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)

@HappyDane sorry you're feeling discombobulated. The M&S magazine is just the usual brochure of what they are selling, plus a couple of recipes. I am laughing my head off here at the prices. £45 for a turkey and stuffing pie! Thanks for the idea though, M&S. I can easily make that myself. Haven't opened GH magazine yet. Might save it for the weekend.

I love that wallpaper!
I save the Christmas mags for October... I like the cookery type ones but my most favourite are the interior design ones. So much poncing!

Tired but glad to be at home recovering - surrounded by lurv and wonderful treats.

gah the perils of damp autumns - you are rocking those mitts @RainbowZebraWarrior

i love that you have bees. I once helped a friend with some bee stuff. She got me togged up and I had to hold a box of them. She told me there were thousands in the box, which was a magical responsibility.

nigel delivery day soon. So looking forward to the delicious new book.

I had a gorgeous knitting kit for my birthday, in mainly pink Aran and will be on a side quest from my current long-term project with it as it should knit up faster (thicker wool and lots of plain sections). I’ll pop some pictures on once I make it downstairs. 🤣.

@UnimaginableWindBird that paper is delicious and vvn. We had a similar colour in a William Morris design and I love it.

cant recall if I’ve posted a pic of the pierogi ds2 made from scratch (including the pastry). They’re potato, onion, cheese and herbs and were gorgeous. Very autumnal food.

I'm torn over Christmas magazines (and books). I feel as though I've mostly settled into Christmas food traditions that work reliably for our family, and there's not much I want to change, apart from maybe new ways of cooking sprouts and parsnips, and having different sorts of cheese. And as the children are now veering into young adult territory, I'm simplifying rather than adding stuff. Although I suppose in a few years time we might be planning a sophisticated adult-only dinner, possibly just for two.

Ooh I'd forgotten about echinacea @shinyprettythings87 - thank you. I cancelled my flu jab for tomorrow as not 100% - might mosey along to the pharmacy to pick up echinacea. A Dr once mentioned it was good when I had a different virus once.

Yes @UnimaginableWindBird that's exactly what prompted me to stop buying magazines, and I only ever buy Christmas recipe books these days if I see them in the charity shops and actually like them, so that's been a couple over the past 5 years or so. I'm not looking for novel ideas or gimmicks, and I already know how to do all the classics. I'm also capable of adapting recipes myself. But depending on what @RainbowZebraWarrior thinks about the GH one, I might just buy that one this year.

I am going to treat myself to the Advent book this year though, because I know I really want it and will definitely use it.

I think I mentioned early in the threads I've never had a Christmas magazine! So I'm going to pop out today and look for the Good Housekeeping Christmas magazine. Thanks for letting us know it's out!

Bought all the bits to make my first Christmas cake on the 1st. I'm excited to do it and not have shop bought! Following Mary Berry's recipe.

Oh that's such a nice thing to do @AutumnJoys! We're not making one this year though because it's just going to be the two of us. We might still make a small pudding but we're not decided on that yet.

@piscofrisco you've just made me realise that it's October on Tuesday!

@Bimblesalong the pierogi look and sound absolutely delicious. Ive looked up a recipe. A magical responsibility is a really good way of putting it regarding the bees. We always also say that the bees choose their keeper, not the other way around. It is a great responsibility, and it is also fascinating and enchanting. I never stop being amazed at them. Here's a fact for you; we estimate that we currently have around 2 Million Bees.

@UnimaginableWindBird RainbowZebraWaI think you're right about the magazines. I looked through 3 or 4 on the shelves and just thought "yeah, been there, done that" It's only me and DD here. We've tried every type of turkey and we always come back to just brining our own. We like the stuffing separate, we know which side dishes work for us, who sells our favourite chipolatas etc. If it ain't broke, don't fix it I guess. So I've got a few ideas (like the pie) from M&S magazine, but I'm not ordering this year. I also have the added complexity this year of flying back from Copenhagen on 23rd December, and things could get very tricky if we were delayed for any reason. (I have a cunning back up plan!)

