Daily doors and funny food

As Christmas approaches, we at WTH Towers are busy darning our biggest stockings (in case anything falls out on Christmas morning). Some of us tend to be a bit humbuggy about the whole thing, so I’ve found some websites to get us all in the mood – including food, which always works.

Don’t wait up

Advent Calendars press the right buttons: they are in synch with the season, they have an air of mystery (as you wait to open the next door), and they surprise and delight us anew every 24 hours. How poetic!

The Westminster Libraries Advent Calendar has all these elements in spades. Colourful numbers are there already but, frustrating us deliciously, each number becomes a clickable link only at midnight on the relevant day.

Now I don’t want you getting in trouble with your mummies by staying awake until midnight every night. The morning will be time enough to discover the calendar’s daily delights, ranging from seasonal recipes to some very odd wintery customs (you’ll just have to wait to find out what they are).
It would be surprising if we had nothing to say about Christmas books. We have two other special pages on the Westminster Libraries website, one with favourite festive books for adults, and one with great Christmas books for children. Having had nothing to do with the choosing, I can say that they are both impressive lists – not just the usual suspects, although you will no doubt find some old favourites among the many new surprises.

Tiny Tim is there of course, but he is in company with Hercule Poirot, the inhabitants of discworld, and a navigationally-challenged wise man. If I were you I’d pop down to the library right now, and when you get back you’ll be ready for something to eat [cue next item].

Pork and apricots, anybody?

I don’t cook. I tried it once, but I didn’t really get on with it. So I eat out or stuff the microwave. But if you do cook, and if you accumulate odd combinations of leftover food, Recipe search can help.

It’s not just there to help you clear out your fridge. This web page, from Sainsbury’s, contains thousands of recipes for all occasions (sorry – a stray cliché got in there). The clever bit is that you can choose by course, cooking time, type of cooking, and several more options. And the really, really clever bit is that you can pile up your odds and ends of food on the kitchen table, bung them into the Recipe Search search box and, with a bit of luck, up will pop a dream meal.

Recipe search is just part of a much bigger website with ideas from the company, ideas from other users, advice on special diets, and a booze guide. Of course they would rather like you to go and buy all the food and drink from Sainsbury’s, but the commercial aspect is not oppressive, and the recipes work even if you buy the stuff elsewhere. Naturally I have not personally checked out the accuracy of the last statement – that would require me to cook!

(From the Gateway to websites, select "Home & Garden". Recipe search is under "Food & drink".)





Picture credit: kakisky/morguefile.com