Happy new year!
Now I know it’s a bit miserable being back at work and all that, but we’ll hopefully bring some measure of cheer to the dark days of January with the usual mix of recipes, reviews, special offers, and competitions.
It’s January, so everyone is especially broke, including us. Just before Christmas, I was interviewed by the Irish Independent’s Christmas food magazine and dished out lots of money saving tips, including this key piece of advice: DON’T PANIC BUY.
Flash forward to Christmas Eve Eve, where I completely ignored my own advice and panic bought. I’d been having a long boozy lunch in Carluccio’s with Jean. Suddenly I realised that it was almost 5pm and I still had to buy food for my own house. So I grabbed about six bags of presents and hauled them through Marks and Spencer on Grafton Street, sweating and fretting and PANIC BUYING with a demented and terrified fervour, never pausing to assess the price or consider whether I actually needed this item. It was like the hangover and the shame after a particularly embarrassing office Christmas party (I once drunkenly asked a former boss “how old are you, anyway? What, like 63?” He was 47), only this happened in the space of an hour. Then the bags burst all over Grafton Street and everything got covered in slush.
It was a strange moment of madness – defying my own advice, knowledge, brain – which Jean, bless her, was completely unable to prevent. Now I’m still getting through the food.
“That’s what you get for calling it Christmas Eve Eve,” said my friend Jimmy.
Apart from that, it was the best Christmas I’ve had in years; I don’t think I really mind going back to work, although I’m still clinging onto the last two days of Christmas with my bloodied fingernails. Two more days! How was it for you, dear readers?