashing of the teeth - soon be ready for Christmas... and possibly Carols from Kings!
My Main Colleague of the time presented me with a very piercing whistle for taking with me on my long, solitary, but urban walks through areas Main Colleague deemed not safe but had to conclude if I avoided all the "not safe" areas I'd never go out. We'd found it in a great departmental tidy up. It had been in a fire marshal's kit, but the noisy thing in the kit had been upgraded.
I've used it once to great effect... the miscreant now crosses the road if I am spotted in the distance.
I had a lot of food that has gone the way of a food bank -lots of Christmas goodies that I was going to take with me when I went away and then when lockdown came in, I wondered what to do with it. I don't really like mince pies, am trying to watch my weight and so figured that the food bank was the best bet. I typically buy something for the foodbank and the guys that run it are always so appreciative that it really is a pleasure to donate. I did wonder about giving lots of sugary snacks when good meals are needed - but smiles and fun food are needed along the way. Certainly they were well received.
No 1 son bumped into a friend on Sunday and chatted for half hour (outside, masked, socially distanced; my son is very sensible). Friend has since tested positive and son is now on self-imposed isolation for 10 days as a precaution. We are no longer visiting the grandparents on Christmas Day.
I had planned on baking some gifts for friends but that will now be in the new year.
Today I am making a candied orange to put in a chocolate Christmas pudding. I might make a chocolate log too - I have some orange and cranberry curd which should be good in it.
But first, I need to make a trifle.
The local food bank list is asking for seasonal foods for Christmas, including mince pies, tins of ham and crisps, so your gift @Helix may not be unwelcome. It has plenty of pasta and pasta sauces.
I'm another one who's given up on supermarket deliveries. First time ages ago, with a request for no substitutions, and in the delivery that arrived so much was missing I still had to go out and shop, which defeated that object. My daughter is very allergic and is limited in what she can eat making shopping complicated. She ordered more at university and found it a literal pain - bags picked heavier than she can lift, goods missing, eggs badly packed - and not worth doing more often than not.
This time, this April, booked as we went into 14 days isolation for suspected Covid19 in mid-March, the first available slot was as we were allowed to shop again, and that time we did allow substitutions. We ordered soya milk and GF flour and received several multi-packs of short date soya chocolate puddings. Nope, wanted milk for tea and pancakes, flour for general cooking. Don't ever buy those puddings as they are revolting. Very unimpressed and are sticking the flaky milkman and veggie box. which comes with eggs.
Pain that your son is isolating, @Heavenlyannie - we have several Guides in isolation, but have only had contact over Zoom.
We were under a lot of pressure to plan inside meetings before the October half term and are feeling better about our decision at the time not to plan any inside meetings, to continue with weekly Zoom meetings and only offer some outside activities (socially distanced campfire* and geocaching badge) until Easter when we'll review the situation again. I have other ideas for outside stuff when we're out of Tier 4.
* the campfire was planned for the night before the November lockdown and we lost girls as parents were madly trying to prepare and had to postpone until weather/virus permits next year.
It's a grey wet day here and indoor stuff is planned - mainly the present wrapping and house tidying and sorting. There are a couple of life-admin things I need Mr Nen's help with, I always find that kind of thing stressful.
I wondered whether places like food banks would benefit from the situation this year. I was wondering when we might be permitted to start eating the nice things in the house and we did had a mince pie and a slice of cake yesterday with our coffees.
I've never understood the appeal of trifle - something to do with the texture of the sponge thingies wrapped in jelly. Sorry about that.
I'm being a total slouch this morning - still sitting in bed messing around on here. Laundry will ensue later, perhaps followed by a foray to Tesco's to get bits and pieces for when I come back from my brother's on Saturday.
In other news, I've had my first payslip! I haven't actually seen it yet, as I'm not in the office, but it's appeared in my bank account. <yipee>
I'll be interested to see how they calculated things like tax, NI and pension contributions though, as I think I might have been overcharged - I went to one of those tax-calculating sites, and it said I'd take home quite a bit more than I actually did.
