Christmas with Jessie & Lennie

0:03Hello and Merry Christmas. We are here in my house on Christmas Eve getting ready for the big day and we wanted to do a special, special Table Manners with you, the listeners. So you're all invited to Christmas at Table Manners. How are you, Mum? A bit tired, ready? I feel like I've been a hamster on a wheel and I'm just coming to the end of it. Just stopping now. Is everything ready? No. Wrapped all the Christmas presents? No, and Sam is very weird about Christmas present wrapping. He wraps really well. He puts the same bloody album on and wraps and uses his feet, which actually sounds disgusting.

0:40Have you got your Christmas album? He plays that Charlie Brown one, which is amazing. The, like, jazz. Anyway, I've heard it so many times now. We heard it when the tree went up. We heard it when he made his mince pies. Like, we had it when the kids were, like, colouring in the other day. What's his favourite song? I mean, this is all, by the way, with us shouting at our children too, so don't worry, it's like not idyllic. So what's his favourite song? I mean, we've been... No, now we're going to sound like the Von Trapps. I've been getting my daughter, who is really good at the piano, and she's quite shy, so the piano's become like her thing, to learn a few things.

1:19And this was inspired by John Gregory Smith. So she is learning a few because I thought maybe we'd add that tradition to our house. Maybe not East 17, but have yourself a merry little Christmas. Any of the Phil Spector. I saw Mummy kissing Santa Claus. No, even though I do love that record. Me too. I know we're not really allowed to fight. Okay, I think it's fine. It's great. We like the song. No, what else? Oh, Last Christmas and my son. He can play Wham. No, he's very competitive with his big sister. Yeah. So I think there'll be a fight over Last Christmas. I think maybe just two is fine. Can she play it?

1:57She learned it last night. So let's see. Oh my goodness. Is it a bit on track? No. Can she do Jingle Bells? I think what I liked about the John Gregory Smith one was that it was East 17 and it wasn't even like stay another day it was when the thunder calls you so anyway so yeah we're gonna have a sing song around okay cheers merry christmas oh cheers darling happy christmas um darling are we going to have a little bit of a nipple to go with the champagne well of course it's table manners and i couldn't like you know we couldn't have a dry house and we couldn't have a an empty stomach so i've made something from our cookbook um that is a really easy puff pastry tart i don't make puff pastry um so you get the pre-rolled stuff and it's a stilton caramelized onion apple and walnut with thyme tart and it's very much like you just chop some things up how long did it take you half an hour okay so that's just waiting for us to eat in a minute however we asked loads of you to send in voice notes and videos and you were so generous so thank you for joining us this Christmas special.

3:00Should we start? Yes darling. Okay who's this? Hi Jessie and Lenny this is Cam from North London. Hi Cam. Have you ever or would you ever cook a bird in a bird in a bird for a Christmas lunch or any kind of lunch? Can't get my head around it. Have an amazing festive break. Thank you. Who does this? You can get them at the butchers. It's like a three bird roast. But which birds are they? Well I think you start with the biggest like a turkey and then it's a capon and then it's a chicken and they just put them all in. What's a capon? Capon's like a it's a cockerel isn't it? It's a male chicken I think but it's bigger than a chicken and people prefer it to turkey.

3:45I don't but sometimes I think they do turkey, duck and chicken and you have the three birds all cooked inside each other sometimes they do it like a roll no i'm fine you know what cam from london i'm all right i've already got like beef and pork within well we've got the beef stuffing inside the turkey yeah and then we've got the sausages it's all feeling quite sexually explicit this like i'm gonna eat a cock i'm not gonna eat oh my god please no no right okay um No, I won't do that, Cam. And I don't know, is this because you've been put under pressure by your family to do this? No, you can buy it already rolled, Cam.

4:26So you don't have to put your bird within a bird within a bird. A play within a play within a play. Okay, let's see. Andrew. Well, happy Christmas to you, Jessie and Lenny. Andrew here, one of your American expat listeners in London. I'm pleased to say that your Table Manage podcast was my gateway five years ago when I moved here. my gateway to all things British culture in terms of food and hospitality and all other things. So thank you for that. I thought I'd share my own Christmas tradition where I have made chicken pot pies for about 10 years on my own, which started as a family tradition back before I was born.

