The Autumnal Christmas Chronicles Preamble thread

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hi, and welcome to the Nigel Slater appreciation society Christmas Chronicles Premable thread.

The thread will start proper in late October where we begin our annual journey of reading the Christmas Chronicles in real time. It is a cosy, heartwarming event that one can dip in and out of as life allows. Think flickering candles, woodsmoke, delicious recipes, the odd home made tipple, and bucket loads of touching Nigel-esque anecdotes. It is a veritable Hyyge of a thread.

This thread is to see us through until that time. You will find me, like a squirell, checking on my store of candles at the back of the cupboard.

It's also worth noting that Nigel's new book; A Thousand Feasts is out on 26th September. (with a deliciously Autumnal cover)

@Decafflatteplease thanks for the heads up about St Eval candles. I'd not come across them before. I thought they were reasonably priced, even without the discount. I've treated myself to some tea lights, although I was very tempted by the advent calendar. I just couldn't justify spending that much on an impulse buy for myself!

Thank you. I don't actually eat mince, but I've just made a big list of slow cooker ideas and put a food order in. A lentil chilli is on the list as it never really crossed my mind to do one before.

@Bubblesbythesea Yes, my slow cooker is now back out on the bench. It's beautifully sunny today, but when I dropped DD off at school this morning (lots of tree lined streets), there are piles of burnished leaves at the roadsides. I can also hear the farmer ploughing the fields which I always find hard to see. The golden corn stubble replaced by dark brown earth seems rather stark. Fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow as it's our annual Scarecrow Festival.

@MontyVerdi Good call. I've put zero Greek yoghurt on my food order as I'd gotten into the habit of ordering full fat.

Ooh @ranoutofquinoaandprosecco you are a bad influence! I have a perfectly good digital Christmas planner and you've made me go down an Amazon rabbit hole looking at planners. I've gone from "I'm just looking" to "I could ask for one for my birthday" to "sod it, I'll buy it!"

I can't look at Christmas Planners as I already have one. I know what would happen!

Ooh. A Christmas planner. Any good app recommendations please?

@Confusedmeanderings you can never have too many planners!
Mine's sat winking at me waiting for me to start using it. I will admit to thinking I need to use a pencil in it first as I know I'll change my mind on certain things and want it to be all nice!
In other news at Ranout Manor I may have been to B&M today and bought some lovely 'cozy time' mugs which I'm looking forward to using with several different flavours matchas I've treated myself to and some lovely autumnal candles! Oops.

@RainbowZebraWarrior sorry to hear you've felt down. I've got a couple of things I get checked over for and I know I'm going to get a telling off in the next couple of weeks because I know I've not been careful. Back on the wagon today but my go-to way of safeguarding my health which works well for my specific needs is low carbing, lots of animal protein and lots of fats like butter and olive oil so my suggestions for recipes might not be useful for you. Wishing you good luck anyway. 💐

It's warm again today so it's all a bit up and down really.

Changing over my mugs from spring/summer to autumn/winter today, and just doing a general clearing-out exercise of any bits I come across that I really don't need or won't use. Already found quite a few things to add to the charity shop bag.

We had an apple and pear crumble last night which was beautiful - I added ground cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg.

I use Gift List. Strictly speaking, it's a list of recipients you need to buy for with a budget and description of what you need to buy. There's then a box to tick when you're done with each person. I've just added 'home' and 'food' on as recipients so it means I can plan all my food purchases and home decorations etc. It's also quite good at helping me budget and shows that I do actually make a lot of stuff myself. (Like biscuits, chutneys, chilli jam, the door wreath) I also make sure to add myself on as a recipient as I like to treat myself.

The app is a red box with a yellow ribbon.

I also looked at planners and thought "Ooh" then restrained myself as I have one, don't use it and also have a dozen pretty notebooks which I could also use.

@RainbowZebraWarrior in case of help, I use this recipe a lot both as a pasta sauce and as a filling for lasagna. I put a good glug of red wine in it too.

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta/mushroom-lentil-pappardelle-bolognese/

Thank you. I shall definitely be making that.

@ranoutofquinoaandprosecco sounds as if you’ve got a lot of nice little treats, I always feel that that’s just as exciting as a big splurge and without the guilt! I’ve never used a Christmas planner (unless making my own shopping lists counts as ‘a planner’); I think if I wrote it down in a proper ‘planner’ I’d probably start off with great enthusiasm, set my sights far too high, then feel anxious knowing I could never live up to it!

