The trouble with ‘Twixmas’, the period between Christmas and New Year, is it’s pretty hard to judge exactly how to play things ‘health wise’.
In many households there are still quite a lot of leftovers that ‘need’ to be eaten.
Cold turkey would be a case in point. Turkey sandwiches for days after Christmas is a tradition that I’ve always enjoyed.
Although it is a ‘Twixmas’ pleasure that I’ve actually given up in the name of love. Mrs Proclaims is a pescatarian (which is someone who doesn’t eat meat but does eat fish). So (even though I don’t really get it – why has a turkey got more right to live than a tuna?) I’ve also kind of become a pescatarian of sorts. I still eat meat on occasion but when I’m cooking for both of us I tend to cook vegetarian food or fish. I like fish so it’s really no hardship. For Christmas dinner I cooked a side of salmon rather than a turkey. A whole turkey for just for me seemed excessive and a properly cooked side of salmon is quite the festive treat. It was still too much for two people so there are still lots of leftovers – it’s just that I find myself eating a lot of cold salmon rather than cold turkey.
And it’s way too nice to let it go to waste so much of the Twixmas period will be cold salmon sandwiches or a bowl of what I’m now dubbing ‘Christmas soup’ – the potage I made yesterday from leftover sprouts, parsnips and potatoes (combined with cauliflower and leek to subdue the overwhelming flavour of the sprouts). Cold salmon and a vegetable based soup are not inherently unhealthy things to be living on so, in many ways, for me the post-Christmas ‘detox’ could already have begun.
However, there is still an abundance of chocolate, wine, cheese and other delightful goods available, some of which we bought for ourselves and some of which have been gifted to us by family and friends.
After a few days of excess, eating this kind of stuff has become something of a habit and, with so much of it about, the temptation to keep on going is pretty strong.
However, most of it will still be ‘in-date’ into the New Year so there’s no particular rush to consume them. In many ways it would make sense to put some of the chocolates away and resist the temptation to uncork another bottle of Beaujolais for a few more days.
On the other hand, we’re still very much within the traditional festive period and even if no-one really keeps going until twelfth night anymore, it’s mostly still considered to be ‘Christmas’ until New Year’s Day at least. That’s usually the time for making unrealistic resolutions to be healthy. So perhaps the best thing to do would be to eat and drink all of the bad things before January rolls around so that we can start afresh in the New Year without all that calorific stuff still around to tempt us.
However, I think there is a third way. What I’m planning to do is keep eating all the bad stuff until it runs out and then I’m going to go to my nearest supermarket and buy all of their remaining festive produce (which by then will be heavily reduced in price) and I’m going to keep on eating this way for as long as I’m able to continue purchasing heavily discounted party food.
I can always buy some larger trousers in the January sales if needs be.
James Proclaims! 