Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 19: Calmly through the day

[MissConductUS]

I've started a new one. Please join us and share the boring and mundane things happening in your world. It will be calming for all.

Here is the link to the prior thread:

Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 18: Calmly through the day

Silkie, one of our cats adores his heated cat bed, the other can't be bothered.

Our clocks went back an hour overnight, so I have some extra time before church, since the cats woke me up for breakfast. They have not made the time change.

I was still able to get out running while it was dark, and I saw a meteor. It only lasted a few seconds, but was still fun to see. I have had a lifelong interest in Astronomy and took courses in it at uni.

DH would love these duvet covers - i'd love the colour but in a slightly cooler material. And I am sure if you channel your inner cat and make a proper effort you can fit in the cat bed - or get an appropriate child to do it.

I have printed out the cookie list (a spread sheet that lists the varieties and all ingredients and gives out the total amount of flour, eggs, nuts etc to be bought - I love my spreadsheet!) i can start baking after St. Martin.

DD is taller than me now but DS can fit in very small spaces, when he was at primary he used to hide in small spaces and when I asked if anything would help he said he would either like a cat bed at school but his bottom would stick out otherwise a dog kennel would work. I was not sure what Ofsted, the schools inspectorate, would make of a child in a cat bed or dog kennel

Can smell the roast now and this has woken Silkiecat up and made her realise she is about to starve to death as she has not eaten for an hour.

Happy baking Prok You may need his and hers duvet covers then. I always end up with all the duvet, no idea how. I must be strong in my sleep.

Just had the Australian professor email me more work so sent some back, its Sunday though! It is interesting though, he is advising Australian government.

Hello all. Happy Sunday.
I am making a first draft Christmas dinner today complete with chippolata sausages, stuffing, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and parsnips. We will have chicken not turkey.
Christmas pudding or apple crumble to follow.
Some friends and family joining us.

That sounds delicious, Gingerwarthog.

I've just made my Christmas cake.

I used to love making Christmas cake with my granny as a child. I don't especially like the taste of it as I hate marzipan and not overly keen on fruit cake but I like it as it reminds me of Christmas.

Do you have the same Christmas cake in the US, its like fruit cake, then marzipan then icing MissC? Looks like this and wedding cake is normally the same but in tiers with bride and groom at the top.

www.bettys.co.uk/royal-iced-bell-christmas-cake?gclid=Cj0KCQjw8p2MBhCiARIsADDUFVEEO8ssMzu6TLNSL588PcGHUaJvkhjVPQqzbEw9CUXw8V9tQSuPOhwaAmvSEALw_wcB

In France they have Buche de Noel www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a24276998/buche-de-noel-yule-log-cake-recipe/ I am not keen on this. I love their wedding cakes though coastcakes.co.uk/croquembouche-wedding-cakes/ We had one of these and it came in the dark with sparklers on and tasted much nicer.

What cake do you have for Christmas Prok? I have a German friend and was very surprised he ate cake for breakfast when he came to see us.

I had two people send me work today but done them both now. Hope they stop as I want to watch trash TV.

I ordered honeydew melon from Tesco, but they substituted it for watermelon. I nearly tutted.

I would not be impressed, I like honeydew melon but don't like watermelon. However, our chickens would be happy as they love watermelon.

Welcome, @chocolateisavegetable, and thanks for sharing your shopping delivery news. That substitution is indeed tut worthy. Cantelope, possibly, but not watermelon.

Silkie, Christmas cakes are not a thing in the US. Fruit cakes are sometimes given as gifts but are often the butt of jokes as so few people actually like them. Fruit cakes were a medieval luxury item because before refined sugar was available using fruit was the only way to sweeten a cake.

There's a bakery in my nearest city that does Buche de Noel every year, and every year I leave it too late to order one. They look amazing.

I occasionally surprise my American friends by offering them fruit cake with cheese at Christmas, and they do their best to politely deter me

@Silkieschickens - There are families and regions where Früchtebrot and Christstollen traditionally form part of the celebrations.
But my and DH's tradition is Weihnachtsplätzchen and for me, of course, Spekulatius.

Maybe you should order one now then ZZ though in my opinion they look better than they taste.

Those biscuits look lovely Prok The cakes look a bit like versions of our fruit cake. We have it often with cups of tea, the fruit cake I don't mind, the icing I love as long as its not the industrial one but marzipan yuck. I have to take that bit out if its somewhere you can do that. We also have mince pies which I like a lot and Christmas pudding which I like if its drowned in a white custardy sauce but not on its own or with brandy butter though I have it to get the white custard.

I can live quite well without Früchtebrot.
For cookies I have recipes from my mum and from DH's GM plus recipes I tried and collected over time. Mine are of course not so lovely as the ones in the magazine but perfectly edible.
I am not a fan of marzipan either, though I can make it if I have to or I buy Niederegger for a lovely work mate.

Feast has finished - lovely.
Next time I shall include Christmas cake...
How odd Miss C - my American friends love Christmas cake and marzipan....

I gave myself a blister pulling out carpet underlay staples then painted every upstairs skirting board.

Sainsburys subbed me kidney beans for chopped tomatoes and sliced ham for smoked salmon. Nutters.

I do not like marzipan.
But I have made my Christmas mincemeat and pudding.
And I have been for a walk.

I love Christmas cake with marzipan & royal icing. Can't stand fondant icing though.

sprouts Lovely pictures and lovely walk!
1fench This is admirable and you should - calmly of course - be proud of yourself.

I am happy to say that the medication test run worked and DS will be able to write history.

Miss before refined sugar people used vegetables e.g. beetroot, and honey. Fruit cake was a luxury - a status symbol -because dried fruit and spices had to be imported.

Zucker sugar sucre So let's thank Andreas Marggraf who found out how to get sugar from beets

Gorgeous pictures sprout , my exercise was a stroll to the play park for a chilly picnic.

Welcome, @1frenchfoodie, and thanks for sharing your DIY and shopping news.

Ginger, most Americans have never heard of Christmas cake.

I had the traditional Christmas style fruitcake for my wedding cake. It completely stymied my new American ILs. I love Christmas cake. My favourite part is the marzipan. I have never baked one here because it's hard to lay my hands on all the proper fruit ingredients. Fwiw, Nova Scotia black fruitcake is the only North American recipe for fruitcake that comes close to British Isles varieties, as far as I can tell.

DS keeps on asking me what I need for Thanksgiving and Christmas baking from Costco. This year I'll be baking hermits, gingerbread shapes, Nigella's Cut Out Cookies, and what my Settlement Cook Book calls Hungarian Nut Horns, but they're actually kifli. He's already supplied a big bag of pecans. I need your spreadsheet idea, Prok.

I do like Christmas cake though I make mine alcohol free as DC2 also consumes it (and I don’t like the taste of alcohol added to most foods) I hate marzipan so by making my own cake can roll it as thin as humanly possible so that it is virtually indiscernible in the finished cake it is necessary to protect the icing from being stained by the cake

Oh goody, all the marzipan can be saved for math and me
I absolutely love it, possibly more than the cake, if I’m being honest, although it is a very nice cake and I’ve used the same recipe for years. I add preserved ginger to the fruit and usually chopped pecans too, just because I like them.
I hate fondant icing and DH loves it, so I decorate the cake and peel the icing off for him whenever I have a bit.