A BELATED FEAST

With Pa in hospital until a few days before Christmas our usual pre- Christmas feasts were postponed, today we decided to celebrate the completion of another of my sons books with the help of a cockerel feast.

Before turkeys became fashionable and geese were scarce, the cockerel reigned supreme at the Christmas table. They were huge well muscled birds who had gained their size during a long summer of fighting mating and scratching about for food in the fields and under hedges,and in the barns and stack yards of the farm. Free range,real free range not the bare minimum required to call a bird free range that we mostly get today.

Today I was lucky enough to have a real free range bird 14lb in weight complete with giblets and perfect in every way.

For such a fine creature I made two stuffing s,one for the crop made with dates,chestnut,walnuts, brandy and raisins.

For those who prefer a

more traditional stuffing made a large dish of herb and onion stuffing soft in the centre but with a buttery crusty on the outside. Roast potatoes of course and a selection of winter vegetables,apple sauce and gravy............perfect.

As a family we tend to celebrate anything and everything,and why not? All to often there is bad news, just switch on the T.V. And you will see I am right. OK I am not suggesting that we ignore all the dreadful things that are happening all over the world.

All I am saying is let us rejoice in the small sweet fleeting things of life. Let us turn them into family high days and holidays, so that in years to come we shall remember the good times, the happy times.

Although the cockerel we ate tonight was gorgeous,had we eaten it as a part of Christmas,with all the other treats and meats we should most likely forget all about it in time,whereas we shall never forget he huge cockerel we ate in celebration of my sons latest complete book.

Family treasures such as these will shine down the years,brighter than any family silver ever could.