Poncetastic 2020

[VivaJen]

I came on looking for the annual thread but can't find it so here is the start (courtesy of Fellatio - wherever you are)

OK, first of all, I know it's still September by we need to start this thread now because as you all know, having a truly Poncetastic Christmas involves precision planning, strategy, bravery, heroics, and frequently martyrdom. A bit like the war in Afghanistan, only with nicer food and sparkly shoes.

So, if you, like me, actually want to make the next twelve weeks of your life a misery by hand-crafting your cards, finding a huge bucket for Nigella's turkey in brine, pickling pears, shrivelling oranges in a low oven for those rustic au naturel decorations, dragging half a holly bush back from the woods, and just generally being a smug annoying jobsworth ponce, join me on this thread.

Feel free to post photos of previous tree-trimming, cake icing or table centrepiece triumphs, discuss this year's bauble colour themes, debate the merits of Delia versus Gordon, road-test a selection of canapes and cocktails, (all in the line of duty) and link to lovely inspirational photos/craft ideas for a truly Poncetastic Christmas.

Warning: If your idea of a good Christmas involves Pizza, ITV, gravy granules or anything with 'Aunt Bessies' on the packet, this is not the thread for you".

@finallyfoundkeys. Nigella has a recipe for chili jelly, or 'chelly' as she calls it.

Thank you for the chilli jam/chelly recipes v

I was just going to ask what people do with the boozy fruit left over from making liqueur. Surely if you put them in jam it will be alcoholic?

The alcohol burns off during cooking. I'm sure it'll be fine.

Ta-da! I cracked the snowflake!

It's way too loose & I'm not entirely sure my joining stitches are in the right places so I'm going to pull it out & start again but I'm pleased with myself

Amazing @lucysmam 👏🏻👏🏻

Thanks for the ideas for my chillies.
I think I will give a go at the chilli jam, sounds good for cheese.
I froze some already but still got loads left. I will try to dry some too.

@Lalanbaba brie & chilli jam on a slightly salted cracker is one of my favourite foods 😋😋 . One of my bosses makes amazing chilli jam!

Thanks @TheWoollybacksWife took a good number of attempts & much moaning at my crochet savvy friend via fb messenger but I got there! Dd2 has already given me a list of things she'd like me to make now I've almost mastered this!

@lucysmam that's beautiful! I've been wanting to make those for years but haven't done crochet for about 35 years and can't remember how.

@SistemaAddict I bet you'd remember once you started!

I'm pinching a smaller hook from my friend today I think (she doesn't know this yet!) to try and make them smaller. Going to pre-make pastry for mince pies too. And maybe cut out some of my Advent houses.

Oh, and, less exciting...write myself a pre-Christmas "spring clean" list so nothing gets forgotten.

@lucysmam. Is it a special type of pastry? I don't bother making my own these days, unless it's something I can't buy ready-made. My rolling pin thinks I hate it! (It's not far wrong)

I only make pastry for mince pies. Everything else is bought. I make a sweet pastry with orange zest in it. It's gorgeous! (One version I do has double cream in it too; it's the BEST!)

@sueelleker I usually use the BBC good food sweet pastry recipe (hence my waiting for proper farm eggs the other week). I'm usually rubbish at pastry but this turns out ok :)

Well done @lucysmam 👏

The sweet chilli jam goes with loads of things, I put it in wraps, on chili, with stir fry etc. I don't put bell peppers in the recipe though, proper chillies all the way!

Chilli jam isn't chilli jam if you use peppers! We always use proper chillies (I really need my Scotch Bonnet to ripen to do the hot batch!).

I haven't been on here in ages - this is such a comforting thread :)
@LaChatte your pots are beautiful! Is it fun making them?

On Sunday myself, DS (8) and DD (5) helped my mum make the Christmas pudding and all had a stir and made a wish. It was lovely and the kids have done it every year so it's a family tradition we all love.

I have made a quadruple quantity of the Barefoot Contessa's Thyme and Parmesan Shortbread dough, rolled into 5 or 6 sausages, wrapped in clingfilm and frozen. Then I just defrost in the fridge, cut thickish slices (1cm maybe) and bake for about 10 mins. She has them under the 'Cocktail Hour' section of her cookbook .

We've just been told here in Wales that we'll be in lockdown again from Friday, so I plan to do some serious poncery over half term.

Oh I forgot to ask, but, despite knowing that it's awfully bad for the environment, is anyone else seriously miffed at the lack of glitter promised by the big 3 supermarkets?
Christmas, without glitter?? Seriously?

I have ordered some small jars that hopefully will arrive tomorrow and will give it a go at the chilli jam.
Not using peppers and probably leaving some seeds as my chillies are not the hottest.

Lalanbala, if you were near me I'd donate some birds eye ones for you. That would warm you / it nicely.

@rhihaf it's great fun, I wholeheartedly advise anyone interested in pottery to look up workshops available in your area, that's how I got into it.

Ooh- I have stuck the barefoot crackers onto my Pinterest board. Does anyone have any nice Pinterest boards they would like to share to browse? I know we have done this in previous years and it turns out I already follow half of you!

I need to get my game on. We have had a rotten week and Christmas planning has fallen to one side but just reading this board has me excited again. I'm going to use some old Christmas pjs to make some.r3suablw gift bags. I am rubbish with my sewing machine but it seems a simple thing to practice with.

I bought some local tweed off cuts in speckled brown and some in cream and am going to make Christmas pudding baubles for the grown up dc’s boxes. Instead of stockings they have a shoebox filled with a mixture of silly and useful things.
I put a Christmas decoration in each year and try for homemade . Their decorations then get put away into their special bauble box and come out each year .

In other news my Sarah Raven narcissi bulbs have arrived and they look lovely quality .

I love those pudding baubles!

We spent the summer doing some big renovations in our house, including creating a big new office/craft room for DH and I (we're both teachers). However once the basics of the room were done we realised the roof had a leak in it and we haven't been able to use the room yet. This afternoon someone is finally coming to see if they can fix it for us (I'm hoping it's nothing much) and if they can I will be able to get my craft room up and running, oh how I will ponce then!