I suppose it's possible I'm on one of those emergency tax codes, as I haven't been living in the UK for such a while.
We've started on the Christmas food. Yesterday it was port and mince pie at about four o'clock while chatting to my best friend via skype. I may suggest we start on the cake today. Usually we take it with us and leave large slices where ever we visit, but of course that isn't happening this year.
This morning we went and picked up our fruit and veg that we won. The only place we can store it is our downstairs shower, but it was such a nice thing to happen at the end of a petty horrible year. I think we're all set for Christmas now.
Worth getting it sorted out @Piglet. A few years ago I didn't notice I'd been on an emergency code for about five years until the office manager in my new job pointed it out. The tax I got back was enough for my husband and I to have a holiday in New York. Glad you've got some pay though @Piglet, and are having a lazy day. Going back to work full time must have been a shock.
I've never understood the appeal of trifle - something to do with the texture of the sponge thingies wrapped in jelly. Sorry about that.
Quite agree, Piglet!
One year we went down to my brother and sister-in-law's for Christmas Day, and they had the Dowager already staying there. Like a well-brought-up little soul I asked what we could bring, and was told ' Oh, you can make the trifle'.
Fine - I loathe trifle, but Miss S and I found a recipe for a strawberry one, covered with whipped cream and flaked almonds. All was fine until during the afternoon the Dowager (who was still supposedly compos mentis at that time) pulled me aside and whispered 'have you seen that trifle? It looks as if someone's thrown up into it!'
I suppose it's possible I'm on one of those emergency tax codes.
Almost certainly.
(I know a little about this sort of thing, but am not a tax adviser or anything).
This should get sorted out next payday. You'll get a tax record for your new employer when this payment is made, and HMRC will send them a revised code. If you don't find you get a refund next month, you might want to take it up with HMRC using the details on your payslip.
I’ve done very short walks with the pooches and lots of indoor games (scent work). It isn’t a day to be out and about. I’m glad all the shopping is done (online).
In other news, I've had my first payslip! I haven't actually seen it yet, as I'm not in the office, but it's appeared in my bank account. <yipee>
You may find you don't actually get an physical payslip in your hot sticky little trotters. The NHS at our end of the M8 does electronic payslips and you have to download it (and in due course your P60) from the intranet, and print it out yourself if you want a hard copy....
I suppose it's possible I'm on one of those emergency tax codes.
Almost certainly.
(I know a little about this sort of thing, but am not a tax adviser or anything).
This should get sorted out next payday. You'll get a tax record for your new employer when this payment is made, and HMRC will send them a revised code. If you don't find you get a refund next month, you might want to take it up with HMRC using the details on your payslip.
Your faith in HMRC is touching. Yes, you describe the way it should work, but keep an eye on it @Piglet
This morning I volunteered for day 2 of the local COVID-19 vaccination centre, making sure no-one keeled over after they’d been done. I got to see one set of the scrubs that I’d made (Star Wars) in action being worn by a GP from the surgery I am registered with. And as there were spare doses at the end of the session I accepted the offer of to dose no. 1.... well it would have been rude not to! I have to return in 3 weeks (hopefully I’ll be volunteering again too) but it really feels like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I've never understood the appeal of trifle - something to do with the texture of the sponge thingies wrapped in jelly.
I always disliked trifle for that very reason until I had a different sort at a friend's house and now I always make it that way. Fruit soaked in sherry at the bottom, trifle sponges on top of that (not sponge fingers which, as @Bishops Finger would say, are an Abomination Unto The Lord), fresh custard on top of that, lightly whipped cream on top of that. No jelly in sight. In fact I'm planning it for dessert tomorrow. We never have dessert normally, but it is Christmas Eve.
Lovely about the payslip.
I've done some Christmas wrapping and the admin I was getting worried about and some food prep for this evening as I have Zoomies at 4pm and 6.30pm so there's a relatively small window of opportunity for tea.
