The Autumnal Christmas Chronicles Preamble - Thread 2 further ramblings

[HannahDefoesChristmasHamper]

Hope nobody minds me starting anew thread as old one nearly full

Will pop some links in 🍂🍁

Checking in on the new thread

@Bimblesalong Lentil soup is the food of the gods

<Rainbows 2nd café anecdote coming up>

I used to make my Nanna's lentil soup in my café. If I ever tried to make a different 'soup of the day' my regulars would be disappointed and ask where the lentil was. I ended up having to have two soups of the day in order to appease the regulars, but keep a bit of choice. My Mum and I would mutter "two soups" to each other daily as per the Julie Walters (Victoria Wood) sketch. It never get boring. Happy days!

Oh, that gardening ballet video is lovely, and makes me want to do more in my garden. But I went swimming instead and there are lovely acorns on the oak trees by the lake.

@RainbowZebraWarrior two soups 🤣🤣🤣
We went off to Sidmouth today, supposedly to check out a possible new cabinet space to rent for my antiques business, but we did a bit of shopping and spent some time on the seafront too! It was very windy and the sea was full of white horses. Some brave souls were in the sea surfing and kite surfing. Brrrr ... !

Evening all, was on the thread last year and I can’t believe it’s time for it again! Been a brilliant day here- parkrun this morning through our gorgeous park with all the autumn colours on the trees and beautiful blue sky. Afternoon spent at the theatre watching a new ballet with DD. It’s called Luna and very empowering for girls and achingly beautiful. Looking forward to sharing the weeks ahead with you all and getting old Nigel off the bookcase for another season.

Hi Everyone, I just came on to catch up and realised that I’d missed the start of a whole new thread and we’re already 4 pages in!!!!!! So many things to comment on, brownies, gardens, etc. I don’t know where to start but feeling very comfortable getting back into the thread.

i have a weeks holiday from work starting today so as usual that meant the last few days have been nuts, essentially fitting all this coming weeks work into last week.

however a great first day of holiday, the weather was glorious so after a bit of shopping and some smørrebrød for lunch, we went to the beach to go crab fishing, we caught 11, DS was delighted!

thanks to @ingenting and others I decided not to wait and went ahead and got ATF on the kindle, so now I’m enjoying a couple of chapters each evening.

we’re off to Legoland tomorrow for a couple of days which is about as NVN as it gets but DS will be very excited.

Some beautiful photo's today. Food for the soul.

@Bubblesbythesea I loved Nigel's chat about ready salted crisps, too. I also get what he says about the posher crisps being a bit too greasy. I have to eat my crisps out of a bowl as I have sensory issues relating to putting my hands in a packet. I also love coming across Salt and Shake every now and again. My Mum tells me how they used to have a small twist of salt in them (rather than the rectangular blue bag)

@UnimaginableWindBird that looks like an amazing place to swim. It reminds me of somewhere I visited in New Zealand. Lake Tekapo if my memory serves me correctly. It was the most amazing blue, with Mount Cook in the background.

I've been bitten along the jawline at some point in the last day or so. I'm just sitting on my bed now and can hear the distinct whine of a midge / mosquito in my room, so that's the likely culprit. It's driving my cat bonkers, too. We always get them here well into November. The bane of Autumn, but outweighed by many beautiful things.

Here's my photo offering of the day. A snatched moment of peace at the beach.

Hello, just popping on having been lurking for a long time - thank you all for such a lovely thread. I've just ordered ATF and am really trying to enjoy small pleasures: work has been quite stressy lately which has made moments of calm all the more important. I am slightly concerned that our beautiful tasteful Christmas may be a little disrupted by our new acquisitions: picture below. But I comfort myself with the mention upthread of Nigel liking cats...

Back from holiday in lovely Dorset now and ready to batch cook / batch prep tomorrow- paprika pork with polenta dumplings, lamb and barley risotto and creamy tarragon chicken. I fancy poaching some fruit too and I recall a recipe in CC so I will look that out tomorrow.

I am trying to wean myself off my phone and so I have bought this to keep me busy and off my phone for the next few months:
www.clothkits.co.uk/products/scandinavian-angels-christmas-craft-kit-by-corinne-lapierre

Has anyone else noticed how many berries are on the trees? My great granny would have been predicting a long and hard winter I think.

Just seen this on Amazon Kindle, published on 24 September. Does anyone know whether it’s an authorised/unauthorised biography?
NIGEL SLATER: How He Conquered Challenging Childhood attained Culinary Greatness – The Struggle, Passion and His Rise to Fame Kindle Edition
by Russ Beckham (Author).
I just came across it by accident when looking for ATF.

