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Merry Christmas 2021 to all members.


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Merry Christmas,and a happy new year to all,if we get that far!!

Hope to be seeing you all a bit more next year,past two years have been disastrous ,healthwise,with my Wife.

The NHS have been absoloutely MAGNIFICENT ,between Wansbeck,The RVI,The Freeman,and The Mount at Morpeth,all the Consultants and Staff,all the way down the ranks,deserve medals,solid gold ones the size of dustbin lids!

My Wife and me hope the NHS gets the Appreciation,and funding that it deserves Nationally.

ALL THE BEST! 

Bill.

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10 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

Merry Christmas,and a happy new year to all,if we get that far!!

Hope to be seeing you all a bit more next year,past two years have been disastrous ,healthwise,with my Wife.

The NHS have been absoloutely MAGNIFICENT ,between Wansbeck,The RVI,The Freeman,and The Mount at Morpeth,all the Consultants and Staff,all the way down the ranks,deserve medals,solid gold ones the size of dustbin lids!

My Wife and me hope the NHS gets the Appreciation,and funding that it deserves Nationally.

ALL THE BEST! 

Bill.

👍

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Why does a brass band make me nostalgic .The film Brassed Off has an even worse / better effect . Nostalgia plus tears.

Maybe a longing for full employment and childhood . We were warned we would not get jobs ( baby boom) but we did! We did not crave for the impossible . We supported each other , if possible. . Every Christmas and New Year were special with tales of only Apples and Oranges and working for the family at a young age

.Maybe our children and grandchildren will feel the same about everything but in a different way,

Strange times we live in right now . The Fear clause has been activated .Please don’t let it all spoil this time of year . Whatever we do !

 

 

8B75AA03-05F0-49E1-A68F-D25B74868D6D.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Joe McNally said:

Greetings and best wishes from Oz. (35 degrees here in Adelaide today). May you all have a wonderful and safe Christmas . 

30 minutes ago, Canny lass said:

That's a whole 51 degrees warmer than here! What's it like eating a hot Christmas pudding with Brandy sauce in that heat?

I think I'll move to Sweden - I melt in 21 degrees:)

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1 hour ago, Canny lass said:

Welcome! What are you like with raw fish for Christmas dinner?

I'm hopeless CL - very little I do like and the cooked food I do like has to be well done and free of sauces and spices.

I once had Mulligatawny soup (c1988, Indian restaurant in London) and my mouth was on fire for 3 days😰. Beef gravy is fine👍.

Raw fish! No chance - crispy battered cod is the only sea food I can stomach. 

Edited by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)
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6 hours ago, Canny lass said:

Welcome! What are you like with raw fish for Christmas dinner?

Ahhh! I'm a bit like Eggy but NO fish or shell fish, cooked or raw, no spices, no seasonings, no fruit and only nuts are chestnuts (cooked) but I do cook meat and veg with salt. 

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I was taken to task when I designed this and had it installed.  My reply, it will become something people want to take pictures of, and I have seen many owners with their dogs doing just that!  Great to see it as a sold out Christmas card too..........

"Front Street News & Post Office

 
We’ve managed to get hold of a few more Bedlington Xmas cards. These will go quickly and we won’t be getting any more printed this year."

267475102_1084098019087903_8939860210743165052_n.jpg

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30 minutes ago, Malcolm Robinson said:

"Front Street News & Post Office

 
We’ve managed to get hold of a few more Bedlington Xmas cards. These will go quickly and we won’t be getting any more printed this year."

 

If they have all gone then people will have to send this years electronically - photo by Simon Williams, Church Lane :

Xmas 2021.jpg

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On 13/12/2021 at 14:18, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

Raw fish! No chance - crispy battered cod is the only sea food I can stomach. 

Fortunately (for me also) there are other things on the dinner table. I'll see if i can translate the dishes to English for you so you can get an idea. It's world's away from turkey and Christmas pudding.

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5 hours ago, Canny lass said:

Fortunately (for me also) there are other things on the dinner table. I'll see if i can translate the dishes to English for you so you can get an idea. It's world's away from turkey and Christmas pudding.

Here it is, Eggy. It's long, as is the meal itself, but neither can compare to the preparation time! Of course, most of it can be bought ready to eat, or at least half prepared, but it's a fun meal to make if you like cooking which fortunately I do. I think it's pretty traditional in most households with at least 3-4 dishes from each of the groups I mention on the dinner table. It's served buffet-style but it's expected to be eaten in the order cold, warm, sweet and what you eat is up to the individual. Schnapps is an integral part of the meal, served by the host at every group, cold warm and sweet. They are frequently served again whenever anyone wishes to make a toast to anything and everything or even to start  a singalong - which is often! There's usually a LOT of singing but we can take a break to watch Donald Duck at 3pm - Same cartoons EVERY year but as traditional as the Christmas ham. Britain has the Queen's speech, we have Donald Duck.

How about Christmas in other countries? I'd love to know what's on the menu. here's what we'll be sitting down to-

Cold fish dishes:

Pickled herring, small pieces and at least 3 different kinds of which one must be in a creamy sauce.

Herring fillets, breadcrumbed, fried and chilled. After chilling they may be pickled in vinegar and sugar.

Herring salad, small cubes of cooked beetroot, mixed with small pieces of herring and chopped onion mixed with mayonnaise and/or soured cream.

Boiled eggs, halved and topped with soured cream and shell fish/salmon.