In other news it's been raining pretty much all day but there was a lovely rainbow earlier.
Thanks for all the payslip advice, folks. It's an electronic payslip at this end of the M8 too, @kingsfold - I tried to register for it yesterday, but it didn't want to let me in. I'll contact them next week - at least something's been paid in!
If the online tax calculator is right*, the difference between what I got and what I think I should have got would almost cover my travelling expenses, so not to be sneezed at.
* and assuming I've read the information about NHS pension contributions correctly
It's a grey but not unpleasant day out there; the laundry's birling merrily in the washing-machine and lunch has been consumed (smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, followed by the last of the SOUP).
Now I need to consider what kind of food I want to have in the house for when I come back after Christmas, as I have no intention of doing any shopping before I go back to work (and the shops will, quite rightly, be closed anyway), and what sort of WINE I'm going to take to my brother's.
I've no intention of shopping again before next week and am hoping any shortages will have resolved by then. I'm planning to make a bit of an evening with food on New Year's Eve. Are we going to having a party thread here that day?
We've got smoked salmon and scrambled egg for breakfast for the next two days. Also croissants and pains au chocolat.
My 4pm Zoomy finished a bit early so I'm off to do a bit more present wrapping.
I did have a 7 course meal with wine pairings booked for new year’s eve as we were in tier 2 but, as expected, we have leapt into tier 4 so that will be cancelled. We shall have to plan our own menu at home instead.
Yes, I book a slot, order a few things and check out. Then I add to the initial order closer to time.
If I'm ordering for my mother, who sends me a written list, it's important to book the slot ASAP, and not wait until I have received the list through the post.
I decided on reflection that I didn't really need to get in any more food: I've got stuff for tomorrow's breakfast, and I have bread, salmon, smoked haddock, chicken, prawns and sausages in the freezer. Combined with staples in the larder like rice, pasta and eggs, I'd say I'm fairly well sorted - it's only three days after all, and I can go shopping after work on Tuesday to get in more supplies.
It's not as if I'm going to be catering for anyone over New Year.
I did, however take a stroll to the offy along the road and now have enough WINE to take with me and have some to come home to.
On my way back, I saw the candle-bridges from the outside for the first time, and they look really well - nicer than they do from the inside, in fact.
We have a candle bridge in our window, I find them cheering.
The meal was at Loch Fyne restaurant: oysters, citrus salad, scallops, tortellini, halibut, chocolate truffle cake and cheese.
They have just phoned to cancel and refund me.
We are planning our own 7 course meal on Christmas Day: green tapenade on toast, fish soup, scallops, pomelo with charcuterie, turkey with trimmings, Christmas pudding. This will be an all afternoon affair with cheese served afterwards for supper.
It’s our first Christmas dinner at home in the 21 years we have been married, I think. Normally we go to the in-laws (my parents are long deceased) but my son self-isolating has put paid to that. But we love cooking - food is our hobby.
I was quite horrified to see that our local M****sons will be open on Boxing Day and Bank Holiday.
And people are still piling up goods in their trolleys.
Ours will be butternut squash nut loaf with traditional trimmings and a lovely celery sauce, that comes from a recipe book sent as a years ago as a secret Santa present from someone of SoF. There will be mince pies (home made), Christmas pudding and Christmas cake (also home made) in the mix. It's a shame we're not going to my brothers as Boxing Day there consists of a long walk with the dog and back to mushrooms on sourdough toast with or without prosecco.
It's a shame we're not going to my brothers as Boxing Day there consists of a long walk with the dog and back to mushrooms on sourdough toast with or without prosecco.
Mmm, mushrooms on sourdough with Prosecco sounds nice. I’m thinking of mushrooms en croute for supper on Boxing Day.
Tonight is the last episode of normal food and FISH AND CHIPS is in offing. The festive blowout begins tomorrow.
