THE PARSNIPS STARTED TO FROTH...

A liquid

lunch-

Fairy

Liquid !

A couple of my Christmas cards have just  arrived , nearly three weeks late. A black mark for the Post Office, sure, but no different from  other hold ups at  Christmas and New Year.

Like the parsnip hold up on Christmas Day when I was cooking the dinner.It happened when the newly scraped and washed parsnips were to be doused with olive oil and put in the oven to cook.

 

I reached out for what I thought was the olive oil  bottle and covered them. To my consternation the parsnips started to froth.

The bottle I had reached for was not olive oil.

It was Fairy Liquid.

Parsnips, of course. are not alone in frothing at Christmas. Human beings froth too…  frothing with fury, sometimes.  Like a young local mother I heard about through a letter requesting help  .

This is what she wrote:

 “I have  just spent the most infuriating Christmas with my mother-in-law. We had my husband’s parents and brother over for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and not only did she pass remarks on how I raise my children and how my tree looked `very stylish but not very festive`, she brought her own stuffing, pudding and gravy, even though I made it clear that I didn’t need anything.

“And before you say she may have been trying to help, she just brought enough for herself and her husband because he can `only eat food with really good ingredients`.

“ My husband thinks the whole thing is hilarious, as does his brother, and in a way I agree. I get great mileage telling my friends about her, but it is coming to the stage where I can’t be in the same room as her. How can I get my husband to stop treating his parents as the deciders of how we spend holidays and to stand up for me?”