Home for Christmas

Christmas is family ...
Well ... not for us, not this year anyway. Christmas was just the two of us this year.
We will be celebrating and exchange gifts in January when my family gets together at my daughter's house. I'm looking forward to this, I am.

Up until now, I have never had the chance to enjoy a relaxed Christmas.
The previous years when I still had my own shop - or later when I worked in one - the last couple of days before Christmas were always extremely busy.
By the time I finished working and got home, I was exhausted.
Too tired to bother about spending much time shopping for food, let alone cook it.
This year, for the first time in many, I was not part of the rat race, uh-uh!
I observed the folly from my kitchen window.
The congested parking lot and crowded shops full of nervous people trying to finish their last minute shopping ...
This time around, I was merely a spectator and I loved every minute of it!
By doing my grocery shopping early Tuesday morning I got first pick and I was out of there before the crowds arrived. No shopping list for me, I love to just stroll around the supermarket and choose my ingredients, inventing recipes and making up the menu as I go along.


Going through the same department three times if I have to, just to find the right things.
I take pleasure in shopping that way. It drives my husband crazy, so I went alone and took my time. No stress at all. In fact, this is real bliss for a foodie like me!


Once I got home, I put the goodies on the kitchen counter, took a note pad and sat down to write some recipes and ideas that had crossed my mind when I was doing my shopping.


Stuffing the fridge with all these delicacies gave me the most comforting feeling.
Everything I would need to survive the next three days was there. Wonderful...

And then I locked myself in the kitchen for the next two days making up all kinds of little dishes with the ingredients I had bought. How I love to do that! I think it's fun to use the same ingredient in a different way the next day. And I absolutely adore making pretty presentations on the plate.
I had fun. Can you tell?