It's like from 'Farm to Plate' the strap line for a lot of chef's these days. Going from one field of reality and getting to another with a little bit of reflection and action between. The grim today for me was the thought of the first Christmas drinks. With some beloved friends in their home. The effort is made because of the festive season but since being in the southern hemisphere I have never embraced it. In fact the memory is so faded that I just want to disappear and wait until the chaos is over....in the wild somewhere. The pressure and the grind to create perfection in food, gift giving and 'happy clappy'. Relationships are for all year not just for christmas. Especially now, especially in this time of excessiveness and drowning in plastic. The paper today announced that the volume of man made objects now out weighs planetary biomass....and everyone goes and buys more because of the expectation of the time of year. Faces in the supermarket become fraught. It's ok I say, relax, take a different path. Just announce, like we did many years ago, that we will share our mirth, our love of the longest day, we will give a gift of our company and revel in yours. We will continue to eat simply and go for a walk and swim. Thankful as we are to be able to do both. But that is it. No wishing cards or guilt gifts. I love you; is that not enough. I negotiated the car park full of mania, got my salmon dip and biscuits, prepared the pass-on prezzie (something new but not used, ever gathering dust in this case 'The Quarter acre cooking pot') and hit the grass to sit in my grotto. Soothed now, ready for the social. Be nice she said; some people get the one good meal of the year because it is christmas. Some people have no time to give apart from now.
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