The traditional French Christmas meal is on Christmas Eve, as opposed to Christmas Day for the British version. Obviously the way forward is to have them both.
We recently received a very generous unexpected windfall from my father in law who was celebrating a round figure birthday, and decided, hobbit-like, to give other people presents. Consequently Papy J has funded a particularly extravagant Christmas feast, even by our standards.
Christmas eve: blinis with caviar, truffled pâte de foie gras (homemade by husband en rouge) and scallops with more truffle. The dessert will be procured from the fancy patisserie shop. My Dad has provided a very nice bottle of Cliquot Champagne to go with.
Christmas day will start with a brunch. The eggs are sitting next to the truffle in the fridge so that they pick up the taste. Dinner will be one of our two pheasants and Christmas pudding. The jury is still out on whether the pheasant should be roasted or cooked in sauce. Either way, it will be accompanied by an excellent red Burgundy.
I'm planning fish for Christmas Eve as that's another continental tradition, this one back engineering a recipe for sweet potatoes in tomato, cardamon and lime, that tasted better with mackerel dumplings poached in the sauce and the sweet potatoes served as a side last time I tried it. Apparently the original recipe contained fish. I reckon it would also work with white fish poached in the sauce.
Scrambled eggs for Christmas morning and an experimental butternut squash galette for supper with trimmings. The galette pastry didn't work last time for the previous attempt at converting to GF, but I have ideas for improving it this time. The filling was worth the sweat.
Both the recipes come from Otolenghi's Flavour, which I'm adapting to GF and dairy free as I go, some with more success than others. It's beginning to acquire notes stuck to the margins.
Some point I have meringues with chestnut puree and soya cream and chocolate and/or raspberries through it
Mushrooms en croute, or on sourdough - sound amazing! And LVEN - what fun you must have had planning and then the eating to look forward to.
I expect it will just be a normal day for food in the Helix Household as it will just be me - I tried to hunt out some Turkey Soup but it doesn't seem to exist. Turkey pie would also cut it for me - just for sentimental reasons.
Comments
Beware, though - my DiL used to do that with a bottle of Bolly, and one day completely forgot her order, so the delivery man turned up with just the Bolly, only to be told to take it away again! Luckily they live in a city so he wouldn't have had to trek out into the sticks on a wild goose chase, as he would have here...
Thank you - you've preempted my next question which was, is there a delivery charge? I was getting a bit bogged down in the whole Delivery Saver scheme on the Tesco website, alongside what I thought I was reading about there being free delivery if the order is over £40.
It seems strange to take wine off the order... but three boxes every week would be going some.
11pm the night before for my supermarket deliveries, which I usually book for 07:30 - 08:30 I am more than pleased that I can amend it that near to delivery time..
I'm looking forward to saying in the course of conversation with Nenlet1, "Oh, and I'm expecting my first online delivery next Thursday (or whenever)." She's been trying to get me to sort it for a very long time - "It'll change your life, Mum."
We will need to pop to the corner shop to get more milk though, as the milkman doesn't deliver on Boxing Day.
Finished my pre-Christmas marking an hour ago and now need to go and do some tidying.
Ah! I am acquainted with Tesco charges...
Yes there is a delivery charge - it varies by time slot, and you should have been able to see it when you selected the slot. The order summary you received by email will include a line for "pick, pack and deliver" which will tell you what the charge is.
£40 is the "minimum basket value" for delivery. If your order is below that, they will charge you an extra £4 to deliver.
Delivery saver is a regular monthly charge (£7.99) for as many delivery slots as you need, and generally works out to be cheaper if you have one slot a week or more.
The other thing to be careful of is substitutions - I tend to allow these for specific items only, otherwise the swaps can get a bit weird. (However, for the next couple of weeks I think I may have to be happy with whatever turns up
No money's taken until you get the final order, as there may be substitutions - in the case of Sainsbury's you're not charged more if this is a more expensive item.
