The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater: Read Along Thread 2

[Dillidilly]

Here's our new thread!

I'm having such problems with the site, please could someone post a link to the old thread for me?

[HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule]

Christmas Chronicles Thread 1

🎄🎄🎄

[Dillidilly]

Thanks so much!

[HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule]

Thank you for this lovely, cosy read-along!💐

[Dillidilly]

I'm so pleased it's turned out so well!
Thank you for all your lovely contributions x

[lucysmam]

Morning! I'm placemarking so I don't lose you all.

I plan to read this week's entries after work this afternoon, with a cuppa, before the girls get home

[ExcessiveIyDisorganised]

Thanks for the new thread, looking forward to continuing to read together

[Dillidilly]

19 NOVEMBER
Planting bulbs and a lamb boulangere

[Geamhradh]

Placemarking.
I may finally get round to planting my bulbs this weekend!

[footchewer]

@Savemesome - I've set an apricotty calendar date for Sat 18 Dec - a week before Christmas day!

@Herecomesthesun, thank you so much for the sloe gin links, and that is a seriously stylish way to finish a thread.

I guess this is just one of those posts which makes no sense to 99% of the people who read it! Never mind ...

[Claudethecat]

Morning! I made the sausage, leek and beans dish last night. Taking on board what others have said I put less liquid in and more seasoning. It was delicious!

Looking forward to the drink along on 18th!

[Claudethecat]

I have loads of bulbs to plant too, so I think I will do them over the next few days.

[herecomesthsun]

John Whaite's cinnamon and marzipan bans

might possibly make these

[herecomesthsun]

oops buns not bans

[StormyCornishSeas]

Shameless placemark

I really want to try yesterdays salmon recipe. It's the sort of dish we eat a lot of but want to mix it up and that recipe would be perfect

[HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule]

@StormyCornishSeas yes it’s the same for us - we eat a lot of this sort of food (except for the things like cranberry sauce stuffing balls and marmalade toad in the hole...not really our thing for day-to-day eating, although I have to say that I’m actually enjoying having more Christmassy takes on food earlier in the season thanks to Nigel) but here and there I like making slightly different dishes from what we usually have, even if it’s just a little tweak. Makes things more interesting, mixes it up a little.

We just had lamb leg last weekend so I won’t be making the lamb boulangère today. Shame as I really like it!

I was thinking yesterday that I really should make the effort to comment more on what Nigel says in his journals rather than just the recipes...

I definitely agree with him that winter gardens hold a spell all their own. I loved his description of going out into the crisp cold of a morning with his coffee and being invigorated. I might try it some mornings and go out to the front of the house where we have a glorious view over the hills complete with farms, horses, and a Victorian viaduct to the side which adds so much drama with its beautiful arches. We don’t have a back garden, we just have a tiny back yard (which I optimistically call the courtyard). It never freezes over because the water/drainage system runs under it which is very practical for day-to-day life but does mean we don’t get the romance of settled snow and frosts. However to the front it’s a different story and watching the landscape change through the seasons is one of my favourite things. I can’t wait for the magic of frost and snow!! ❄️ ❄️ ❄️

Going back to winter gardens, I love it when the hedges and spider webs (or maybe caterpillar? I can’t remember for certain what they are) are heavy with frost - the silk threads laden with pearls, the branches and leaves edged with jagged crystals - it looks like a miniature fairytale world; Perfection! Used to thrill me every day as I walked the girls to school and back.

We’re going to Aldi today to do our monthly shop - I’m going to skim over the recipes coming up in the book to ensure I have as many ingredients as possible. I’ll also buy some bulbs to plant out in the pots at the back of the house. It’s really true, I think, what they say about gardening/growing things - there is something very grounding about watching life happen on a small scale: seeds, new life, growth and greenery, then the dying back, which after the joys of spring and summer can feel a little bit sad but also gives so much promise of things to come.

[GlumyGloomer]

Thanks for the new thread

[Whatliesbeneath707]

Thanks Dilly.
It’s actually starting to feel a bit Christmas like in the “outside world” now. Christmas lights were switched on this week 🎄

[FireworkParrot]

There you are!

I liked the description of the blast of cold air being invigorating too. I definitely need to do more in the garden, I'm a bit at a loss with it as we're in a new house and the garden is very bare but we're trying to decide whether we extend the house so don't want to do too much to the garden at the moment. I think planting some bulbs would be good though and a cheap way of adding some colour for the spring.

[ExcessiveIyDisorganised]

Nigel has reminded me I bought some bulbs about a month ago and haven't planted them yet, well done Nigel. I must get up to my allotment this weekend too.

I bought ingredients for Christmas Pudding today after sneaking a perk forwards in the book.

I agree too about frosty mornings, we have a nice view from the front of the house too so I often fling open the front door for a peek and maybe a photo when I first get up, we face SE so the sun rises from that direction.

[Dillidilly]

20 NOVEMBER-ISH. STIR-UP SUNDAY
A shining star. A pudding aflame

[footchewer]

We're going to observe that chapter tomorrow on Stir-up Sunday rather than today.

Bonkers busy in our house this weekend but am going to try to squeeze in Xmas Pud making with the kids tomorrow evening; it was so good last year! Currently trying to remember which recipe I used; I think it was a hybrid of Nigel's and Nigella Lawson's. I remember Pedro Ximinez sherry going in at one point; by sheer good luck I spotted some in the supermarket last weekend so am armed and ready.

[MarisPiper92]

I won't be making any as I still have two puddings left over from last year, but I can absolutely recommend the first of Nigel's two recipes (haven't tried the second). It's moister and lighter than most shop-bought ones, it's completely lush.

[Dillidilly]

I too thought it was called Stir-Up Sunday because of stirring the pudding! I'm sure that's what I was told as a child...how interesting to read the real reason behind the name

[ExcessiveIyDisorganised]

I use Nigel's first recipe but with whatever dried fruit we have in and sherry because we always have that in for cooking but never have brandy (I feed the cake with sherry too). So I have got sultanas, dried cranberries, mixed peel and glace cherries soaking in sherry.

[MilesJuppIsMyBitch]

Hello! I stopped on November 6th, so just had a very enjoyable catch-up.

We had a stir-up Monday this year: last Monday, I'm fact. I always make Delia's, although I'm tempted to try Nigel's next year. It's the glacé cherries that got me!

I feel more festive having read the CC today, although it did make me smirk when he claimed that you may as well buy mincemeat from the shops if you bought a packet of suet for your recipe. . I can confirm, as someone who makes it every year, that it is still FAR superior to the shop-bought stuff.

I, too, love a winter garden. Trying to get mine tidy enough that the frost looks magical, rather than like icing on a poo.