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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater. Read Along Thread 2022 PART 2

508 replies

LillianGish · 28/11/2022 09:22

A continuation of the brilliant thread started by @Dillidilly who I hope is still lurking somewhere and reading along Flowers

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LillianGish · 28/11/2022 17:15

With all your encouragement my fruit is now soaking! I am ridiculously excited at the prospect. Thank you.

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TangledWebofMincemeatDeception · 28/11/2022 17:22

Yay!

(Remember if there’s any left after Christmas you can put it away for a week or two after Christmas as well, then bring it back out in the midst of the January gloom to enjoy with allll the cheeses!)

Icantremembermyusername · 28/11/2022 18:00

Place marking, as I've been following since the start and reading along but never have anything to post!
Very excited this year as we now actually have a dining room and festive food can be enjoyed and lingered over in a relaxed fashion rather than scoffed and rushing to restore the living room.

Wildernesstips · 28/11/2022 18:31

Hooray for thread 2. I really fancy making stollen, but I am the only one that will eat it.

TangledWebofMincemeatDeception · 28/11/2022 20:52

@Wildernesstips all the better - you won’t have to share! 😁

lucysmam · 28/11/2022 21:29

I'm now caught up with both book and thread but will probably not read tomorrows entry, tomorrow.

The memories you all shared of Christmas markets and advent calendars were lovely to read 😊 The only Christmas market I've ever been to is Sheffield, with my Guides, and I expect it'll be like that for a while yet.

We have several Advent calendars that I like to have out, as well as the girls ones to fill with small gifts. Useful things like pens/mini deodorant/funky socks go in them, collected through the year so even though they're fairly expensive to put together, I don't feel it in one hit. I do add some random stuff like strawberry chewing gum, and sweeties, too.

My card one is starting to look a little tired now though, it's doors are a touch worse for wear, and maybe the perpetual one in the shape of a tree needs a re-vamp before next year. We'll see.

I like the idea of making stollen, and I think the girls would too. I've stuck an incredibly NVN, ripped in half, bright yellow post-it in the page, to re visit and write down ingredients to buy at the weekend when we call at Asda for a kettle. I just hope I'm not disappointed!

lucysmam · 28/11/2022 21:31

@Wildernesstips Nigel does say you can freeze a baked stollen quite successfully! I'd bake it and then slice into 2/3 portions at a time, wrap very well, and risk the freezer.

picklemewalnuts · 28/11/2022 21:35

I'm going to try stollen! I don't like dried fruit so will experiment with using fresh cranberries. Or actually redcurrant as I have a surfeit!

Marzipan, now... wouldn't it be delicious using the Lidl style chocolate logs? Hmm...

LillianGish · 29/11/2022 09:15

29 November
Tinsel, cheesecake and a windy night^
Not a fan of tinsel, but I do love snuggling into bed on a stormy night. Right - off to make my cake now...

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TangledWebofMincemeatDeception · 29/11/2022 09:40

Ah thanks @LillianGish, the bold is so much easier to find on the page! 😊🎄

(@picklemewalnuts I know you tried valiantly!)

I’m also going to experiment with the stollen, as I don’t like dried fruits either. I might use candied orange and dried cranberries which I do like. Maybe some nuts too.

TangledWebofMincemeatDeception · 29/11/2022 09:42

The Christmas cake and chocolate bark look really lovely!

We made cinnamon buns last night. Haven’t got round to the mince pies yet but hopefully today.

picklemewalnuts · 29/11/2022 10:11

I'm going to be the size of a house by Christmas! You're all very bad influences...

Candied peel, yes good call Tangled. We like our home made stuff, I'll start that!

TangledWebofMincemeatDeception · 29/11/2022 11:06

@picklemewalnuts that happens to me every Christmas! 😁

queenrollo · 29/11/2022 11:58

I got so behind but have carved time in the last couple of days to catch up and hopefully now can stay on track!

ThreeRingCircus · 29/11/2022 12:59

Oh yes, I love Christmas cake but there's so much food around actual Christmas Day I don't have it then. So I make early (September) and we eat it anytime from December 1st with a cup of tea. It lasts better than mince pies!

The diet starts January 1st 😂

TangledWebofMincemeatDeception · 29/11/2022 13:02

I start to think about maybe getting a bit more balanced with my eating in about ohhhh I dunno...February...then I start to actually do something about it around March time. Xmas Grin IMO winter is supposed to be all about the more stodgy, filling foods for warmth, comfort and sustenance!

ShakeYourFeathers · 29/11/2022 13:07

Thanks for the thread. Sorry I haven't been avidly reading this year but planning on a big catch up soon. And have been looking at the other thread x

picklemewalnuts · 29/11/2022 13:09

@TangledWebofMincemeatDeception you may want to wait until after Easter...

By the way, has anyone read any other Nigel books? Are his kitchen diaries good? I.e. similar to this?

TangledWebofMincemeatDeception · 29/11/2022 13:15

Ahaha yes you’re right!

(this is why there’s always a mad panic to fit into any of my summer wear 🤣🤣)

TangledWebofMincemeatDeception · 29/11/2022 13:25

I’ve got quite a few of his cook books, maybe 8 or 9? I like them a lot, really good for inspiration as I like his approach to food/cooking style a lot. I’ve got one of his Kitchen Diaries, the third one. It’s very good. Perhaps not quite as lyrical as CC, but then that’s to be expected I think.

I've had a little look at the entries for a week around this time and the recipes look great. A good mix:

Slow cooked duck with star anise and ginger
Mushroom Lasagna with basil and cream
Little birds, Indian style (quail)
Hot and Sticky roast quail
Stilton, onion and potato pie
Celeriac Remoulade
Coffee and walnut cake

I’m going to start reading the December entries on the 1st, alongside CC.

picklemewalnuts · 29/11/2022 14:05

Sounds good! I may add it to my wish list at the lovely local independent bookstore on Amazon.

bigbadbarry · 29/11/2022 14:06

picklemewalnuts · 29/11/2022 13:09

@TangledWebofMincemeatDeception you may want to wait until after Easter...

By the way, has anyone read any other Nigel books? Are his kitchen diaries good? I.e. similar to this?

I have quite a lot of his (also, Nigella) - starting from 'real fast food' which one of my university flatmates had. If we were stuck for dinner or had a random ingredient we didn't know what to do with we always consulted 'Nige'! I find his recipes easy and sensible and delicious. I haven't ever read one cover to cover like we are doing with the CC but I think I might do the Kitchen Diaries next year. Or perhaps read it month by month.
PS Just went and counted. I've got ten NS books! Probably enough. Appetite and Real Cooking are the ones I have used the most.

2bazookas · 29/11/2022 14:08

ABookAndCake · 28/11/2022 11:37

I’ve never made marzipan but I noticed Nigel is quite scathing about commercial. I’ve never been a marzipan fan although I like almonds so I did wonder about giving it a try to use to make stollen.

So how much of a faff is it really?

If you have a food processor, no faff at all.

Swissnotswiss · 29/11/2022 14:13

Thanks for the new thread. I'm a bit behind both with the book and the cooking! I want to make mincemeat and Christmas pudding but I haven't got enough suet for both (and can't get anymore). What can it be left out of? 🤔

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