We’re nearly there. It’s the final few working days before the festive break. We got this.
Are you feeling festive yet?
I’m getting there.
I took myself for a solo festive trip to London this week as I’d managed to nab a ticket to the Substack London Live Festive Readings.
I’m hesitant to write about it here as it doesn’t fit my theme of lunch or working from home. Oh well, it’s Christmas. Oh wait, maybe I can shoehorn it into a work-from-home theme, I’m a freelancer after all, so I don’t get a work’s Christmas party, so it was nice to have a different kind of event to go to. Can I segue from there?
A theme of Togetherness. An intimate evening of festive readings. A mix of writers, seven in total: Dan Jones, Annie Macmanus, Hanif Kureishi, Pandora Sykes, India Knight, Jameela Jamil and Nick Hornby. An audience made up of their subscribers. It was really wonderful to listen to their readings and fabulous Q&As. It was in a church. I don’t go to church (well, not since my kids’ nativities), but it was the first time this year I’ve felt really festive as I walked through the trees, was offered a cup of mulled wine and headed into the church.
I know this sort of Substack-themed chat would probably be better as a Note for the feed, but I’m trying not to use Substack as yet another social media platform — this event was the antithesis of that.
For the final lunch this year, we’ve got a cracker.
A festive toastie
I’ll get straight to the point with this. It’s just a sandwich.
Shredded gammon, cranberry sauce, Camembert, cheddar, red cabbage, pickled pink onions, English mustard, sourdough, toasted in butter…you get the idea.
I had some leftovers, that’s always a good starting point for a sandwich. Leftovers from a practice run of the Christmas gammon slow-cooked in Coke, then roasted and glazed with honey, mustard and brown sugar.
To assemble the sandwich:
Shredded gammon
Cranberry sauce for sweetness
Red cabbage for crunch
Onions for tang, sorry, I mean piquancy
Camembert and cheddar, because why confine yourself to one cheese in a toastie?
Mustard for heat
Toasted in a skillet with melted butter
My favourite thing about festive food is the leftovers in a sandwich.
See you on the other side.
