The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater. Read Along Thread 2022

[Dillidilly]

INTRODUCTION

Nigel begins his Chronicles proper on 1st November, but there is a lovely, quite lengthy introduction we can dip into during the second half of October.

Last year, posters were also kind enough to share where they had found cut price copies of CC, so hopefully anyone late to the party still has time to find a copy before we start the first chapter.

I had forgotten the lovely introduction. Together with the beautiful photograph at the very beginning of the book, flipping through it and seeing his headings reminded me of why I loved it so much last year!

I made Nigel's Christmas Cake at the end of September so I would have time to feed it, my first go at making a 'proper' cake. It is huge, before marzipan and icing, so in future years I will reduce the size.

👋 to @Dillidilly and others from last year’s thread! 🎄🎄🎄

I think I’ve namechanged at least once, if not twice, since then but I’m the Dane who kept promising to write about my traditional Danish Christmases with my grandparents back home but never got around to it (Unless that was on the poncetastic thread...🤔). It was a bit of a difficult Christmas season last year for various reasons and I just didn’t have the emotional stamina to delve too deeply into very happy childhood memories IYKWIM, so it never happened.

Anyway. Better this year (so far!) and really looking forward to this readalong - I’ve recommended the book and this thread to others over the past several months so hopefully more will join us and we’ll have a lovely ‘hyggelig’ thread this year again!

I tried lots of the recipes and drinks suggestions last year which was fun as well as interesting. We learnt that we’re not keen on apricot and star anise flavoured liquor...We really liked the cranberry gin I made though (not from the book) so I’ll make that again. But honestly my thinking this year is that I’m going to keep everything pared right back and not add too much pressure or expectation, so I may just enjoy the book and our chat here rather than trying to do too much.

We aren't going to make a Christmas cake this year. We don’t have enough people to eat the whole thing (I’m not keen). Instead we’re going to try Delia’s creole cake but make 3 smaller ones to gift to family and 1 for ourselves. We’re also going to make 2 Christmas puddings which we’ll do on Stir Up Sunday.

All that to say hello everyone, and thank you @Dillidilly for thinking up and hosting this brilliant thread which was one of my highlights of the season last year. 💐

@Readytostartagain yes! A suitably posh candle is essential for tapping into the true spirit of Nigel’s Christmas.

@Justhereforchristmaschronicles I’m very sorry to hear you’ve lost a loved one. I hope you’ll find some peace amongst the grief here on this thread.

@QueenOfWeeds Ah that made me smile! Bless him, he seems to really appreciate it when people appreciate his work. Double buzz indeed.

Ugh that should say ‘peace amongst the grief, here on this thread’. Clumsy sentence!

I made Nigel's Christmas Cake at the end of September so I would have time to feed it, my first go at making a 'proper' cake. It is huge, before marzipan and icing, so in future years I will reduce the size.
Yes! When I made it last year, it was a bit of a beast of a cake.

Hello everyone! :-) I'm new to this thread - and I'm delighted to be joining you! My sister-in-law followed last year's CC read-along and other related threads - and she absolutely loved it! She very kindly gave me CC as a gift a few months ago - I've been resisting the urge to read it as she said that doing it as part of this group would make it even more special! She messaged me yesterday to say this year's thread is up and running - so here I am!

Thank you@Dillydilly - I am so excited to be joining you and the group!

Welcome @NatureJayne 🎄🎄🎄

Any candle suggestions @NiqueNique Nigel's suggestion seems a little steep but happy to treat myself if anyone has any good suggestions

Good evening everyone. I’m going to start reading the intro this evening.
It’s a cold, wet & foggy evening here, so it feel like the perfect time.

@Readytostartagain I don’t know about posh, but I adore the St Eval candles. They always smell lovely, not fake and too strong like the cheaper ones.

I love Nigel Slater but have never read his Christmas book before. It sounds like you all love it - would anyone mind telling me what is so great about it? I'm very tempted to buy the book.

I noticed this thread last year but didn't buy the book. I assumed it's a fancy recipe book and my family won't eat anything out of it, but it sounds like it's more of a Christmas lifestyle thing? Maybe I should give it a go

I am in! Loved joining in last year!

I wanted a copy last year to ' join in ' but in the end didn't . Tempted again , but what's holding me back is we are a vegetarian family . How ' meaty ' is it ? If you are a veggie have you got a copy ?

It does contain lots of recipes but it's not a cookbook. It's more a book about autumn and winter, a lot of lovely descriptions of what is going on in the garden, of visiting Christmas markets, of celebrating the colder months and the darker nights. He's an excellent, evocative writer and I found it quite uplifting reading it last year. I often felt a bit sad about the nights drawing in and the weather getting colder but this book reminded me that there's lots of joy to be had in these months. It's festive but more than just Christmas as it starts at the beginning of November and goes on well into the New Year. There's usually a short chapter/few pages of musings and then a recipe or sometimes more than one at the end.

Someone asked about veggie recipes. I can't remember how many but there are plenty of veggie meals in there.....the only ones I made from the book last year were vegetarian ones.

I read it last year and didn't make a single recipe. It was lovely for the diary part of it alone. I'm planning on reading it again this year, and probably won't make anything from it again!

Last year, I made recipes from Advent by Anja Dunk instead

Just had a quick flick through! And every page I landed on was vegetarian. Such as
Aubergine with lentils and basil
Roast cabbage & cheese
Soft cheese polenta with roast onions
Plum pudding and other sweet puddings/ desserts

@Dillidilly
Yay! I was only thinking about you and this beautiful book and last year's thread.
I'm in.

@NiqueNique lovely to see you! I remember us pestering you for your Danish memories!

Re: the apricot brandy thingy, I made bottles and bottles of it in the end! Definitely reduce the star anise element unless you really really like star anise (I don't, unless they are decorating poncey wrapping etc) I think I may fling a bit of cinnamon in this year.

I completely forgot that I made that polenta with roast onions dish and liked it so much I made it a couple of times! I'm excited now to have it again 😃

Ooo I bought this book a few years ago but I've never actually read it. This thread has piqued my interest, so I'm in! Off to find it now, I'm ready to feel cosy and christmassy.

I was late to the party too last year. Glad I saw this! Off to take him off the bookshelf. Thank you for this early prompt!

Thank you all for answering my question. I'm going for it.

Oh gosh, how lovely to see some names from last year's thread as well as new posters here at the suggestion of family or friends x

Welcome everyone!
I think the nicest thing about last year's thread was that posters were so friendly, kind and quick to share your own traditions and ideas. I hope we see the Nisser again!

I had the idea...but all of you made it such a lovely, special thread, thank you!

Yes please! Count me in.

I've just ordered a copy (£17.78 including pp, from Abe books).