Sometimes you get a little bit of a bargain with a substitution when you get a better quality, or larger quantity for what you would have paid for the original item.
I see. I haven't even registered yet, let alone booked a slot.
I didn't really mean to take up two threads with this...
However, when I got home from work today, there was a package from Marks and Sparks about which I'd been receiving text messages; I was fairly sure that I hadn't ordered anything from them, but it turned out to be a lovely box of comestible goodies from David's sister and b-i-l - a bottle of WINE, some olives, nuts and little cheesy biscuits.
It made a nice end to a rather mixed day. The other day, my boss presented me with a panic button ("because you're waiting at a bus-stop and this isn't the best area in town"). I didn't particularly want it, but it was meant well, so I put it in the bag I carry my lunch, my hat and gloves and my mask in. As I was going for the train this morning, I thought I'd forgotten my mask, started ruckling about in the bag for it and inadvertently set off the panic button, which resisted all attempts to make it stop. (Fortunately, its battery wasn't in the first flush of youth, so it wasn't quite as piercing as it might have been).
Once I got to work, I got a Bloke With Tools to dismantle it and remove its battery, and its dismembered remains are now in the drawer of my desk. I shan't be using it again.
Then I broke a filing cabinet; this time not actually my fault, as someone had left something sticking up in the drawer below the one I was using, and it refused to budge. Enter Bloke With Tools, stage left ...
The afternoon was nicer: we had a very enjoyable little get-together which included a rather fun quiz (at which I was embarrassingly rubbish* - I'm usually quite good at that sort of thing), and a Secret Santa from whom I got some nice Bayler & Harding shower things and some chocolate vodka liqueur.
* except for the "pop music from the 80s" type questions, which I'm old enough to remember, unlike most of my colleagues).
As I'm now on holiday until next Tuesday, I'm relaxing with a glass of WINE.
However, one school place just announced that they'll be doing the first full week of January in distance learning mode, due to purportedly increased infection rates in the Festivities... which got quite a few of us rather miffed, because we and they are wearing masks at all times, and we all much prefer teaching (and learning) on site! So we'll see how that goes. I'm in touch with some of our colleagues to see what reasonably fail-safe methods of giving them online testing there are. We might have to seriously think this through if they decide on a prolonged closure.
Yesterday I got a load of cardboard (boxes et al) to the local recycling place, paid some bills and popped by one of the schools with an assortment of Walkers Biscuits of which I'd ordered several from Blighty, via eBay. They were gratefully received by the secretaries and head, and should feed them for a few weeks, lest they be greedy. And I finally got round to designing and printing my 2020 Season's Greetings, which shall be posted soon, and should arrive locally on Christmas Eve (the post office here is very efficient!), and if not, ho-hum, they're also good for New Year. And I did some big, weekly shopping, which enables me to avoid any of the frantic last-minute queues closer to the Feast. Tomorrow, an end-of-year dentist's check-up, so I should - no wailing and gnashing of the teeth - soon be ready for Christmas... and possibly Carols from Kings!
I've used it once to great effect... the miscreant now crosses the road if I am spotted in the distance.
I had planned on baking some gifts for friends but that will now be in the new year.
Today I am making a candied orange to put in a chocolate Christmas pudding. I might make a chocolate log too - I have some orange and cranberry curd which should be good in it.
But first, I need to make a trifle.
I'm another one who's given up on supermarket deliveries. First time ages ago, with a request for no substitutions, and in the delivery that arrived so much was missing I still had to go out and shop, which defeated that object. My daughter is very allergic and is limited in what she can eat making shopping complicated. She ordered more at university and found it a literal pain - bags picked heavier than she can lift, goods missing, eggs badly packed - and not worth doing more often than not.
This time, this April, booked as we went into 14 days isolation for suspected Covid19 in mid-March, the first available slot was as we were allowed to shop again, and that time we did allow substitutions. We ordered soya milk and GF flour and received several multi-packs of short date soya chocolate puddings. Nope, wanted milk for tea and pancakes, flour for general cooking. Don't ever buy those puddings as they are revolting. Very unimpressed and are sticking the flaky milkman and veggie box. which comes with eggs.