On Echinacea, I also read years ago that its not good to take too much / long term, so I compromised by taking it during the coldest winter months with Vitamin D, and drinking good quality Echinacea tea the rest of the year. It's my absolute favourite herbal tea anyway.

Ohhh @RainbowZebraWarrior I forgot you're going to Copenhagen. 🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰

@Bimblesalong yum.

I'm currently watching Danish TV programmes and picking up bits of the language with subtitles. Not naturally language gifted - me, with rubbish hearing but enjoying it all the same. I cannot hear the stød (glottal stop)so Mor (mother)and Mord (murder)sound the same. My husband can hear it but not me!

Colder here today.I love it. Walked the dogs in a coat and boots this morning. They do not love it, being short of leg and molly coddled. I'm scouring second hand sites to get a cost for the daschund puppy, as he is growing so quickly I don't want to spend a lot until he is his end size. The two Jack Russels aren't fussed about costs. If it too cold they just sit down and won't go.

I'm just doing my big Autumn clean today (and yesterday). I always do a big clean around the equinoxes and mid winter/summer. Then just normal cleaning (probs not enough of it) in between. Between dogs and kids and autumn leaves blowing in the clean-ness lasts approx two
Hours but never mind....

Lovely sunny morning here today, the trees are properly turning now. Will be seeing my parents later so I went out this morning and picked up a bagful of conkers for my mum, there are some trees fairly near us and I do this for her every year (the DCs used to do it when they were younger).

Magazines - they are so pretty! I try not to buy them though, apart from BBC Good Food which I get on subscription. We are also very much settled into our routines, favourite recipes etc, we don't have big family gatherings so not catering for the masses and we are usually away between Christmas and New Year. Although I like a little bit of poncing as I am crafty and like baking it isn't really worth it here.

The sun has come out. Squeezing every drop of joy out of it! It's markedly colder now and I'm enjoying the beginnings of that wonderful autumn air.

Our Christmas cards for this year: little cards with wildflower seeds embedded in the recycled paper for the recipient to plant.

My Thousand Feasts Book should be delivered tomorrow 😀

Mine too! I'm giving the sitting room a clean in anticipation. 😁

Lovely wallpaper @UnimaginableWindBird
I ordered my Christmas turkey from M&S while I was on the exercise bike at the gym (totally dedicated to the workout).
I kept a couple of Christmas magazines and just get them out each year to look at, found that the same things come round each time but in different colors.

It's not exactly a Christmas magazine, but I do quite like the look of the turkey pie with pigs in blankets on the top from the M&S catalogue, and might have a go at cooking my own version.

😁 ordering Christmas turkey while on an exercise bike - brilliant 😁

Apparently some people do their tax returns online on Christmas day. Must be to get away from relatives.

Ooh, they are nice @HappyDane

Is this from Amazon? I stupidly ordered a signed copy from WH Smith back in May. They are useless. No confirmation of dispatch yet, so I've emailed them asking.

Ah @AutumnJoys I am making a Mary Berry cake too, I have been buying a few ingredients every week so it doesn't feel so extravagant! Ironically no-one in my house eats Christmas cake but I love the smell and making and decorating cakes for the rest of the family has become the tradition as my parents love it but mum doesn't want the hassle of preparing it any more!

I have been conker hunting with DS and am scattering them around the house as autumn decor. I'm sure I will forget a few and find them mouldy next summer.

I am a bit stressed at the moment as I have to travel to a conference next week that I really don't want to do! This thread is a good motivator that once I am back I can really embrace all things autumn!

Having a super stressful week at work so it really cheered me up to see @Bimblesalong gift from @RainbowZebraWarrior , how thoughtful. Also loving @HappyDane cards.

thanks also to @AutumnJoys for the reminder that I need to start thinking about the making the cake.

in all the stress I’d forgotten we’re driving to Denmark on Saturday, I haven’t booked the ferry and it also struck me that I will need to take CC with me if we’re to start reading before we get back on October 12, can someone confirm when we’ll start?