For those of you talking about planners may I recommend Canva. I've spent a very enjoyable afternoon fiddling about watching disaster movies and creating a beautiful and cohesive crimbo section for my Filofax 😀

another St Eval fan here, I love their seaside smells especially Sea Salt

I just bought some rosemary and bay tea lights and I think I will treat myself to the St Eval Advent calendar

I bought the Hugh F-W 30 veg a week book, and my pulse-hating children have really enjoyed the means and lentil enhanced recipes.

I don't have a Christmas planner, but I am doing the TOM Christmas plan from The Organized Mum Method. So far it's not been too much work, and I like the idea of having December mostly for fun.

St Eval Rosemary and Bay candles are my absolute favourite treat to myself. Nowhere near as expensive as Nigel’s Cire Trudon, but I feel they’re very Nigel Adjacent!

I so love it 😍😍😍😍😍 here's some of the pages

❤️

Thank you @Confusedmeanderings - you've just reminded me I picked up a Durance tealight Advent calendar for half-price in the January sales and put it away for Christmas. There's something nicely contained about a tealight (scented or otherwise) - put it in a gorgeous holder and leave it to burn for a few hours until it's finished, they usually last the best part of an evening which is just what's needed. Much harder to regulate a larger candle - I currently have a Cire Trudon Carmelite and a Diptyque Baies. They need to burn long enough so that the wax is melted evenly to avoid tunnelling then you have to trim the wick periodically and so require constant monitoring (les problèmes des riches as my friend would say!)

I bought Nigel’s Christmas chronicles a few years ago and this year I want to diligently follow along. I’ve also just ordered two copies of his new book ‘A thousand feasts’, one for me and one for a friend for Christmas. It’s half price on Amazon at £10.

Hello @Jedstre and welcome! 🍂🌾🍁🍂🌾🍁🍂🌾🍁

@StiffyByngsDogBartholomew your planner is lovely! Mine's a Wrendale one which I've used for a few years now. I'm in a bit of a quandary because I can't decide whether I should discard the used pages and start afresh this year - it's nice to have the memories, in one way, but I did a fair bit of scribbling/making quite chaotic notes and now I'm in a very neat phase so it's bothering me...

@LillianGish it's such a nice surprise when you realise you've got a little something stashed away! I need to get my big candle out; the evenings are much darker now.

@Bubblesbythesea that candle sounds lovely. As did the Old Bookshop one from earlier on in the thread. I'm on a no-spend for September so I'll continue using the Laurel Bay essential oil instead. It's such a nice fragrance.

We're off on a short work trip this coming week and I think by the time we get back it'll properly feel like autumn.

I'm in a bit of a quandary because I can't decide whether I should discard the used pages and start afresh this year - it's nice to have the memories, in one way, but I did a fair bit of scribbling/making quite chaotic notes and now I'm in a very neat phase so it's bothering me... definitely keep @HappyDane. I love getting down my old Christmas Delia and finding all the loose leaf meal plans and Christmas arrangement from the days when the children were tiny and MIL would join us every year for Christmas in Berlin. I only have to start to read them and it takes me back to exactly what we were doing on any given day at that time - better than any photo. It doesn’t matter that they are chaotic, with crossings out and additions - this is how I imagine Nigel’s notebooks might look. Such things are rarely right first time - that is part of their charm. Add a new year to the old one and you are on your way to your own Christmas chronicles.

Absolutely agree with @LillianGish I have a couple of my granny’s cookbooks/ notebooks and adore leafing through them.

very tempted by the st eval advent. I won’t get a beauty product one due to my medical treatment so the st eval looks to be a lovely daily treat.

OK - it’s official (from Nigel’s Instagram!)

Phwoar. Rubs legs Vic Reeves stylee.

Oh good, if it’s officially autumn I can stop shivering in (fairly, not very) flimsy summer clothes and officially get out the thin thermals and feel comfortable again - (thin thermals for autumn, THICK thermals for winter) - blissikins!

I’ve black leaded my fireplace and bought fire irons and a log basket plus an Oxford Library candle from Cosy Art. After rain of biblical proportions yesterday I now feel ready for whatever the weather throws at me.