As if this year wasn’t running away with us fast enough already, ASDA has just revealed its Christmas food range for 2020.
It’s not even August and we’re already talking about the festive season, but if the treats and tipples making up ASDA’s Christmas range this year is anything to go by, then we’re definitely not complaining.
Finally, there’s something to look forward to.
If you’re the type of person who likes to plan well in advance, then you’re in luck because the UK supermarket chain has given shoppers a sneak peak into what they can expect to see on shelves later this year. From party and buffet foods, to a selection of main courses, desserts and even a cheese roulette, there’s certainly some real stand-outs to tuck into.
Fancy an early preview? Here’s just a few of ASDA’s festive feast treats coming in December.
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Main Courses & Sides
You’re not going to be stuck for choice this year.
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ASDA is spoiling us with a great selection of mains including an Easy Carve Boneless Turkey Centrepiece, a Vegan Turkey Joint, and Slow Cooked Beef Shin. Fans of last year’s best-selling 12-piece Pigs in Blanket Centrepiece will be pleased to hear that the retailer is bringing it back once again this year, along with a new Giant Pig in Blanket Sausage Roll too.
Other mains and sides in the range this year include a Cauliflower Cheese, Sweet Potato & Cranberry Wellington – which is described as “creamy, rich and hard to resist” – and a Christmas Dinner Parcel, which comes filled with turkey breast, wrapped around a classic pork, sage and onion stuffing, with chopped sprouts, lashings of smoked bacon and finished with a port glaze.
Can you just imagine how ace a ‘leftovers butty’ would taste with that?
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Desserts & Sweets
We’ve all got a ‘dessert hole’ in our stomachs, haven’t we?
Nothing tastes better than a dessert to finish off your Christmas dinner and this year, ASDA will be launching a Gingerbread Cheesecake, a Chocolate Orange Opera cake and some delicious Chocolate & Cherry Houses to name just a few.
The stand-outs here include a ‘Bruce the Brussel Sprout’ Cake, and Reindeer Ice Cream Lollies.
When it comes to sweets and confectionary, ASDA isn’t leaving anything out here as some some brand-new Spiced Clementine Fudge, Sour Cherry Nougat, and Spiced Orange & Triple Sec Chocolate Cookies are all to be expected.
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A new and improved recipe for their much-loved Salted Caramel Mince Pies are also rumoured too.
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Party & Buffet Food
A lot of food does get consumed during the festive season, but there’s always room for more and ASDA has outdone itself this year when it comes to party and buffet food.
The retailer will be launching Salmon Mac & Cheese Bites, Chicken & Stuffing Layered Pork Pies, a vegan Bao Bun Selection, and, what is by far the stand-out, Pigs on Fire – a new pigs in blanket-inspired dish with cuts of British prime pork blended with Carolina Reaper hot chilli, perched in a jalapeño, and then wrapped in streaky bacon.
Only for the spice lovers amongst us by the sounds of things.
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Cheese
What’s Christmas without a cheese board?
ASDA has really thought of it all this year and is set to offer everything from a simple but sublime British Farmhouse Cheese Stack, to a Cheese Roulette, yes a Cheese Roulette – which mixes both food and fun, with individually wrapped pieces of tangy cheese – to complete your feast.
Yum.
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Drinks
Back by popular demand, ASDA has confirmed the last year’s standout hit Mince Pie Gin Liqueur will be returning for 2020 and there’s bound to be plenty of people pretty pleased about that.
It’s a tipple definitely worth trying out.
If mince pies aren’t quite your bag though, some other new additions – Gingerbread Gin Liqueur and Cranberry & Clementine Gin – will also be hitting shelves this year too, so there’s plenty to choose from to say cheers to this December.
It hasn’t yet been confirmed when the 2020 festive food range will be arriving in ASDA stores and online, so you’ll need to keep your eyes peeled later on this year.
For more information, visit the ASDA website here.
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Gavin and Stacey will return with a 2024 Christmas special for its final episode
Danny Jones
After some pretty big rumblings earlier this year, it’s finally been confirmed that Gavin and Stacey will be returning for a Christmas special this year and what will be its last-ever episode.
The beloved British comedy last aired back in 2019 with their previous Christmas special and fans of the show have been crying out for more ever since.
Well, it turns out they’ll be getting just one more go around the block as co-creators James Corden and Ruth Jones revealed that they have now finished writing their third and final Xmas special which will tie a festive bow on the trio of series which started all the way back in 2007.
Sharing a picture of the script on social media, the pair wrote: “Some news… It’s official!!! We have finished writing the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey. See you on Christmas Day, BBC One. Love Ruth and James”.
However, what was actually going on was a bit of a red herring as she carefully chose to talk down any notions of another series but didn’t categorically dismiss the potential Christmas special.
In fact, she actually went on to add: “All I can say is, if there was something to say on that front, James [Corden] and I would happily announce it, we would.”
And that’s exactly what they’ve done. Well played, Nessa.
As for details surrounding the final chapter in the Gavin and Stacey story, we have very few details at this stage but fans of the iconic show will already be wondering how they might pick up from where certain threads left off.
Production companies Baby Cow, Corden’s Fulwell 73 and Jones’ Tidy Productions are all behind the special and, given the momentous occasion, it will likely have a primetime slot on the TV guide when it finally rolls around this holiday season.
So get your remotes, baubles and bhunas at the ready because Gavin and Stacey is coming back for one last time and it’s sure to be a TV event that people all across the UK will remember for years to come.
Featured Images — BBC/James Corden (via Instagram)
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Everton manager Sean Dyche randomly pops up in the music video for Blossoms’ new single – and he’s great
Danny Jones
Did anyone else think they’d ever see Sean Dyche make his acting debut in the role of a Northern crime boss in a silly little music video for the Blossoms?
No, us neither but that’s the bizarre alternate reality we’re living in, apparently.
Blossoms are currently working on the fifth studio album and have already released their lead single entitled, ‘To Do List (After The Break-Up)’, but now they have a new song out as well, with a rather amusing music video to go along with it and somehow Sean Dyche has found himself the star.
The Stockport band teased the curious collaboration in April, giving us just short glimpses of the Everton manager and former Burnley boss with very little explanation – all we know is that it looked funny and it was.
Dyche is still busy trying to finish the Premier League campaign as strong as possible after successfully navigating the Toffees to safety even in spite of their points deductions this season, but it sounds like keeping them up has given him enough time to moonlight as an actor.
Sending the indie five-piece on a mission to collect something of value (yes, that’s all the info we have at this point as the story is still to be continued), it looks like the Kettering-born coach has a larger role to play in whatever this narrative turns out to be.
Playing what can only be described as some kind of semi-Manc mafia figure on the hunt for a very valuable piece of art, i.e. a big giant gorilla statue – one that many Stopfordians spotted being lugged around various parts of the borough –
They also shared a little bit of BTS footage from the shoot for the music video last week. Some lovely head-bobbing and unassuming surroundings here:
As for the track itself, it’s a bit of stylistic change for the lads who’ve mastered their 80s-tinged indie formula over the past decade but it’s an absolute pop and is already stuck in our heads.
Revealing that they’ve collaborated with contemporary funk, disco and electronic icons Jungle on the track, it doesn’t take too long to hear the influences. Look forward to hearing it at Wythenshawe Park this summer.
You can watch the music video for ‘What Can I Say?’ and the ginger-goatee’d football manager extraordinaire in full character HERE.
He’s not the only footballing figure who’s made an entertainment crossover recently either.