5:04Every Christmas Eve, we have the same chicken pot pie, a very simple pulled chicken that's been poached for several hours with sliced carrots and a really simple roux with a really good pastry top. It's very easy and very comforting. And I thought, why have I grown up just eating this once a year? It's so good. Why don't we make this like a whole month festive season thing? And so for about a decade now, I've made upwards of sometimes I think a dozen is my record, a dozen pot pies across the festive season for close colleagues, friends, students last week. And so I'm proud to say I'm on chicken pot pie number three.

5:41Happy to share the recipe if you'd like but just thanks and uh happy christmas to you both and thanks for table manners cheers well it sounds delicious not the most christmasy i mean i feel like in my family we have a version of a chicken pie like every week because it's what my kids will eat yes so by christmas eve it's a great idea because i guess it's kind of easy but then i don't necessarily want to be dealing with another bird the day before i'm dealing with the big one but i wouldn't mind andrew as my friend no you can bring one around yeah and i just think actually pies are like comforting gorgeous yeah they're delicious but i guess you're kind of you're doing it the day before not with your leftovers andrew so what are you doing with your leftovers he's poaching fresh chicken i know but then what's he gonna do with his turkey because then that's when i'd make a chicken pie or a turkey pie i think he's doing it as a generous thing to do for people to eat during the festive season and a pie is probably quite good when you're drinking a lot i think it's a really nice idea and i think anyone that's wanting to make a pot pie for anyone they love is a gorgeous human being so merry christmas andrew do you want to press one let me have a look down This is Tom from Ireland.

7:00What is your most unusual Christmas tradition? I don't think we have that unusual because we're kind of not really supposed to do it as big as we do. I go big. Go big on the tree. I always remember our tradition when we were younger, we put on the vinyl of Feed the World. Yeah. Let them know it's Christmas time. What was it? Live Aid? No, no. What was it? Was it Live Aid? Feed the World, yeah. Band-Aid. Band-Aid. It was Band-Aid. Feed the World. And we put that on, on the vinyl. Yeah. And do our... And I did have a... I actually haven't heard that yet. I did have a vinyl Christmas album that was all different, a compilation.

7:41We used to put that on. Do you remember? I don't think that's unusual, is it? When we decorated the tree. No. So we're pretty orthodox, I feel. But we have had other people that have given us brilliant Christmas traditions. Fine. We've already talked about John Gregory Smith's... Singing. Singing. East 17. East 17. sophie ellis bexters was the conga they do like a christmas tree wasn't no it was with the christmas pudding wasn't it where they like do a conga with the christmas pudding i can't remember forgot to do that last year that we could still do that yeah i think people have very weird traditions about when they open their presents so children are allowed to open their stockings in the morning but not allowed to open their presents till tea time but i mean like which parent has a handle on that because I don't know I know that by the time you get to like tree presents and the kids are literally like where's the next one and you end up having a fight with your children saying you're so ungrateful don't you think there's always a debate about when you eat your Christmas dinner or lunch I mean I don't like Christmas dinner too late John Gregory Smith eats at nine I couldn't wait that long but we eat about four don't we I think the majority of people eat around three or four right yeah because once you've had all the chocolates out of your christmas stocking the children aren't really ready we do have a tradition where we have this quite sweet but silly advent calendar that's like got drawers look yeah and you have and it's charming and you do a treasure hunt so we realized when i bought it because i impulsively buy things a lot that it couldn't fit three coins in it for our three children so it was useless so the only thing we could put in there was a note so then we started doing like a treasure hunt on every day and this year we've introduced riddles now my middle child is well into it so they have to like locate and sometimes they'll get a chocolate sometimes they'll get a carrot sometimes they'll get a satsuma but they have to go and find it but we have messed it up for ourselves it's kind of like our version of Elf on the Shelf.

9:45Like it's kind of taxing, but quite fun. So they're all going to be like, riddle me this. They'll be giving out 24 different riddles on Christmas dates. Let's do another one. Okay, who are we going to? Jesse, Lenny, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. Could you possibly, do me a favour, girls, and tell me good mulled wine recipe that I could knock up nice and quick for my guests as they turn up. I've got fizz in the fridge, but I do love a mulled wine at this time of year. What's going in it? Any tips? Gratefully received. Love to you all. You know I adore you. From me, Zoe. Why is she the nicest woman in the world?

