Sitting in front of the fire, drinking organic cider, which is blush pink and tastes of very cold, slightly under-ripe Cox Orange Pippins. Gorgeous!

The fruit cake is still cooling, waiting to be fed weekly with a mix of port and brandy. It should be lovely by the beginning of February providing I wrap and store it properly; if not it will be rancid and even the prettiest icing job will rescue it (not that I think Ade will mind whether the icing is pretty or not – he would take substance over style any day…). It has made the house smell divine; even the cats are sniffing the air like a pair of furry Bisto kids.

Dinner was again a bit sketchy, partly due to me feeling rubbish and partly because I’m sticking to my guns regarding using up what I buy. Wanted to use up the remains of the filo pastry so made some “free form” tarts (for “free form” read “scrumpled up bits of pastry”) and filled them with well seasoned cherry tomatoes, half a jar of Jamie Oliver grilled peppers (well rinsed of oil - I think poor Mr Oliver would be horrified to have his luvly-jubbly peppers abused in such a way), a few slivers of sun dried tomatoes and the remains of the low fat brie scattered on top. Cooked at gas mark 7 for 15 minutes till golden. Scrumptious with a salad of Little Gem, radishes, celery, a chopped up apple and some sweet corn. I love sweet corn scattered in a salad. In France, salads frequently come served with sweet corn and it certainly makes a few limp leaves seem a bit more substantial.

Oh, all served with home pickled onions. As long as there are pickled onions in the house it still feels like Christmas.