The official instruction for today is BREAK, which I think means we are allowed a day off from our seasonal chores, so instead I will give you a recipe which I invented by mistake earlier this week when I’d been planning to do garlic bread, then remembered the oven was kaput. If you are not interested in serendipitous culinary discoveries then skip straight down to today’s tangentially-food-related song, which is a DOOZY.

I have no quantities for you here, because I made it up as I went along, but I can’t imagine it mattering how much of anything you use. And it’s almost all staples that you probably have in the house anyway, which makes it easy as well as delicious. I think I’m going to call it HOT SPROUT SALAD.

Ingredients

• Brussels sprouts
• Olive oil
• Chili flakes
• Garlic (or garlic paste)
• Grated parmesan
• Crushed pistachio kernels

Method

• Shred the sprouts – I grated them, but chopping them up finely would also work
• Heat the oil in a frying pan with the chili flakes and lots of black pepper for 1-2 minutes
• Add the garlic and the sprouts and cook until the sprouts have just started to char
• Take the pan off the heat and add the parmesan
• Stir and season to taste
• Serve topped with the pistachio kernels as a side-dish to almost anything

START READING AGAIN HERE We’ve had the Carpenters before, and we’ve had The Christmas Song before, but we’ve never combined the two, which is a shame because this is beautiful, but it’s also good news because it means we can have it for the first time today! I love Karen’s outfit here, even though if I were to wear it I would look like an actual Brussels sprout.