Finally Some Good Food: Christmas Edition
it's giving season
Hello all- it’s nice to see you all again so soon!
After the intensity of the last newsletter, I thought I would give a break with a more old-style newsletter before everything went Really Bad™. But of course, it’s me, so there will still be some philosophical style musings, specifically on Christmas (and also mentioning grief because it is inescapable in a really fun and chill way)!
As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, Christmas, as always, is creeping earlier and earlier. This year, they started stocking Christmas items before Halloween even happened, which annoys me to no end. As I try to be more politically aware and conscious, I can’t help but feel the constant adverts about buying gifts and spreading the cost of Christmas to be a reminder, not only for the dire economic state of the world right now, but the unrelenting pressure from companies to consume! consume! consume!
Of course, part of me has been dreading Christmas this whole year. For one, the Christmas markets have made walking through the centre of Manchester anywhere near the weekend a living nightmare. Also, for the obvious reasons that every piece of grief and/or Christmas related media likes to tell me, grief is the worst at Christmas apparently.
But one late evening, as I walk past the brightly lit ferris wheel in Albert Square when no one else is really about, I feel my heart tug at something. I start picking up a few gifts in secondhand shops. I drink mulled wine on my friend’s couch. I even buy a tinsel tree in Poundland.
I want to hate Christmas. I do. But I can’t. Not entirely, anyway.
Perhaps it’s because this year has been just so bleak. Summer had an unseen shroud of guilt around it, asking me from my bed as I lay despondent, why couldn’t I enjoy the blue skies and sunshine more?
But the winter feels more comfortable. My grief and anxiety has definitely made me more of a hermit in the last few months, which I am working on. But it has also taught me, a people person and chronic plans-haver ( a Google calendar hates to see me coming), that it is okay to take some time for yourself. You don’t have to be busy every Saturday for it to be worthwhile!
Also, Mum did not like Christmas. She said she found it too stressful, too much and she opted out of it as much as she could. For the last ten years or so, her presents were just ones I bought myself that she compensated me for. Of course, I was appreciative but it did make me a little sad every year.
Why? Because I love gift-giving! Call it a love language or call it justifiable materialism, but I love getting presents for people. It requires delving into your trove of knowledge and memories about them, and applying creativity and logic to apply this knowledge to everything you see, like solving the missing part of an equation. When someone gets you a good present that you did not ask for, it is revelatory. It is someone seeing the real you and divining your desires. It’s magic!
But despite what all the adverts say, I want to stress that getting someone a good gift is not dependent on cost at all. Sometimes the best gifts are cheap or even better, free. On my birthday this year, Mum surprise called me from the hospice. I had a lovely birthday, but just hearing her voice was the best present I got, and I would give anything to get that present again. (Not via AI though, that shit is truly evil).
When I first found out about Mum’s diagnosis, I remember crying to my partner about how when she would be gone, there would be no one who will love me like she did. And while it’s true that there is no one who will love me in the exact same way she did, Christmas can be a wonderful reminder that there are people who love you just as much, in their own ways, and that this is your chance to show them that the feeling is mutual.
So this year, I know I will definitely be sad at points. I will miss Mum a lot. But there is so much stuff I love around Christmas, that I will let myself enjoy the parts that make me happy without guilt. Having multiple Christmas dinners with my friends. Putting up the decorations to the entirety of Sufjan Steven’s Christmas albums. The widely accepted time period where you are actively encouraged to eat a lot of cheese.
Which brings me onto the part you’ve all been missing: the food roundup!
Sainsburys Taste The Difference smoked Shropshire Red cheese + Marks and Spencers Taleggio
We hosted a Ren Faire themed party for my partner which included large turkey legs and a cheese board, which I assembled through various post-work supermarket trips. This were the two major winners; while the shropshire was a creamy, subtler take on smoked cheese, my favourite was the taleggio, which was like if a brie didn’t taste of feet. I had it again in a sandwich with truffle pesto and pickled walnuts and it was fabulous, as you might expect.
Garlic Butter Bun, Lottie’s Bakehouse
Recommended by my friend Alice, me and another friend Jeni checked out Lottie’s Bakehouse and the clear winner for me out of their range is the Garlic Butter bun. The fluffiest bun with a featherlight butter centre and while very savoury, just a hint of sweetness in the dough. Run, don’t walk for this one.
Bon Chance Cheese and Garlic Bread Crisps
Looking at the past three recommendations, I wonder why my cholesterol is slightly higher than I’d like at the moment. But when it tastes this good, who am I to fight it? Found in the world food section of Sainsburys, this is what if you made cheesy garlic bread into a crisp, literally. It’s honestly amazing to wonder how no one has had this idea before now because they are sensational and just as moreish as you can imagine.
Veggie Biang Biang Noodles, Kung Fu Noodle
Regular of the newsletter Cherelle admitted to me recently that she searches her own name in each newsletter to see when she appears. Are you happy now? However, as always, she appears again because she has yet to steer me wrong, although I had the name Kung Fu Noodle written in my phone with no further details, so went on a chance and what a good choice that was. I got to try vegetarian biang biang noodles for the first time with marinated tofu and vegetables and I have to say, it was a bianger!
Zaatar toastie with hummus, Fiori Cafe
The other Cherelle rec of the newsletter was this impromptu lunch we went to a couple of weeks ago, which was then followed by the waffle ice cream at Hello Oriental of last newsletter’s fame. I copied her order of the Zaatar cheese toastie with hummus and by god, what a combo. I think with either on its own it might have risked being a little boring, but together it was the perfect comforting combination of creamy, gooey, nutty goodness.
No knead bread
I finally did it. I made bread that wasn’t so flat and hard it could be used as a skimming stone. And it was courtesy of my friend Sarah, who runs a very cute and wholesome Youtube channel. Not only did she introduce me to the concept of an iced cinnamon scone (delicious) but also this no-knead recipe, which mean I actually produced a loaf of edible bread! I definitely want to practice it more to get it really good, but it was a real treat to have your own bread with soup.
Veggie Festive Bake, Greggs
The time I have been waiting for all year has returned. Greggs Festive Bake season is upon us and unlike some places, they do not leave us non-meat eaters out of the joy. We get (fake) chicken and bacon in creamy cranberry and onion sauce and crisp pastry and it is a great snack if you’re having to traipse around in the cold for Christmas shopping. While I do not like to shill for big companies, if they ever discontinue this version, I will actually riot.
Marks and Spencers Extra Virgin Olive Oil Crisps with Truffle
You can’t say I don’t cover both ends of the taste spectrum. I bought this very sceptically and was blown away by the thin, crisp but also somehow melt in your mouth texture? I’m a truffle fan (AKA class traitor) but they also do ham and salted flavours if that’s more your speed.
And that’s all for this edition, and I’m off to decorate the flat to Winter and Gold. However, as always, if you enjoyed it, feel free to share, comment or even tip me if you’re feeling the Christmas spirit:
I’ve never been great at ‘growing’ my audience despite how many emails Substack would like to send me on the subject, but it’s been really nice having my own little corner of the internet to write my ponderings. I’ll be back before the New Year with my Best of the Rest Roundup as well as one last grief related post for the year, so do stay tuned. Otherwise a happy holidays to you all!
Hooray to cheese! You are so inbelieveably loved!! ❤️❤️❤️