Salmon, 3 sorts 1) smoked, 2) pickled, raw and spiced, 3) whole, baked.

Rolled herring fillets, oven baked in a sauce based on double cream mixed with fish roe, dill or 1001 other flavourings.

 

Cold meat dishes:

Brawn, at least 3 sorts, finely ground, coarsely ground and sliced cheek.

Ham joint, oven baked or boiled, skin removed, fat left on and commonly coated in a mustard paste and grilled.

Liver paté.

Selection of smoked sausages.

Leg of mutton, roast or smoked.

 

Served with salads:

Beetroot salad, diced cooked beetroot mixed with soured cream & black pepper.

Cabbage salad, shredded red cabbage, mixed with skinned orange segments, raisins and a viaigrette dressing.

Kale salad, chopped kale mixed with just about anything. Here, walnuts, pomegranate 'seeds', and an oily dressing.

 

Warm fish dishes:

Johnson's Temptation (literally translated), a dish of grated potato, fried onions and anchovies oven baked in double cream.

Lye fish (literally translated), an air-dried white fish (usually Ling), rehydrated/picled in lye, washed in water daily for several days and then cooked in a cream sauce.

 

Warm meat dishes:

The Prince of sausages (literally translated), small sausages, a bit like chipolatas, cut so that they resemble small piglets when fried.

Christmas sausage, pork naturally, a bit like polony. It can also be served as a cold dish.

Christmas Meatballs, 75% beef 25% pork. (50-50 rest of the year).

Thick pork ribs, grilled or roasted, glazed with honey and Xmas spices (Ginger, Cinnamon, Cloves).

Dip in the pot (literally translated), all the liquid saved from cooking ALL the Xmas meats, reduced to about a third of its volume and used to dip wort-bread (see below). The soggy bread is then topped with whatever takes your fancy from the table - apart from the tablecloth.

 

Served with warm vegetable dishes:

Cabbage, at least 3 sorts, 1) Red cabbage, grated apple and raisins cooked in blackcurrant or apple juice, 2) White cabbage browned in butter then cooked in vegetable stock, golden syrup and a lot of Allspice, 3) Kale cooked in ham stock then finely chopped and simmered in double cream.

Brusselsprouts, cooked and, here, glazed with honey and ginger but there are hundreds of variations.

Carrot pie, a kind of warm cake made from mashed boiled carrots, boiled rice, cream, golden syrup, egg, milk and nutmeg. Topped with breadcrumbs and loads of butter before baking.

Boiled potatoes. Not many people bother with these. They are mainly for the people who eat Lye fish to soak up the sauce which I'm told is delicious. I'll take their word for it!

 

'Must have' accompaniments:

Mustard, several types and at least one new flavour every year. This year it's Gin and orange.

Wort bread, a heavy, rye bread only eaten at Xmas. It's made with wort, the liquid byproduct of beer and whisky production. It can be bought in powder form here. The bread contains raisins and a lot of Christmas spices.

Crispbread, several types and flavours.

The Christmas cheese, a 2.5 kg cheese. The most widely eaten cheese all year round but at Xmas it has a red wrapper and we dress it in 'clothes' specially made for the occasion.

Selection of other cheeses.

Sauce for the pickled salmon, made from mustard, dill and oil.

Pickled beetroot.

Pickled gherkins.

 

Sweet dishes:

Rice pudding, soft and runny, cooked with cinnamon and served with a sauce made from fruit juice (must be red juice).

Rice Maltese style (literally translated), Same rice dish as above but mixed with whipped cream and decorated with fruit.

Gingerbread biscuits.

Raisins and blanched almonds (for the mulled wine).

Various sweets and chocolates.

Mandarin oranges.

Red apples.

Dates, Nuts, Figs.

With the exception of the rice dishes these remain on a side table after the meal and are regularly topped up for anybody to help themselves to right through to January 6.

Drinks:

Mulled wine.

Christmas brew, a dark, strong beer specially brewed for Xmas.

Schnapps, the more flavours the better.

Julmust (impossible to translate) a type of root beer brewed only at Xmas. Non-alcoholic.

Wine.

Water. (Never seen anybody drink this but it has to be there!

Mumma (no translation), basically a ready mixed Shandy.

Weak drink (literally translated), a very weak beer (less than 1% alcohol).

 

That's it but it's wise to include another course:

Rennies (full strength)

Milk of Magnesia

 

 

 

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I hope you had that lot typed where you could copy & paste into your comment. If you didn't then i applaud you:thumbsup:

Ours has always been the traditional English xmas dinner. The only meat my wife would eat was chicken and turkey breast ( the white meats) with loads of different vegetables.

I'll see if I can put together a full days menu of all the meals and nibbles that used to be served. - but don't hold your breath 

 

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On 16/12/2021 at 19:02, Canny lass said:

 

How about Christmas in other countries? I'd love to know what's on the menu. here's what we'll be sitting down to-

 

 

Ours is simple and the only healthy food will be the vegetables, everything else adds to the waistline :- 

 

xmas dinner .jpg

xmas tea.jpg

Xmas supper.jpg

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My mouth is watering!

Have you managed to get a turkey? I heard on the news here today that Norfolk turkey farmers can't get any of the native population to slaughter their turkeys. They rely on european, seasonal workers for the job and  Brexit has put a stop to that. Heard later in the day that 5 000 emergency work permits are being granted.

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