Leftovers

It's that time of year...

Leftover food: mostly vegetables

Which isn't to say that there hasn't been a certain amount of cold meat, because the whole point of the big roast is to generate leftovers: I thawed the last of the Christmas capon for dinner tonight. But it's the vegetables which have demanded some creative thinking (I may have dashed out on New Year's Eve and panic bought fresh veg). On Saturday I constructed a salade niçoise almost entirely out of leftovers: green beans, boiled potatoes, a stray pepper, a handful of tomatoes, half a jar of anchovies, some fancy olives. I could have used tinned tuna, too, but I bought a couple of steaks from the fishmonger. I default to rosé to drink with salads, but we don't seem to have any, and there was quite a lot of Madfish pinot noir (not exactly a leftover: the Wine Society offered such a good price on an unmixed dozen that we decided to risk it, on the basis that we never seem to have any pinot noir when I want some): previous bottles have been fine, but not special, so this must have been an inspired match: it was light but rich, smooth and fruity, cool enough for salad but warm enough for January.

Leftover Doctor Who

After avoiding reviews for several days, we finally caught up with the New Year's Doctor Who. Tentacle porn! That's a first for the Doctor. Although the real shocker was not that "the most dangerous creature in the universe" turned out to be a [spoiler], because seriously, if it isn't humanity, who else would it be? but that this is 2019's entire Doctor output right here. Also, forget anything you know about archaeology, what is going on under Sheffield Town Hall is a dig like no other.

Leftover party

Since S. was in Athens over Christmas, she rescheduled her traditional Christmas morning party for the afternoon of Epiphany. Phantoms at the Phil having come early this year, we were doubly pleased to have an excuse for one final celebration, and the change of date was declared a success. S. is wary of making this a new tradition (I don't think breaking away from tradition was the sole purpose of her winter holiday, but I do think it was a factor), but guests included some we only see at this annual get-together, plus some for whom Christmas morning is not a good time, and we did our best to talk with all of them, as well as eating our share of leftover mince pies. Conversations included a recent news story, which had affected the daughter of the person talking about it (not my story to tell, so I'll leave it there), why the visit of the Tall Ships to Sunderland had not been as successful as it should have been, and the correct pronunciation of General Pinochet.

Leftover beer and skittles television

After this excitement, durham_rambler and I were ready for a quiet evening, and only the lightest of sustenance to accompany the dinner-time pills. So we watched the last two University Challenge Christmas specials (more challenging than last year's, I think, and so more entertaining) which left us ready for Monday's resumption of normal quizzing. And we drank the two bottles of Clootie Dumpling which we had brought back from Orkney with us.

Leftover post

Bits of this post have been in my mind for some time; I started it last night, and finished it this morning.

It has been that time of year. But now it is this time of another year. Must do better.