10:24I love Zoe Ball and that's so sweet that you... Do you love mulled wine? I do. I'll tell you what happened at the winter fair at the school. This is very motherland. Oh, you didn't drink too much mulled wine? Me and my girlfriends have gone out. We were trying to be youthful. we went to Fabric for the first time in about 15 years so we went and we were having a great time producer Alice was there Luca on socials was there we were having a great time we were all like patting ourselves were you 15 years older than most people no actually okay actually no and that really reassured us okay we felt really good about us what first thing I did was go to the pizza stand Fabric now has pizza by the way okay fabulous what did you wear wore strappy top and jeans and trainers obviously anyway did that fabric had a bit of a late night the next day was the winter fair at the school and I was feeling a little squiffy and there was mulled wine all for a good cause had the first one hit the spot I'm telling you no one needs that second mulled wine that is my gift to you this Christmas don't go for the second mulled wine the first one is gorgeous, Christmassy, cosy.

11:35Second one, you're already getting the hangover on the second sip. See, I love it. I try two and see where you go. Okay, because I like the cinnamon stick in it. Okay, so to answer Zoe's question, how would you do your mulled wine? Cheap red wine? Cheap red wine. Because it's going to be cooked? Some sugar, some brandy in it. A little, maybe a little splash, just to give it a bit of a pet. Cloves into the orange. Orange peel, cinnamon sticks. Orange juice. Fresh orange juice. I never put orange juice in. You don't dilute the alcohol, darling. I think it looks pretty anyway, having the whole orange in with the cloves.

12:15It's kind of like when you do the bread sauce with the onions and the cloves. I've never done it like that. I just put the cloves in and peel some orange peel in it so the zest comes out. I have to say, I think the best thing about mob wine is the smell rather than the actual taste. The smell is delicious. I think I saw somebody on Instagram had on their hob for like the whole since like Thanksgiving and throughout Christmas just had like oranges with cloves and cinnamon boiling on her hob. Like just so she could like. It's like the most expensive scented candle. That's why you want to make the red cabbage because it makes your house smell nice.

12:55Yeah, I think more wine and red cabbage do the same thing. thank you Zoe Milan from Belgium Hi Jesse Hi Lenny this is Milan from Belgium and I just want to say thank you for all the joy you guys have been spreading since multiple years I'm one of your early listeners and I've learned a lot thanks to your podcast and since you guys always talk about nostalgic smells and flavours to me Christmas music is part of the nostalgic Christmas feelings Jesse we were wondering do you think Christmas music might be in the pipeline? And if so, a small suggestion. Do you think you can maybe record angels in the snow by Cher?

13:37Which Cher? I mean, it is the Christmas banger the world needs. And I think some lemon chicken soup might just steal the deal. Okay, firstly, Milan. What house is that? Milan did like a tour of his house. How gorgeous is that house? The house is fabulous. Maybe we should all move to Belgium. Crikey, I want to... Milan, not only, if you're listening to this and you're not watching on the YouTube, I think you should go on the YouTube to see this. Milan starts with our cookbook on his sofa with beautiful artwork behind and gets up and the camera person follows backwards. Wow, that was stunning. That was stunning.

14:15He must be a designer or something. So Milan is asking about music. Well, Jessie. I, it's really funny. On my new record, I have a song that doesn't talk about Christmas. It talks about something kind of the opposite of Christmas. What? But it sounds like a Christmas song. And my manager said, you know what, maybe could you instead of saying summers, can you say Christmas? And I was like, yeah, I can't. But maybe that would have been my Christmas song. Wow. And would I do a Christmas song? I mean, I'd have to write a really good one to be deserving to enter into that world because there are some shockers.

14:55And there's some great ones. There's some great ones. And also like more current ones. Ariana Grande's Santa Tell Me. What about Mariah Carey? That's kind of vintage now. But yeah, it's amazing. Leonie Lewis's one is amazing. so I oh Cher's recent one DJ play that Christmas song I think is brilliant I don't know this other Cher Angels one I've done believe maybe you should introduce that one maybe I'll do Angels in the Stone darling where do you think Cher has her Christmas tree do you think that's in her bedroom it's in her table Benny in LA don't say it's Benny Blanco Jessie Lenny tell me how to make the perfect rose dinner hi Benny God bless you Benny Just keep on coming back for more.

