Grow your own drugs for the Hairy Biker's Twelve Days of Christmas

Two festive frivolities to watch on BBC 2 tonight. First there's Grow You Own Drugs for Christmas at 8.00pm with ethnobotanist James Wong concocting a Victorian hangover cure (amongst other things)...


And then at 9.00pm it's The Hairy Bikers' Twelve Days of Christmas, in which Dave Myers and Si King create an array of seasonal dishes that reinterpret the classic Christmas song...

The Nation's Favourite Christmas Carol

The nation has spoken and chosen its favourite Christmas Carol, and it is.....?

You'll just have to wait until Christmas Day when the results of Classic FM's poll will be announced in a special live programme - The Nation’s Favourite Carol - presented by Howard Goodall on from 12pm to 3pm .

Sega's Greetings

Sega's Christmas tree. Ahh... Now that takes me back...

Jamie's Family Christmas

Channel 4 continues its festive season of seasonal shows based around their most popular presenters with Jamie's Family Christmas. There's a double dose tonight at 8.00pm and 8.30pm.


Over the course of the series he'll be treating us to recipes for his own Christmas turkey, Festive strudel, Roast vegetable mega-mix, Christmas spirit cocktail and Turkey con chili.

Christmas curry?

A friend of mine is shunning turkey with all the trimmings and having curry for Christmas instead. As he puts it, "I actually like Christmas. I just think that turkey is overrated. Plus, if you go for a free-range, ethically sourced one you can be paying £60 up. Just for something that tastes a bit like chicken but drier and blander."

However, if you're still sticking with turkey (as we are in our household this year) then here's something you can do with the leftover bird the next day, as an alternative to living off turkey sandwiches for a week!

Christmas Roast Turkey Curry

500g Roast turkey
1 tsp Ginger
1 tsp Lemon juice
1 tsp Chopped coriander Salt
½ tsp Garam masala
1/3 tsp Chili powder
½ tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Ground coriander
4 tbsp Cooking oil
1 Onion chopped
4 Garlic cloves chopped
¼ cup Tomato puree
1 tsp Ground cumin

Put the oil in a hot saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Fry for 7 minutes. In a bowl, mix together: the tomato puree, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder, garam masala and salt to form a thick paste. Tip the paste into the onion mixture and fry for half a minute. Stir in the turkey pieces and cook for 1 minute. Add 400ml of hot water from the kettle and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Mix in the ginger and the lemon juice.

What is Myrrh Anyway? Now on Facebook!

You can now follow my Christmas updates, as inspired by the book of the blog What is Myrrh Anyway? on Facebook. Do pop along and become a festive fan.

Twitter next...

Marks and Spencer and mulled wine

As I posted yesterday, the Green family went round to a neighbour's for mulled wine and mince pies - and very nice they were too, as was the company. The mulled wine that was served was from M&S, in the traditional warm-it-in-a-pan style but there was also a Mulled Wine Fizz Cocktail. Having road tested both, I can thoroughly recommend them.

The strange thing is I cannot find a link online to the M&S Mulled Wine Fizz Cocktail, not even through M&S Online - a real mystery! - but here's a link to the Aromatic Mulled Red Wine.

Enjoy!