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?

Dinner Nigel style - roast partridge

That plate of food looks tasty @ExcessiveIyDisorganised … nice tea light holder, one of my favourites.

[quote TheRealHousewife]@FireworkParrotyour soup looks very tasty 😋

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule You’re very welcome & TY too 🙏😊

@Geamhradh the book is Christmas with Good Housekeeping. Full of excellent recipes 👍

I’ve really enjoyed tonight’s reading around The 3 Wise Men/3 Kings. I didn’t know their names before tonight. I’m out of vogue as my Christmas trimming are generally red/gold rather than Nigel's silver, gold & white theme. I’d love to own a tear of frankincense. I’ve heard of ‘pocket meat’ (Bob Mortimer) but never pocket frankincense. Then again Nigel, is coolly posh 😬[/quote]
Pocket frankincense did make me but I suppose that's the whole point of our Nige. There's no poetry in my pocket contents (balled up tissue, poo bags, foosty lip balm, dog treat crumbs). I suppose at a push I could go for a tear of gravy bones. Yum.

@GoGoGretaDoll 😅. My pockets are similar to yours… tissues, poo bags, coins, fluff. In fact I’ve just realised I really love ‘a pocket’, just so handy to keep your bits & bobs in 😬

It was bad enough to remember to swap my poppy from top to tip let alone something in my pocket. I would always be losing a frankincense tear

It was bad enough to remember to swap my poppy from top to tip let alone something in my pocket. I would always be losing a frankincense tear

Hey all 🎄🎄🎄

@ExcessiveIyDisorganised that partridge looks divine.😋😋

I’ve managed to convince DH that we should pick up a couple of partridges next time we visit the farm shop. Yay!

Would you believe it I still haven’t actually read the last two chapters - I keep getting ready, sitting down, settling in...and then something comes up. I wonder if I’m deliberately putting it off, because these two chapters will certainly be very nostalgic for me, and I want to savour them properly, to drink them in. It can also sometimes be difficult to be reminded, so keenly, of those time that can never be recreated.

In the meantime I have re-focused my attention to Christmases Scandinavian - now that we’re pretty much sorted with Christmas pudding, chutney, sausage rolls and so on, I can relax a bit and just pick up projects for the fun of it - and I thought I’d show you a few of the photographs from the book as well.

Firstly the cinnamon cookies I’m going to bake today or tomorrow. They’re yummy and keep for weeks if stored correctly.

The cookies you’re baking look interesting @HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule … are they from Advent book? From memory there is something very similar.

Everything looks very blue...it’s the light from the window!

I love the author’s little collection of vintage deer/reindeer.🥰🥰

@TheRealHousewife no sadly I’ve not got that yet...although it is in my basket waiting for stock to be replenished.

They are from Scandinavian Christmas by Trine Hahnemann.

There is a lot of influence from Germany to Denmark and vice versa - the two nations are quite close in history/heritage and certain regions have also alternately been part of either nation.

More photographs:

Klejner - two different biscuits/cakes with the same name. One version is crunchy, the other (the Norwegian variety) is soft and doughy.

Vanilla cookies, ’Vaniljekranse’ - this is one of my favourites.

Pulla bread - a brioche loaf

This is the perfect time for those who need to catch up, as Nigel is giving us a little break until 25 November x

Fell behind for a bit but I've just caught up.
Many years ago I went with a friend to Saltzberg for the Christmas markets. It was an unusual year because it hadn't snowed, and we waltzed carelessly out of the airport amazed that it 'wasn't even that cold'. We were wrong. It wasn’t the wet English cold that you feel instantly on your skin, but a subtle dry cold that slips straight into your bones and slowly leeches out every speck of heat. Wandering around a market we suddenly realised that we were on the verge of hypothermia (poetic licence may have been applied) and stumbled into the nearest cafe. The waitress spoke English, but all the menus were in German. Despite taking it at GCSE our German skills completely failed, and we just stared at the waitress in frozen mute appeal. With a slightly exasperated look she told us to have apple strudel with vanilla custard. It remains one of the most memorable and perfect desserts I have ever eaten. We learned after that to make sure coats were buttoned, hats on, gloves tucked into cuffs before stepping out into the cold, because any body heat that was lost would not be coming back in a hurry.
Pudding hopefully being made on Sunday.

Gluhwein does it for me

Just noticed you’ve got Turkish Delight Hot Chocolate… never seen that before. Do you recommend @HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule?

If you’re like me @HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule you’ll get as much pleasure just looking at the pictures as eating the dishes 😬 Not seen the Scandi book before, I’ll keep an eye open.

Oh yes definitely @TheRealHousewife like you I get a lot of pleasure from poring over the photographs. Food for the soul/extra cosiness factor.

And yes, I totally forgot but I actually included the Turkish Delight hot chocolate in the photo because I was going to recommend it! It’s basically just hot chocolate with a delicate rose flavour, as one would expect (might’ve been nice with a hint of coconut in there too!). We had it last year as a treat over Christmas and I’ve gone for it again this year.

You could make your own by adding rosewater to hot chocolate and I did try that when last year’s tin ran out, because I had a little bottle of it anyway, but I found it was a little tricky to get the ratio right.

General money saving tips: whittard usually do some deals (free postage over £20/20% off/free gift over certain amount spent/etc) in December, so if you want a bargain might be useful to wait ‘til then or check when BF actually rolls around (I only bought this one now because I added to an order I needed to make anyway). Also, don’t buy too much before Christmas — after Christmas anything festive flavoured or festive packs is reduced right down to something like 70% off, with BBE usually at least a year if not two or more away. So it works well to stock up after Christmas and keep for the next year.

@herecomesthsun

Gluhwein does it for me

Or there's that 😂

@GlumyGloomer reading that brings back similar memories of being cold to the bone in Stuttgart!

I made the apricot brandy recipe, I don’t see how it will make more than one glass let alone 20, the apricots have sucked up all the liquid already!?

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule perhaps makes the TDHC with coconut milk 😬. I do have rose water, chocolate and coconut milk. I might get concocting in a mo. Thanks for the Whittard tip!

After having spent most of the day at allotment I decided it was a good idea to test apricot brandy with catchup on Christmas markets and myrrh. It has definitely warmed me up, my face is flaming red 😄

@Strawberryfield12 that looks a nice clear tipple 🍹 I bet you don’t need many of those to feel merry 😬

@TheRealHousewife no, you get sorted real quick 🤣 I might give figs liquor a quality control tomorrow night… needs must

Sounds like a plan! @Strawberryfield12 … such is life 🤪

25 NOVEMBER
The cake