15:40He looks like he's just got up, Jess. He always looks like that. Benny notoriously hates roast dinner. Why? Hates it, says it's overrated, doesn't get it. So I'm interested why you want to know how to make it, Benny. We'll have to give you a Lenny or Jessie roast. Yeah, we'll do a roast for him. This is too long to go into. Yeah. But the perfect roast dinner must have the perfect roast potatoes. And I have not perfected my roast potatoes. Americans are not big on roast potatoes. I don't think they do them. No, they barely do them. They have mashed potatoes. They have French fries. They might even have sauté, but not a proper roast potato.

16:18Benny, you will come over and we will feed you a good roast dinner. But it's a lot. It's a lot. He needs a Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes and good gravy. I know he will hate it. And red cabbage? Maybe he'll like the red cabbage. Jessie, am I in charge of potatoes this year? Yes. Okay, fine. And the parsnips? Yes. Anything else? You have to bring a cheese for the cheese board. Oh, I had a fab cheese last night. It was a Swiss cheese and the outside of the cheese is rose petals. And that's the whole, and it flavours. Do you love a rose petal? No, it was a Johnny and Jill's and they bought it from, I'll get it from McFarlane's.

16:58It's delicious Swiss cheese. Oh, let's see Frankie in Lewisham because she's near here. Hi, my name's Frankie and I'm from Lewisham. And I'm just looking at table runners, listening to your podcast and thinking, I wonder how you do your table at Christmas. Is there regular things that have become tradition that you do to dress the table or do you redo it depending on trends and stuff? I'd love to know. Thank you. Bye bye. Is this called tablescaping? I think a table runner is tablescaping. OK, we don't have a runner here, do we? No. I am going to bring those lovely beaded mats that we were given about four years ago.

17:38Why? Because they're nice for your hot plates and you don't have enough things to put hot food on. The problem with my table, Frankie, well, it's custom made, but it does wobble. It wobbles. Yeah, it's been a nightmare, to be honest. It's been a nightmare. It wobbles. We've also got 13 people around my table. It'll be all right. Yeah, but what I'm saying to Frankie is that I don't have enough space to tablescape it because the plates are taking up too much space and the condiments. I'll have some candles which you'll rethink because you'll end up like accidentally burning yourself when you're going for the bread sauce.

18:11But I'm... I think you need to have it on the counter, darling. Yeah, so I think I'm going to do more buffet counter for the food and then maybe I could tablescape it. Yeah. Because I do appreciate a tablescape. I also find people that can tablescape are psychopaths. because how do you have time to do that when there's so much other stuff to do and I think the food is the most important thing so I don't never trust somebody that does a name tag yeah I am buying you serving spoons this year so that we don't have to pick up our potatoes with our hands or forks not thank you yes and your brother's very good at doing the table maybe you should allocate him that job no I like him washing up that's more helpful for me all right then um yeah Yeah, but Frankie, yeah, I'd love to be that gal, but I'm not.

19:03Jessie, I have got red linen napkins. I remember, Mum, you used to have a... I've got my lovely gloves. You'd have this little thing that was quite adorable. It was like fairy lights with a candle. Do you remember? Yeah. I used to like those little candles and the angels on the top. When you put the candles, they're little tea lights, but the heat makes the angels spin round. Shall I try and find one for you? The kids would like that. It'd be very distracting, won't it? Yeah. But sure. The spinning angels. The thing is, Frankie, I feel like candlelight, you can't go wrong. It always looks gorgeous.

19:38Yeah. It's just really a pain in the arse if it's on the table. Too many, because if you... I don't know how big you're... And the kids will burn themselves. I've got my plastic ones. No, I can't do... I love those. I can't do battery operated tea lights. No, I can't. Even Aris, our friend Aris, who's very stylish, bought those. I think we all bought them in, a lady was selling them when we were in Skopalos. I would love to know everyone else's opinion on the tablescape. Maybe I've been mean. But Frankie, I think don't worry. Your food is your tablescape and some nice napkins. This is from Cheryl.

