Over here at last minute.com, the shocking realisation that it is nearly Christmas has hit me and I began to panic.  Over recent weeks I have been amused by friend’s entertaining  tales of shopping with irrascible husbands and empathised with people having shopping nightmares.  I read the anecdotes on Face Book, think admiringly how organised they are and continue with what I am doing, thinking I have ages until Christmas.  But now I realise I don’t.

I put breakfast in the oven and thought about where to begin.  I heated up some leftover baked oatmeal with pumpkin and raisins and served it with coconut butter and a banana.

I bought this coconut butter in Florida.  2 of the blogs I read regularly use it and it is lovely.  Different to coconut oil as it includes the coconut flesh rather then just the oil,

so it added some moisture and coconut flavour as it melted over the top.

I set about writing Christmas cards.  I did not write them with a very Christmassy background.  Harvey was watching Jaws and I sat with him.  I was expecting to find it a very old fashioned and slightly comical film.  I had such a powerful memory of being so scared by it.  Actually, it was excellent.  The suspense is so well built up and even the bits I remembered well made me jump all over again.

Christmas cards written, James dispatched to Cranbrook to post them, I turned my attention to the tree.  Harvey decorated it beautifully.

For lunch I made chicken fajitas.  I bought a new Fajita spice mix by Bart but I have now thrown it away.  It was ridiculously spicy with too much chilli powder in it.  I like fresh chilli and chilli flakes but dislike chlili powder.

It was a shame as I made chicken Fajitas for Harvey (they are a favourite of his) but he struggled to eat it.

I added yogurt to mine but it was still not enjoyable and a very sore throat didn’t make spicy food palatable.

I mixed a can of tuna with mayonnaise and we had that in a wrap with some lamb’s lettuce which was much nicer.

Followed by an orange.  This one was perfect.  So sweet and juicy.

I considered going shopping as I have only bought a few presents.  I wrote a list of people I need to buy for one day this week and have been in shock ever since.  But not had time to shop.  Unfortunately, my sore throat and very painful chesty cough were getting worse so I went to bed instead of shopping.

The boys decided to have curry tonight but I wanted to make something to help me heal.  I had a mug of hot water with lemon and ginger.

Then set about chopping up this lot to make a healthy and healing salad.  Yes, I really did have some raw Brussell sprouts and they were fine.  I would even go so far as to say I enjoyed them.

Healing Salad

Ingredients (serves 1 – 2)

Salad fruits and vegetables

• 1 red pepper, chopped in to bite sized pieces
• 1 celery stalk, chopped in to bite sized pieces
• 1/2 head of broccoli, chopped very fine
• 2 Brussel sprouts, outer leaves peeled, stem chopped off then sliced very fine
• 1/2 a lemon
• 1/2 an avocado, cut in to chunks and drizzled with lemon juice
• 1 orange
• 2 tbsp raisins
• 1 small bag edamame beans
• 1 apple

Dressing

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• salt

Method

1. Place all fruits and vegetables except the apple and lemon in to a large bowl.
2. Squeeze some of the lemon juice in to a shallow bowl with cold water in it (about half a cup is plenty)
3. Cut the apple in to bite sized chunks and place immediately in to the lemon water until you are ready to eat the salad (this stops it turning brown)
4. Mix the dressing ingredients together and whisk well
5. Drain the apple, add to the other fruits and vegetables, pour over the dressing and mix well to combine all ingredients with the dressing.  I added the leftover lemon juice to the dressing too.

This tasted really good.

I am so pleased I made a really healthy salad instead of having a curry.  This contains so many different fruits and vegetables and I really need a huge variety of nutrients to tackle this nasty chest and head cold that is developing.  The wonderful contrast of textures and flavours made this a very enjoyable salad indeed.  Definitely one to have again.  Every mouthful was a complete pleasure.

So the cards are done, the tree and sitting room are decorated.  Lots of presents still to buy though and I have a delightfully busy diary ahead of me.  I am sure I will get it all done on time though – I always get there in the end.  After all, I don’t have to work again until after Christmas so how hard can it be?  Erm, well, there is the minor matter of the little holiday I am going on tomorrow with Lara and Harvey.  Plus 2 nights out I have planned, a dinner party I am hosting next Saturday for 10, a beach house requiring a changeover next Saturday.  There’s always Christmas Eve!

Now, what time are our flights in the morning?