Sunday 26 December 2010

Christmas, The Day After 'To Do's'

A couple of post celebration household tips, in case you forgot:

  1. Don't forget to Bokashi all your waste (Info Here)
  2. Sort all your recyclables (most families can see at least double this weekend)
  3. Save Christmas paper and tissue/decorations for possible re-use next year
  4. Turkey carcass can be simmered to resemble a lite 'fonds de volaille' (reduce by 2/3, skim, muslin & freeze)
  5. Ham leftover?  Bone the joint, segment the usable ham into 250gm-500gm pieces and gladwrap into refridgeration.  Vacpac the trimmings, and freeze away for later use. Make a stock with the bones and rind and freeze for future use.
  6. Berries, simmer quick then stick blend buzz with icing sugar, strain and bottle as fruit coulis.  The boil will stop any decomposition and benchmark it for a good few weeks in the fridge (bottled),  the sugar will help add as a preservative
  7. Too much pouring cream?  Sometimes it splits a bit after bringing out of the freezer, but you can usually get something enriching.  (Stroganoff)
  8. Red Wine.  Chances are someone spent a few dollars on that good drop. (Gluwein or Beef Borguignone for the North, For Downunder, keep for marinating holiday or NYE BBQ meats, Roo Fillet, Cervena)
OK,  so I mention the word freeze quite a lot,  but it is easy to waste food this time of year.  If you have a bucket of tomatoes that you know you are not going to use straight away,  then pop them in the freezer.  Then when you need to make Sce Tomate,  you have some snap frozen fresh tomatoes in the door of the freezer.
 
Finally,  a photo taken this week in Christchurch, New Zealand, about 10 minutes before the Lunar Eclipse.  Happy Holidays!

1 comment:

BILLJACKJANE said...

That time of the year again. As well as what has been mentioned last season, don't forget to turn your fridge down in temperature. I know, it costs more, but hey, you will preserve your food better if the refridgeration is appropriate for the ambient temp.