20:14Hi, Jessie, it's Cheryl. I hope you don't mind me asking, but I'm just looking for some feedback or your opinion on something. so I'll be doing the roast potatoes this Christmas and I recently saw a video where a lady was explaining that she'd went through all kinds of different fats to cook them in and she recommends that you snap the potatoes instead of cutting them then parboil them and then add wait for it clotted cream to cook them in. So I was wondering if you'd heard about that and if you have what your opinion is, because I'm planning on trying it. Thank you. Merry Christmas to all. Merry Christmas, Cheryl.

21:00I love Cheryl. You know when you get a voice note from Cheryl? Yeah, you know who it is. You know who it is. I don't know how you'd snap a potato. That is the maddest thing I've ever heard. You'd need to be a Tarzan. But you can get the jagged edges from like... To parboiling them. Hey, this person is extra. Cheryl, forget the snack. I think you'd have to do weight training to do that. Because they're small. It's kind of hard. How would you snack it? You're following the wrong food influences, Cheryl. That's what I'm telling you. That's my gift to you. I haven't tried. I've never cooked with goose fat.

21:35But I did see it in M &S yesterday. But you've got such a strong opinion on not cooking with it, Mum. You just kind of prefer olive oil. That's mad. My Greek olive oil. Anyway. Anyway. um i well it's too late now but i would do a trial run with the clotted cream right someone here i'm squinting that you know hello lenny and jesse jesse and lenny my beautiful table manners queens it's kadif here and i just wanted to send you a message to say seasons greetings and a merry christmas now i've got a request a little question for you is it okay to serve yorkshire puddings with Christmas dinner? I'm not quite sure.

22:13And if so, should you make them yourself or store by them? This is a burning question I've been wanting to ask for years now and I think you can help me. So let me know. Merry Christmas. Hi, Kadif. If you like Yorkshire puddings and people have them with their roast chicken, I've noticed. Why shouldn't you have it with your Christmas dinner? If you like it, have it. And I think the only thing that's going to be a problem is oven space. Yeah. Like, that's the only issue. I definitely think that you should buy them. Buy them. Aunt Bessie's are fine. Yeah, they're fine. Also, like... There's so many other things on the plate, you just want them to hold the gravy, I think.

22:53I think crack on, Kadif. Yeah. Kadif has really good Christmases with all his family, and I think, if I remember rightly, Kadif is on, like, cocktail duty, and he's like the fun uncle that gives everyone all massive hangovers the next day. Merry Christmas, Kadif. Let's go for Sam and New Cross. I wonder who that could be. All right, this is a very important question. Well, it is for me anyway. Who this Christmas is going to make the red cabbage? Is it going to be you or is it going to be Lenny? And in your personal opinion, who makes the finest red cabbage? Right. Okay. I think my red cabbage is very good.

23:37This is my husband, by the way. People that don't know, that's my husband. I did read a recipe this weekend of red cabbage cooked in Ribena. They use a whole bottle. It was in the Sunday Times. That's madness. And they said it was amazing. And you cook it with a whole bottle of Ribena, the whole red cabbage. and they said it was absolutely delicious. A whole lot of undiluted... Yeah. What? And so we'll all just go to the dentist for New Year? Well, I don't know. I think my red cabbage is great. You want to cook it this year, only so your house smells nice. Your red cabbage is great. It's in the cookbook.

24:12I go buy that red cabbage. I think I add more butter than you. Okay, so it's really... So you're really cooking my red cabbage. I'm inspired by you, Lenny, but it's time to hand over. All right, fine. You do it. And yeah, I'm doing it. Thanks, Sam and Newcross. And what are you doing, Sam? Fuck all. Alice in Ramsgate. Hi, Jessie and Lenny. My name's Alice and I'm from Ramsgate. Hi, Alice. I absolutely love your podcast. My question is, are you a Christmas Day person or a Boxing Day person? Personally, I just think there's way less pressure around Boxing Day and it's kind of carte blanche to stay in your pyjamas, eat whatever you want, including a turkey curry and just watch films.

24:58So I weirdly look forward to Boxing Day more than Christmas Day. Interested to know your thoughts. Thank you, Alice in Ramsgate. I actually, you know what? We kind of started doing a tradition that then we stopped. Having a party on Boxing Day. Did we? Yeah, we did for a while. That's madness. Why would you do that? Because you have leftovers and everyone loves the leftovers and you have a trifle, which you can't eat the day before because you're too full. I really like Boxing Day. I like the races on Boxing Day. I'm ready to get rid of all my decorations, though, by like the 27th. I'm like, get out of my house.

