So, Christmas, all over. Well, not yet. There's still the desert dishes to clear up, the table cloth to dry and iron, the 'good' cutlery, plates and glasses to be put away till next year.
So much goes into the preparation for this one day - even in the Gerbil household, where we genuinely avoid as much as we can - then is all cleared away and forgotten about till next year (though, I suspect, there are a lot of households where the credit cards may paid off just in time for Christmas 2014).
It's good to have a lovely meal - a home prepared special treat. I really enjoy the preparation, though like the consumption more. This year was a starter of leek and haggis stuffed mushrooms; main of venison wellingtons, with roasted parsnips, purple sprouting broccoli and potato dauphinoise and a whisky sauce; all finished off with Mum's clootie dumpling. (I was going to post a photo of the main, but it was over exposed and out of focus).
Yes, there is a little left over. Mainly clootie dumpling, but some will be given away and the rest used - it's great with custard, though can also be fried for breakfast. Everything else was eaten yesterday, mainly because no one course was too big and I buy enough - not too much, not too little, just enough.
But today, as there is a plethora of recipes with ideas what to do with leftovers, I get twitchy (and a little guilty). I wonder how many people yesterday relied on the good will of relatives to feed them Christmas dinner or hoped the food parcel they received from their local foodbank had some treats to make things a bit more special than normal. I also wonder how much food bought for yesterday (and today) will land up either untouched or barely touched, straight in the bin. That, I have always found aberrant.
In a time where people cannot afford to feed themselves, there is still and excess elsewhere. Maybe we should bring back rationing. Yes, that was to ensure everyone had enough where there were shortages caused by conflict, but shortages exist once more, though with a different cause. Either way, I do believe society has to start considering its relationship with food and food waste.
So, on that cheery note, enjoy your leftovers. Make the most of them. Even freeze some. Or give some foods which will keep to foodbanks or homeless shelters or soup kitchens, but please, please, don't throw in the bin, unless you really, really have to.
Christmas is one of the few times in the year when I consider leftovers a delicacy. I grew up in a home where it was turkey for every meal from Christmas lunch through til at least Dec 27th. Usually by that time we got round to turkey blanquette. In fact, if there wasn't enough left for turkey blanket (as it's lovingly known) I remember being a bit put out.
ReplyDeleteMy bigger personal challenge this year was passing by homeless folk (and a few apparent professional beggars) while I was doing the present shopping. My buying's pretty meagre at the moment (student life!), but that didn't make it any easier to walk past people sitting out in the wind and rain asking for things. I smiled, walked on past, but had that constant, uncomfortable feeling that my actions didn't give the right answer in terms of WWJD...
There, has that upped the guilt factor a bit more?!