Christmas

[Diane65]

Just booked tickets for The Grimm Tales christmas play in December at the library theatre in Manchester for the fantastic price of £37.50 for 5, I'm still in shock and sooo happy
I'm going to London on the 25th November to watch Breakfast at Tiffanys, I'll have a couple of hours to spare before the show where's the best place to go to get the Christmassy atmosphere?
Christmas is on it's way!

[Beate]

I'd say the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park could be a contender: http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/

[AnneJ]

Oh I love Winter Wonderland, last year I went about 5 times, I love the mulled wine

[Diane65]

Thank you so much Beate and AnneJ It looks wonderful

[destresserai]

I was going through the kids recipe folders (I made them do cooking classes for two years!) and came across a vegetarian dish I had long forgotten about. I can remember it was quite tasty and really easy to make so may make a good dish for Christmas lunch:-


Vegetable Wellington

Ingredients

1 red, 1 green and 1 yellow pepper
½ kg courgettes
125g feta cheese
Packet of puff pastry

Method

1. Chop peppers roughly into 3cm squares. Top and tail courgettes. Split them down the middle and slice into thick quartered pieces

2. Pan fry the vegetables with two spoonfuls of olive oil for 10 minutes on medium heat.

3. Flavour with dried basil, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Take away from the heat and cool.

4. With a rolling pin, roll out the puff pastry to three times its original size and cut into three pieces.

5. With each piece, place a slice of feta cheese near the bottom centre of the rectangle of puff pastry. Place about 3tbsps of the vegetable mix on top of the feta and lift the bottom half of pastry over to meet the top, tuck in the sides and pressing down firmly.

6. Brush with beaten egg and cook for 15 minutes at 180°C.

[superhero]

They are doing a swinging 60's disco on Carnaby street next Tuesday for when they turn on the christmas lights, so should be nice for all those Austin Powers fans out there!

[lovesitx]

I just went to see Diversity (BGT winners) switch on the chrimo lights in Meadowhall Sheffield, i have never seen the place so busy, the police were having to hold people back from the Oasis food court where they were dancing and turning on the lights, i didn't get to see much of their dancing apart from on the big screen but Ashley (the lead guy) did wave at me as he was leaving as we were right next to their exit at that time.

That got me in the christmassy spirit so i decided to start my christmas shopping, i got my mum some pj's from m&s and this set that she loves from lush, i'm also gonna get her an ipod shuffle as she keeps saying she would like something little to listen to her music on.

[jmd1983]

Any good suggestions for a Christmas present for my grandfather? He always asks for socks and aftershave but that looks so sad under the tree!

[anjirose]

Any good suggestions for a Christmas present for my grandfather? He always asks for socks and aftershave but that looks so sad under the tree!

aww bless him, i find it really hard to b*y good gifts for the men in the family,
depending on the budget, maybe a ticket to an event, or an experience? maybe even a meal out.
or if there are a few members in the family, or a good collection of old photos your grandfather loves, how about getting him a digital photo frame, pic up a 1gb memory card, have pictures of the family taken, scan in some of his old photos and he can have them flicking through, or keep them on specific photos he likes. we're doing that for a family member and her holiday photos. you can pick a 6inch one for £12.99 from redsave.com, or a 7inch one for 19.99, which is the cheapest i can find anywhere, and its more personal :) hope thats helped.

[jmd1983]

oh that sounds quite good...i might look into that.

last year i gave him a subscription to national geographic which he loved so i may renew that as well. i like giving magazine subscriptions to people as it's a little present every month (or week!) for the next year.

he doesn't like going out a lot unless it's with the whole family but he does quite like the cinema so i may get him a cinema voucher and take him to see something. i also b*ght 2 antique car model kits off ebay and he loves doing them so i think they will go down well.

other ideas for men for people who are struggling:
-red dwarf t-shirt or dvd (my other half loves this!)
-a weekend course to learn to ride a motorbike
-romantic weekend away is always a good one for your other half
-a virgin experience voucher for a car driving experience