25:35Really? Christmas, you're dead to me for another year. That's because you start in November, darling. Yeah, maybe. But we used to go to the races on Boxing Day in Kempton Park. Love it. and I really wanted to take the kids there why can't we go this year? because Sam may be starting a new tradition of? we're going to Millwall match, the Millwall match which is down the road no one likes them and they don't care well but like there's a family enclosure and a load of people are going and that feels a bit easier than getting to Kempton Park but I do like Boxing Day, I think maybe it was more fun when you were younger to play with all your toys.

26:19Usually now it's just cleaning up. I had the flu on Boxing Day a few years ago. We were all ill. We were all ill. I couldn't move. I think I was just spent. I think Boxing Day has become less fun for me. But I don't know. I'm interested. Does anybody else have Boxing Day traditions? Do you not have Boxing Day? I have Nigella's gammon cooked in coat. Luca, who works on the show, So his tradition is Nigella's gammon in Coca-Cola. If you cook a gammon in Coke, why can't you cook a red cabbage and Ribena? Yeah, fair enough. Thanks, Alice. Let's see. Lola. Hi, Jessie and Lenny. This is Lola from Walthamstow.

27:00I just wondered, what is the best Christmas game you've ever played or what's the best Christmas game that gets everybody involved at Christmas? That's such a good question, Lola. We don't really have one, do we? We're so rubbish Why are you doing a Christmas special? I always like charades I saw at Din Tai Fung the other day A family had the post-it notes on their head Whilst they were like They were like with young children And they were playing a game in Din Tai Fung Which is the dim sum place And I thought that is quite fun That they're doing that in a restaurant Well why don't we do who am I?

27:37Who am I? I did buy something that is a bit plasticky What? The one that you hang in the doorway and you have to catch the things. They drop without you knowing. What things? And you have to do reflexes. Have you seen that, anybody? No, what things? It looks like a coat hanger and it's got like five or six poles and you turn it on and they drop at different times. You don't know which one's going to drop and it's about your reflexes. So that's what I'm going to bring out on Christmas Day. I remember we used to go to Tess, when we went to Tess's. Did you ever go to Tess's and we did a quiz? and you had to be in teams that's such a good question and I wonder whether I mean there's so many good games now maybe we should create a game oh good luck Lily yeah I mean that would be great wouldn't it should we create the new Cards Against Humanity and become millionaires yeah okay fab that would be our news resolution does anyone play games here?

28:33there is a really good game that we play that your family might like okay can you get on the mic out yeah okay producer Alice is coming in to tell us her family's game so i have a really good game where you have two teams yeah one team in one room one team in the other room and you come up with a word say really simply like cat yeah and you tell the other team yeah our word rhymes with matt and then they have to come in and act out all the words that rhyme with that till they find your word that's good for children isn't it yeah yeah and then if they come in and they act out sat they can come in pairs on their own you're like no boo and they have to do it until they get your word.

29:12Oh, that's good. Who taught you that one? That was like an old family game. That is a good one. I think it's called Dumb Crambo. What? I don't know why. Very good. Names. And then Luca is doing Rummy Cup. No, that's a game that you buy. Yeah, but they're funny old names, aren't they? Do you remember Gaga's favourite? Kaluki. OK, let's go to Nathan in Carlisle. Hey up, Jessie and Lenny. I need your help fixing my family's biggest Christmas problem. I'm going home for Christmas this year and every year we end up with five different puddings on the table and there's always so much left over. So what pudding are you guys making this year that tailors to everybody?

29:49Oh, Nathan, you're quite sassy. I like you. Nathan looks like, Nathan does like radio or like TV presenting. Nathan, I find pudding the least exciting bit of Christmas. Do you? Yeah. It's my favourite. Christmas pudding, I love. I love. Me too. But I do... Brandy butter or cream? Or Bailey's cream? Not brandy butter. Disgusting. Bailey's cream. Me too. Like brandy cream. I do think that, because everyone wants to bring something, which is very sweet, but... Well, this year you've created a new tradition. What have I done? Everyone's got to bring a cheese that they like. Yeah, that's quite good.

