Such a rainy as well as busy preparation day today. Clare fetched the turkey ordered from Driscoll's on Cathedral Road first thing, then I took the bus into town to shop for salmon and king prawns in the forever bustling Central Market. On return we found the salmon was much too long for the fish kettle, even with the head off, so a large tail piece provided us with fish to bake for supper, and I used the head to make a fish stock which, with half a onion, red pepper, a leek, and some beetroot tops, became a tasty soup for a starter.
Yesterday I was given a box of two dozen clementines as a Christmas gift. They were superbly fresh, nicer than ones Clare got from the local supermarket, so I took the fruit she'd bought, put it with four lemons, and made half a dozen jars of marmalade, filling the kitchen with wonderful seasonal aromas.
After lunch, wWe went by car to collect our veggie box order from Riverside Farmers' Market, but the Ty Mawr Organics team were late arriving, so we went home. I returned to town by bus with a shopping trolley in tow, aiming to spend an hour in the office and then go on foot to the market in hope of collecting the order afterwards. Thankfully, by the time I quit work it had stopped raining and Ty Mawr Organics were finally installed at the market, dispensing veggie box orders from the back of a horse trailer. The shopping trolly was well loaded when I set off for home, and I was relived to catch a sixty one bus from Cowbridge Road East with only a minute to wait.
The fridge is full, and Clare has started preparing our traditional vegetarian chestnut casserole dish, loved by vegetarians and omnivores alike in our household. This'll be our first Christmas in our retirement home, and it's been a great pleasure to have the leisure to get everything ready to welcome the family tomorrow.
After supper, a quiet evening in front of the telly watching the Royal Ballet's enchanting performance of 'The Nutcracker'. Tchaikovsky's orchestral music sounded quite fresh to me tonight. Last week, I found a bargain double CD of the four Rachmaninov piano concertos in HMV, with Vladimir Ashkenzy playing. I heard the second movement of number two on the radio and then couldn't get it out of my head. Our ancient tape recording was missing, fragments of the music wouldn't leave my head, so I had to find the cure, and listen again properly. A YouTube rendering wouldn't satisfy, I had to hear it on my home hi-fi. Hence the rare purchase. So, I'm enjoying Russian nineteenth century music this week. Just right for winter evenings.
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