Pain that your son is isolating, @Heavenlyannie - we have several Guides in isolation, but have only had contact over Zoom.
We were under a lot of pressure to plan inside meetings before the October half term and are feeling better about our decision at the time not to plan any inside meetings, to continue with weekly Zoom meetings and only offer some outside activities (socially distanced campfire* and geocaching badge) until Easter when we'll review the situation again. I have other ideas for outside stuff when we're out of Tier 4.
* the campfire was planned for the night before the November lockdown and we lost girls as parents were madly trying to prepare and had to postpone until weather/virus permits next year.
I wondered whether places like food banks would benefit from the situation this year. I was wondering when we might be permitted to start eating the nice things in the house and we did had a mince pie and a slice of cake yesterday with our coffees.
I've never understood the appeal of trifle - something to do with the texture of the sponge thingies wrapped in jelly. Sorry about that.
I'm being a total slouch this morning - still sitting in bed messing around on here. Laundry will ensue later, perhaps followed by a foray to Tesco's to get bits and pieces for when I come back from my brother's on Saturday.
In other news, I've had my first payslip! I haven't actually seen it yet, as I'm not in the office, but it's appeared in my bank account. <yipee>
I'll be interested to see how they calculated things like tax, NI and pension contributions though, as I think I might have been overcharged - I went to one of those tax-calculating sites, and it said I'd take home quite a bit more than I actually did.
I suppose it's possible I'm on one of those emergency tax codes, as I haven't been living in the UK for such a while.
Even so, it's good to be earning again!
This morning we went and picked up our fruit and veg that we won. The only place we can store it is our downstairs shower, but it was such a nice thing to happen at the end of a petty horrible year. I think we're all set for Christmas now.
Trifle is our go-to alternative dessert here, anyone who doesn't want Christmas pud gets trifle and we snack on it over the Christmas period.
Quite agree, Piglet!
One year we went down to my brother and sister-in-law's for Christmas Day, and they had the Dowager already staying there. Like a well-brought-up little soul I asked what we could bring, and was told ' Oh, you can make the trifle'.
Fine - I loathe trifle, but Miss S and I found a recipe for a strawberry one, covered with whipped cream and flaked almonds. All was fine until during the afternoon the Dowager (who was still supposedly compos mentis at that time) pulled me aside and whispered 'have you seen that trifle? It looks as if someone's thrown up into it!'
'Mum! Miss S and I slaved all morning over that!'
'Oh, I thought she'd made it...'
If I were making trifle, I’d go for a classic Sherry (or Marsala) trifle which would not include jelly or any ingredient involving cornflour.
(I know a little about this sort of thing, but am not a tax adviser or anything).
This should get sorted out next payday. You'll get a tax record for your new employer when this payment is made, and HMRC will send them a revised code. If you don't find you get a refund next month, you might want to take it up with HMRC using the details on your payslip.
🥶
I’ve done very short walks with the pooches and lots of indoor games (scent work). It isn’t a day to be out and about. I’m glad all the shopping is done (online).
Now to wrap some presents. 🎁
Your faith in HMRC is touching. Yes, you describe the way it should work, but keep an eye on it @Piglet
Congratulations!
This morning I volunteered for day 2 of the local COVID-19 vaccination centre, making sure no-one keeled over after they’d been done. I got to see one set of the scrubs that I’d made (Star Wars) in action being worn by a GP from the surgery I am registered with. And as there were spare doses at the end of the session I accepted the offer of to dose no. 1.... well it would have been rude not to! I have to return in 3 weeks (hopefully I’ll be volunteering again too) but it really feels like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I always disliked trifle for that very reason until I had a different sort at a friend's house and now I always make it that way. Fruit soaked in sherry at the bottom, trifle sponges on top of that (not sponge fingers which, as @Bishops Finger would say, are an Abomination Unto The Lord), fresh custard on top of that, lightly whipped cream on top of that. No jelly in sight. In fact I'm planning it for dessert tomorrow. We never have dessert normally, but it is Christmas Eve.