30:28But pudding, I do agree with you. It's like too much, isn't it? I love trifle. Trifle is always on ours. And my brother-in-law is doing it this year. I always think a chocolate mousse is quite a good one because it's light I'm ready for chocolates, the box of chocolates, the Ferrero Rocher with my Baileys Okay, fair enough But I think Christmas pudding is incredibly divisive, isn't it? Because people don't really like it I love it You only eat it once a year Bon Natale from Melbourne, Australia Our Christmas is one that we spend with family and friends Around the table, eating, drinking, laughing, having fun My tradition is always to host Boxing Day where I'll pop a glazed ham on the barbecue, lots of prawns, lots of seafood, always a turkey, lots of beautiful salads and sides for family to share.

31:22We go out onto the deck and we just spend the day together laughing, drinking, having fun. Thank you for your podcast. It brings me joy. Thank you for what you've given us and I I look forward to listening again in 2026. Happy New Year. Bon Natale from Australia. She sounds like she's in Neighbours. What does Bon Natale mean? Happy Christmas in Italian. Oh, okay. Bon Natale. Does it? Yes. Why don't you trust me on that one? Oh, sorry, she was in Australia. I'm a bit of a linguist, darling. Okay, oh yeah, we found that out in Paris.

32:05Mina, I love you and your tradition Do you think she is in Neighbours? Maybe we should all move to Australia Because Just have that seafood on the barbie Oh my god, that sounds heaven I know Just out on the terrace in the sun Seafood on the barbie That would be gorgeous I think Home and Away are going to call you up And say we need a cameo from Wendy Jessie, can you get a gig in Australia next Christmas, darling? I know, that's what I'm thinking. We'll do podcasts there. On the dick. On the dick. I love the idea of a glazed hem. A glazed hem on the dick. I'm not taking the piss out of your accent.

32:41I just love your accent. And I love the idea of your Boxing Day. I think it's better than our miserable bloody, going to Millwall when you're doing a bloody barbecue, Mina. I think you've got the right idea. Oh, I love Mina. Let's go to Lucy in London. Hi, Jessie. Hi, Lenny. I'm hosting Christmas this year for the first time which is really exciting but my current concern is I have a really small oven and I'm worried that not everything is going to be able to fit in the oven and be cooked at the same time to serve so is there any dishes that you guys know that I can do on the hob instead of the oven or do you have any of your best tips and tricks on how to make oven space work best at Christmas?

33:23Wow okay darling John Gregory Smith cooked his turkey the day before. Which I'm still not sure about. No, I think it's okay. He carved it up. Okay, Lucy, this isn't going to help you this Christmas because this is Christmas Eve. Yeah. However, I think you can do loads of things and freeze them and then you can reheat them on the hob. So I would do your red cabbage ahead of time. Gravy. And then you put it in a Ziploc bag and flatten it down. So it's almost like putting a sheet of food into your freezer. You can do extra gravy. You can do, um, bread sauce. No, I wouldn't do bread sauce. I do your stuffing.

34:06Look, I would also delegate. I would ask somebody else to maybe bring the roast potatoes like I'm going to do with my mum. My, she's doing the parsnips. Somebody else is doing the carrots. I think you are still hosting and cooking Christmas dinner if you're doing the turkey and a lot of the trimmings, but you don't have to do it all. And the small oven is the most annoying thing in the world. On the hob, yeah, you could reheat your cabbage. You could do not oven roasted carrots and you could just kind of glaze them in butter and sugar and a bit of lemon zest, orange zest. Yeah, just do that in your frying pan, yeah.

34:40They don't need to be roasted. Brussels sprouts you could steam and then you could maybe do in a pan. Like if you wanted to kind of make them a bit more buttery, you could fry them up. Well, you'd never roast a sprout, would you? Yeah, we have it in our cookbook. Oh, I love a roasted sprout. There you go. You can do a lot of the kind of sides. Look, you're going to need the oven for the roast potatoes, the parsnips. Or my friend does a parsnip puree. So you could do that instead. The bread sauce can go on the hob. It's a bugger. But also remember, your turkey needs to rest. So you can always reheat.