@Splendud that all sounds delicious, can you post a recipe for any of them please?

Unauthorised, I'd say. I looked up the author and he's written biographies on everyone - looks like splicing together stuff from interviews in the press. Not thorough.

It's suddenly very autumnal out there this morning here in Wiltshire.
I have a rare child free morning here as the dc are going on a joint playmate. Oldest dc has additional needs so it's a very rare opportunity for me time.
I'm going to go wild and go to Dobbies for a mooch around and cash in my free hot drinks vouchers.
Then home to make a spiced apple loaf for their return 🍁🍂🍎

@fallingleavesandhairyknees ooh enjoy your morning.

Please share apple loaf reci0e if you have a link.

All the books are self published, too. I know some self pubbed books are good, but this doesn't look like one of them! All the covers are dreadful, too.

That's lovely! Off to the big smoke later so will have a look 😍. Need to go back and catch up as have been NVN and out at gigs since Thursday, v tired now

@TheLiloAndTheSlowCooker they look a right handful! 😍

I love the little synchronicities in this group - I'm planning to bake a French apple loaf soon! Just waiting on apples to arrive next week in the veg delivery.

(Had the worst toothache yesterday 😞😞 just out of nowhere - well, not out of nowhere, I know I have some inflammation in my gums. Anyway, took painkillers which helped a tiny bit. Right before bed I had a tot of whisky and made sure to swish each sip around well and thankfully that did the trick. My god I'm glad it's only a dull ache today!)

@TheOnlyMrsW I love a gig! Who did you see? My next one's not til November - I don't recall telling dd1 I'd see Beabadoobie with her, but apparently I did 🤷‍♀️

I'm just having a silent half hour on my own (with kittens) then going to make biscotti & stollen I think. And a roast 😋

@DeckTheHallsAndBringYourBrolly I hope that you're teeth get better. Do you have access to a dentist at the moment? I live in an area with a terrible lack of dentists, and even fewer NHS dentists, so tooth problems are a worry.

@TheLiloAndTheSlowCooker your kittens are gorgeous! I have big kitten envy, but am too allergic to have any cats, even though I love them.

I have also noticed the abundance of berries and as a result am considering getting hold of a sledge, just in case of a proper winter snow this year.

@DeckTheHallsAndBringYourBrolly I (literally) feel your pain. I've also got toothache from nowhere. I've never had toothache in my life before, so I'm a bit discombobulated. I'm going to ring in the morning for an appt. Hope you get yours sorted too.

Morning all!

@UnimaginableWindBird yes I do, thankfully! Will make a call on Monday. I've got cloves in my mouth right now, between cheek and gum, top and bottom - a powerful natural anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and painkiller. It's working well to calm the dull ache I'm left with and hopefully also to kill off whatever it is/was!

@TheLiloAndTheSlowCooker squee your cats are lovely! @lucysmam I'd love to see a photo or two of yours, please!

Ah toothache is just terrible. I live in fear of it as we don't have a dentist and I don't like my chances of getting one where we live. I rely on cloves! It's like the Middle Ages!

I too would like the spiced apple loaf recipe if possible. DD2 decided a few weeks ago she was going to teach herself to cook. (She wanted to do it on her own as she claims it's as simple as reading the book and doing what it says which I guess is right to a degree). I gave her the book I learned to cook from, (which is also the book my Mum learned to cook from-one she got free from the Milkman in the 70's-The Dairy book of home cookery), and she has made a few things from it. (Fortunately she has avoided the chapters about the preparation of offal). She has had a few disasters but yesterday made a Victoria Sponge Cake and it came out perfectly! She was so pleased!

I am off today but have woken up very nauseous and with an upset stomach so I've stayed in bed whilst the DSS's go to football. DD2 has been bribed to go with DH as they have games in different places. I'm in bed with our Daschund Puppy whilst sipping some ginger tea.

Have a lovely Sunday all

@RainbowZebraWarrior another point of synchronicity on the thread! Sadly not a very nice one...sorry to hear you're also suffering. The cloves are working really well for me so might be worth a try for you too.

We're going to make lasagne today, to freeze in portions for DH. We had meant to do that yesterday but I wasn't feeling it. Dinner is rolled brisket in gravy. So I think we'll have a lovely slow day in the kitchen today, just relaxed cooking and chilling together. I might make a baked apple with sultanas and oats for DH as well, for pudding.

(I'm sure you already knew about cloves given you know so much about food and foraging, but sometimes I forget what's right in front of me so maybe you do that too here and there)