Lovely about the payslip.
I've done some Christmas wrapping and the admin I was getting worried about and some food prep for this evening as I have Zoomies at 4pm and 6.30pm so there's a relatively small window of opportunity for tea.
In other news it's been raining pretty much all day but there was a lovely rainbow earlier.
If the online tax calculator is right*, the difference between what I got and what I think I should have got would almost cover my travelling expenses, so not to be sneezed at.
* and assuming I've read the information about NHS pension contributions correctly
It's a grey but not unpleasant day out there; the laundry's birling merrily in the washing-machine and lunch has been consumed (smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, followed by the last of the SOUP).
Now I need to consider what kind of food I want to have in the house for when I come back after Christmas, as I have no intention of doing any shopping before I go back to work (and the shops will, quite rightly, be closed anyway), and what sort of WINE I'm going to take to my brother's.
I've no intention of shopping again before next week and am hoping any shortages will have resolved by then. I'm planning to make a bit of an evening with food on New Year's Eve. Are we going to having a party thread here that day?
We've got smoked salmon and scrambled egg for breakfast for the next two days. Also croissants and pains au chocolat.
My 4pm Zoomy finished a bit early so I'm off to do a bit more present wrapping.
What, pray, does it consist of?
If I'm ordering for my mother, who sends me a written list, it's important to book the slot ASAP, and not wait until I have received the list through the post.
It's not as if I'm going to be catering for anyone over New Year.
I did, however take a stroll to the offy along the road and now have enough WINE to take with me and have some to come home to.
On my way back, I saw the candle-bridges from the outside for the first time, and they look really well - nicer than they do from the inside, in fact.
The meal was at Loch Fyne restaurant: oysters, citrus salad, scallops, tortellini, halibut, chocolate truffle cake and cheese.
They have just phoned to cancel and refund me.
We are planning our own 7 course meal on Christmas Day: green tapenade on toast, fish soup, scallops, pomelo with charcuterie, turkey with trimmings, Christmas pudding. This will be an all afternoon affair with cheese served afterwards for supper.
And people are still piling up goods in their trolleys.
Oh wait...
The traditional French Christmas meal is on Christmas Eve, as opposed to Christmas Day for the British version. Obviously the way forward is to have them both.
We recently received a very generous unexpected windfall from my father in law who was celebrating a round figure birthday, and decided, hobbit-like, to give other people presents. Consequently Papy J has funded a particularly extravagant Christmas feast, even by our standards.
Christmas eve: blinis with caviar, truffled pâte de foie gras (homemade by husband en rouge) and scallops with more truffle. The dessert will be procured from the fancy patisserie shop. My Dad has provided a very nice bottle of Cliquot Champagne to go with.
Christmas day will start with a brunch. The eggs are sitting next to the truffle in the fridge so that they pick up the taste. Dinner will be one of our two pheasants and Christmas pudding. The jury is still out on whether the pheasant should be roasted or cooked in sauce. Either way, it will be accompanied by an excellent red Burgundy.
Scrambled eggs for Christmas morning and an experimental butternut squash galette for supper with trimmings. The galette pastry didn't work last time for the previous attempt at converting to GF, but I have ideas for improving it this time. The filling was worth the sweat.
Both the recipes come from Otolenghi's Flavour, which I'm adapting to GF and dairy free as I go, some with more success than others. It's beginning to acquire notes stuck to the margins.
Some point I have meringues with chestnut puree and soya cream and chocolate and/or raspberries through it
I expect it will just be a normal day for food in the Helix Household as it will just be me - I tried to hunt out some Turkey Soup but it doesn't seem to exist. Turkey pie would also cut it for me - just for sentimental reasons.