The revolution will not be listed
Dec. 24th, 2013 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
desperanceWhat have I not done?
I have iced the cake! With half a teaspoonful of glycerin in the royal icing, because maybe that way it won't go hard as concrete.
I have uncloaked the goose, extracted its vitals and am making giblet stock therewith, for gravy on the morrow.
I have made the brandy almond butter! And hustled it swiftly from processor to fridge, because I was afraid it might slump and lose its integrity altogether, there's so much liquid been absorbed by not much sugar and those blessed almonds. (The recipe said three tablespoons of brandy. Silly recipe. I used ... more.) (Ground almonds have been an issue for me, because they're called something else - almond flour, or almond meal; asking for ground almonds is almost as useless as asking for minced beef - and they're kept in the wrong place - with the other flours, rather than with the nuts - and they're oddly expensive. But! It ain't all annoying: Sprouts does a kind of whole almond meal, skins and all, which has that same kind of texture as wholemeal flour against white, and I really rather like it. It wouldn't do for marzipan, but for brandy butter, oh yes.)
I have made breadcrumbs, for stuffings. Also I have set dried pears to soak, ditto ditto. (I am proposing two stuffings: one with pears and cranberries inside the bird, one with chestnuts and apples outside.)
I have set slices of other bread to dry, for bread sauce. (I probably won't need much, as I am fallen among heathen; but it is necessary to make a decent quantity none the less.) (Also, I have a pint of really rather good parsley sauce left from a dinner of ham a few nights back, and I keep looking at it and thinking it would make a very sound basis for bread sauce, maybe. But then I scold myself for idleness and taking chances at the very core of the meal, where one should be most reliable...)
I have bought potatoes, for potatoes; and brussel sprouts, for brussels sprouts. Both shall be roasted in goose fat, and grateful therefor.
I have kept the goose liver, which I can fry up in butter with a splash of sherry and spread on toast for snackage.
I have bought bacon to wrap around sossidges, because.
I have checked that the Christmas pudding in its basin will fit - just! - into the slow cooker, as I have read that this is a good way to heat same without its occupying half the stove for hours while one is trying to cook dinner.
I have given no thought whatsoever to tonight's dinner, but hey. We'll improvise.
I have iced the cake! With half a teaspoonful of glycerin in the royal icing, because maybe that way it won't go hard as concrete.
I have uncloaked the goose, extracted its vitals and am making giblet stock therewith, for gravy on the morrow.
I have made the brandy almond butter! And hustled it swiftly from processor to fridge, because I was afraid it might slump and lose its integrity altogether, there's so much liquid been absorbed by not much sugar and those blessed almonds. (The recipe said three tablespoons of brandy. Silly recipe. I used ... more.) (Ground almonds have been an issue for me, because they're called something else - almond flour, or almond meal; asking for ground almonds is almost as useless as asking for minced beef - and they're kept in the wrong place - with the other flours, rather than with the nuts - and they're oddly expensive. But! It ain't all annoying: Sprouts does a kind of whole almond meal, skins and all, which has that same kind of texture as wholemeal flour against white, and I really rather like it. It wouldn't do for marzipan, but for brandy butter, oh yes.)
I have made breadcrumbs, for stuffings. Also I have set dried pears to soak, ditto ditto. (I am proposing two stuffings: one with pears and cranberries inside the bird, one with chestnuts and apples outside.)
I have set slices of other bread to dry, for bread sauce. (I probably won't need much, as I am fallen among heathen; but it is necessary to make a decent quantity none the less.) (Also, I have a pint of really rather good parsley sauce left from a dinner of ham a few nights back, and I keep looking at it and thinking it would make a very sound basis for bread sauce, maybe. But then I scold myself for idleness and taking chances at the very core of the meal, where one should be most reliable...)
I have bought potatoes, for potatoes; and brussel sprouts, for brussels sprouts. Both shall be roasted in goose fat, and grateful therefor.
I have kept the goose liver, which I can fry up in butter with a splash of sherry and spread on toast for snackage.
I have bought bacon to wrap around sossidges, because.
I have checked that the Christmas pudding in its basin will fit - just! - into the slow cooker, as I have read that this is a good way to heat same without its occupying half the stove for hours while one is trying to cook dinner.
I have given no thought whatsoever to tonight's dinner, but hey. We'll improvise.