When King Arthur celebrated Christmas at Carlisle, he ordered that all the knights and the other high-ranking guests should feast for ten days, starting on the 25th of December. Granted, they did things differently in those days, plus there was no refrigeration, vacuum packs and E numbers, but they were able to keep the food and drink flowing.

Things are done differently in our house. Peter does not like to see the mid-day meat reappearingagain. This means, we buy just enoughfor one meal and have something different at the next.

Althoughwe are not veggies, Peter dislikes handling raw meat from a hygienic stance. (Don't know how he would have survived the cave era).

A certain store has developed a forty five minute turkey (No, it does not mean the urkeyslive for three quarters of an hour only before being 'ready for the table' - I apologise for the euphemism). It means a turkey can be cooked in under an hour, plus thirty minutes extra 'resting' time before carving.

Peter looked unimpressed when I gave him this news. (He's just heard that most cases of e-coli at Christmas are caused by undercooking the fowl. The Earl of Bath, the present Earl's father, once said he did not like overcooked chicken because it was dry, but it's possible to cook a bird long enough to be safely eaten without drying it out. I invert the bird, then turn it over for the last half hour to crisp the breast skin).

But, to return to the 'jiffy' turkey, which is safe to eat, despite the short cooking time.Someone who's cooked and eaten said bird hasgiven it the thumbs down.Too dry and all that.

Whenwe lived in Fishguard our Christmas lunch came from the Gwaun Valley. Free range, plump and delicious, we had a chickenfor eleven years. Now I have a south Pembrokeshirechicken and very good it is, too. A little too large for us, I carve some of it up on Christmas morning and give a 'taste' to the grandchildren when they come visiting.

Stuffing is cooked separately (Peter's preference) but I put a lemonand a bunch ofthyme in the cavity.