I thought I'd got everything in for xmas, but I've just remembered I didn't get any waffle mix for the Waffle iron I've got my ma for xmas, I have to brave a supermarket on Christmas Eve!!!

I think I'll go for a dawn raid, if I get up early enough

I bought some mint Aero to eat on Christmas Day.

I have already eaten it.

Now I have to decide whether to go on to the shops tomorrow and get some more.

Suppose I should get something, fresh Millet or something for Ziggy S. as well. That's two shops I need to visit.

I too am planning a dawn raid - on the Co-op, for satsumas, wine for Boxing Day evening and a pasty for Boxing Day cold lunch.

Fangirl Three wrote:

I too am planning a dawn raid - on the Co-op, for satsumas, wine for Boxing Day evening and a pasty for Boxing Day cold lunch.

Ooh and an onion, so I can make bubble-and-squeak with any Christmas dinner leftovers. In the event of that, the pasty will be kept for New Year's Day cold lunch. In the opposite event, the onion will be used to make some sort of red sauce for pasta or rice on Dec 27.

Did my last grocery shop 2 days ago. Thought I had organised well to not have to shop again. But it's now 16:30 on Christmas Eve.
Milk and cheese situation are critical. I don't expect either to last past lunch tomorrow.
Some other smallfry grocery items are also low.
Do I try and get by or head out to the supermarket for a last minute gorcery top up? Things to consider are milk is a necessary item, without it I might die. But then the crowds. And lack of parking.
I see what they mean about Christmas being stressful.

In that situation I'd buy expensive milk and cheese from a local convenience store rather than make the journey and face the crowds.

Steviebaby wrote:

I thought I'd got everything in for xmas, but I've just remembered I didn't get any waffle mix for the Waffle iron I've got my ma for xmas, I have to brave a supermarket on Christmas Eve!!!

I think I'll go for a dawn raid, if I get up early enough

I haz completed my xmas shopping for 2018.

Oh, it's pancake mix, not waffle mix? Should be alright, it's just flour and water innit?

And I picked up my parcel from the sorting office. I is so organised!

I have successfully gone to the Tesco Express and the Co-op for the items I mentioned. And extra cheese.

So I now have enough wine to last till after Boxing Day.

Quote :

King Henry III's Christmas order:

430 red deer
200 fallow deer
200 roe deer
200 wild boar
1,300 hares
450 rabbits
2,100 partridges
290 pheasants
395 swans
115 cranes
120 peacocks
80 salmon
Lampreys
Conger eels

I forgot the Lampreys. Christmas is ruined.

Much of my Christmas prezzie shopping this year consisted of me finding things I already owned and giving them away.

I did however buy a bottle of Cointreau, two £1 bowls of limes, a bag of ice and ordered my ex-wife to bring over that expensive skull-shaped bottle of Tequila I bought her last Christmas - that I know she hasn't touched a drop of - so we can get bombed on Margaritas tomorrow.

Steviebaby wrote:

Quote :

King Henry III's Christmas order:

430 red deer
200 fallow deer
200 roe deer
200 wild boar
1,300 hares
450 rabbits
2,100 partridges
290 pheasants
395 swans
115 cranes
120 peacocks
80 salmon
Lampreys
Conger eels

I forgot the Lampreys. Christmas is ruined.

Has anyone here been to Georgia or Armenia? If so which is better? I thought Yerevan might be an interesting place for a pre Christmas shopping weekend. 

On the map they look fairly accessible to one another and I hear you can easily visit both, although I'm worried by proximity to Abhkazia and Chechnya. 

Maybe Bruges or Vienna would be better. However I've been to them and I'm looking for somewhere a bit out of the ordinary to enjoy as a family.

To gentlemen who are or have been in their 30's - what would you like/recommend as a gift? 

I have decided to give a pair of my grandfathers gold cufflinks, and buy three or four shirts to wear them with - I've looked and he only has the button variety. Is that appropriate? Would you be pleased?

What else?

Perhaps Nightjar could advise - is $650 for a 16th century icon reasonable or a sign that the market for such things is untrustworthy? How reliable is the provenance of antique Russian icons? I think there's a gallery on Walton Street that does icons but that's no indicator of anything than being cheated politely. It's not a market I'm knowledgeable about.

I found this online and I think he'd like it...

Oh, there's a specialist in Holland Park and another on Piccadilly. The price seems in keeping with that, gold and rarity seems to be what can take it into the thousands. 

So, something like that framed icon above, the cufflinks, three or four shirts from Turnbull and Asser, a couple of silk ties (a great houndstooth one already chosen from Harvey Nichols), some books on Russia - maybe five or so, ten depending on price - on Soviet art etc, a cashmere sweater, a couple of pairs of great vintage trainers from Solemart/Solebox- if they do a size 13 that is.

That doesn't sound like very much. Would you be disappointed if that was you? What would you like and suggest for a guy in his early 30's?

I'll put a fiver or a ten pound voucher for WHSmith or Claire's Accessories or whatever in a card for his daughter.

My grandparents and I shared a passion for marzipan fruits. I lingered over some yesterday, thinking that nobody else enjoys them like we did. On holidays and at Christmas we would each give selections of them to one another. He favoured miniatures that could be popped whole in the mouth, while we generally bought larger styles that could be sliced like real pieces of fruit. I was going to buy some for myself but it's not the same.

I've been checking, and I think I've got enough in the drinks cabinet to see me thorough xmas*, I'm still getting a bottle of Baileys though, it's loverly mixed with my conkers Cold Brew Coffee drink.


And some beer.

* I've got at least two bottles of brandy, some chestnut Liquor, some poppy liquor, bottle and a half of Absinthé from last year.



I think I might need some whiskey of some description. Does anywhere do Ricard without having to order it in?