35:13So you could do your roast potatoes and your roast carrots and parsnips the day before. And then you could reheat. Is that a weird idea? You're becoming a food agony aunt. Yeah, I am. but I guess this is what this episode is. Hi, Jesse. Hi, Lenny. My name is Mikey Garcia. I'm a longtime listener, first time caller. My question for the both of you, if you could create a holiday cocktail that's designed by you, that represents who you are as a person, what would be in it? What's its name? You know, I'm going to give you guys some ideas. Maybe what's your pleasure spritz? These lips margarita? Or my personal favorite, the Freak Me Now Dirty Martini.

35:53anyways love your podcast big fan um and always remember Feliz Navidad Norman sung that yes Mikey oh you really do listen go on give the listeners a Feliz Navidad Feliz Navidad you sound like you've had a stroke just so you know shut up I did Spanish GCSE Oh, here we go. Yeah. Bon Natale. Yeah, bon, bon. Oh, shut up. Freulichweinheit. Oh, God. For our German listeners. I don't think we've got any. Joyeux Noël. Or Happy Christmas. Merry Krimbo. Merry Krimbo for Down Under. Okay, so Mikey, that was really fab. Thank you for the three cocktails for me. and I think Lenny's would be... It's Christmas Darling.

36:49Oh. It's a Christmas Darling Cosmo. I mean, how would you make it more Christmassy a Cosmo? I'd just stick a piece of cinnamon stick on the top. Would that work? No. Not really. Star anise. Star anise. Star anise. That's a good idea, Al. Do you think? Yeah. Maybe we get an ouzo with a star anise in it because it's all kind of... When do you ever drink ouzo? Never. So let's not start. I'm being imaginative. You know what? We did cocktails. We tried to make vermouth happen for our guests at a Christmas drinks party. Why? Because we have a vermouth bar in Nunhead, which is so charming and brilliant.

37:29And they make a lethal dirty martini as well. And we went in there and I think me and Sam had had a vermouth at like Mountain, the restaurant, Thomas Parry's restaurant. We were like, are we going to make vermouth happen this Christmas? So we were like, we're going to give people vermouth. nobody drank it so we still have so much vermouth so I love vermouth me too but I guess I do something to use the vermouth I've also very luckily on my rider I've put you put ridiculous things sometimes on your rider things okay so not ridiculous but I have like a bottle of Bollinger or Don Julio 1942 what is Don Julio it's a very overpriced tequila that I don't want to buy but if somebody else wants to buy it for me on my rider sure I've now got like six bottles of it so I think everyone's going to have to just drink neat tequila but yeah I need to use up my vermouth so I probably do some kind of negroni Laura Jackson does one with like um a cherry in it um like cherry syrup which looks really lovely and so that sounds really delicious I like a champagne cocktail at Christmas I could have a champagne kisses yeah champagne kisses cocktail okay and you could put a cherry in that Thank you, Mikey.

38:37That was great. Mum, would you like a nibble of a Christmas tart that I've made? Yeah, delicious, darling. I'm sorry, this is a great tart. How did you pick yours up? Mine's a bit... Just kind of shoving it in. Shoving it in? Can't even get it up. As the actress said to the picture. Calm down.

38:57Mmm. Delicious. Delicious, yeah. What language...

39:06Oh, God. Do you want to do a cracker? Go on Oh What is it? What is it? It's a high end It's a Seifel Tower Mum it's a nail clipper Yeah sure Seifel Tower I'm still in Paris darling Let's do the motto I'll do the joke Do the joke Oh, they haven't got... Oh, they've got... Finish this song. Okay. Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day... You gave it away. That's it. True or false, the first Christmas crackers were made in the UK? True, because I've never seen one in America. True? Well, it doesn't say the... Oh. Oh, wait. It doesn't say the word, whether it is. Right. Joke. What falls but never gets hurt?

40:04is it a joke yeah snow that's not a joke that's a riddle who am i that in my i don't get that that is not funny is that funny that's shit merry christmas everyone we'll see you next week for a new year's eve episode don't get too tired enjoy your wrapping go and sit down now and have a nice Bailey's and watch a Christmas film and relax before the big day. Merry Christmas everyone and thank you so much to everyone who sent in messages and videos. We love hearing from you. You're the most gorgeous people and we hope you all have a very very special day.

41:01Thank you.