The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello all, it's nearly that time!

For anyone who has not already had the pleasure, the annual Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles read along is a real time annual MN tradition.

The book begins on 1st November, however there are a good few pages by way of introduction. This is why I start the thread now; so that we have time to prepare and settle in.

A lot of us already have the book. For anyone who doesn't, it's a challenge to see of you can pick up a bargain. WH Smith has come up trumps in the past, as has ebay. A rare and precious charity shop find is the holy grail and adds a certain special-ness that simply extends that warm, fizzy Nigel feeling.

I shall post each day and we can share our thoughts and feelings on the day's recipes and sentiments. It's particularly lovely to share any memories and personal traditions (as Nigel himself does)

Note: Reading by candle light can be particularly enjoyable. Cire Trudon may be one of Nigel's favourites but they are somewhat pricey. Share your festive finds here, even if they are at the cheaper end of the scale and possibly NVN (Not Very Nigel)

Pull up a chair, grab a cosy blanket, and light your candle of choice. It's that most wonderful time of the year!

Love this. Thank you. It is homemade traditional stuffing except for the SHOCKING bit of curry powder.

Actually I can see how the warm spices in the background are perfect.

A rare Tweet from Nigel this morning.

Actually I think an onion bhaji/scotch egg mashup might be delicious. Do I have to go and flagellate myself in the corner? Even if I eat it on a very tasteful Japanese ceramic plate?
(also, I never buy ready meals but we had an insane day last week with no time to do a thing so I bought M&S half-price onion bhaji-topped shepherds pies and they were pretty good! I think OBs might be having a Moment and I am here for it)

@NowLightOneThousandChristmasLights Today's visitor was a tiny little gold crest wren even smaller than our resident wrens. Brown toned olive green body with deep brown almost black and white bars on her wings, and a vibrant yellow stripe down the center of her head. Really high sweet little song fluttering around the conifer making the pine cones look big, happy to be two feet away but just too agile to photograph.

@piscofrisco wishing both of you all the best today.

An alcoholic hair of the dog or general pick me up for gochujang lovers:
25ml (veggie) Worcester sauce
1/2 tsb gochujang
1/4 tsb white miso
50ml any flora/fruit gin
150ml passata or any good tomato juice
stick of leafy celery as garnish and stirrer
ice preferably crushed

Put paste and sauce into blender and blend. Fill a taller glass with ice, pour in gin and tomato, add paste sauce mix, stir with celery and serve.

I don't normally like gin, so find this a good thing to do with it

@piscofrisco good luck today. ✨✨

@ClaudineChronicals A rare black square of post results despair?

That is my take on it.

But I guess we want to keep to the good spirit of this thread, so I will say no more!

Thankyou x
Ten lashes for you @bigbadbarry (is your user name from ben and Holly's little kingdom? My girls used to laugh like
Drains at the episode with big bad Barry. And also the one with the Jelly flood which they still say now if they spill anything that looks jelly-ish-so weird the things that stick).

It is! Such a great show
My (quite grown up) children still shout 'they're digging up the road', Peppa Pig style, every time we see roadworks 😂

Thank you @RainbowZebraWarrior - I can feel a stroll coming on 🕯

Tempted by the gnudi although dh is gluten free. I may attempt a fully leaded version and a substitute version too, using something like chickpea flour. I am reliant on dh shopping for me as I’m not doing the big shops at present, because immunity, and he may have the brow at all the specific ingredients. I will wait for ds2 to return from visiting Cambridge friends and we can use it as a joint cooking project. Ds2 loves to cook and frequently makes very tasty vegetarian Japanese food 😍

Loved the reference to the Observer book of trees. Took me right back to my childhood and my little Observer book collection. I was also a keen I-spy book person, filling in the things I had noticed around me.

Ds2 has been VVN whilst away. I suggested he visited the Fitzwilliam whilst his friend was in work. There is an amazing ceramics collection there, including a DeWaal and a whole room at least of Song and other dynasty Chinese pieces. I collect studio ceramics and have a growing collection of tea bowls - he shares this collecting interest. He not only visited but sent pictures and also viewed a temporary exhibition of line ink drawings which he described as being precursors to Manga. I am a very fortunate mum!

Here is a photo of my favourite little bowl in the Fitz William collection. It is a song dynasty bowl. I am surprised it’s my favourite as I much prefer the different types of coloured glaze, particularly the delicacy of the celadon green over an incised surface. However, there is something about this little bowl with the leaf stuck onto it before the glaze was painted over many hundreds of years ago by a person and culture that we can only connect with via this ceramic. I wonder about the thoughts of the person making this bowl, the philosophy and environment they immersed were in, and marvel at their fine and developed culture.

@ClaudineChronicals Ooops! Sorry I assumed it hadn't uploaded properly and was being cynical! That will teach me!

Must go back to work and catch up later (tries to ignore beautiful photo above.)

Listened to today's chapter; love Nigel's descriptions of the variety of leaves - takes me back to being small and collecting them when out for walks!
A lovely piece of calm today, welcome amongst all the other news.

Listening to the audiobook, so very thankful for those in the thread sharing recipes!

Yes I also took the black square Nigel posted to be a reference to the bleak and depressing state of the world at the moment. Doesn't bear thinking about and I dont switch the TV on anymore unless it's to stream something.

I am bringing back 'share your small Moments of Joy'. Here are mine today:

A rose that has just burst forth in the front garden that has so far never flowered before (there are also other buds) and, inspired by the observers book of trees, here is my battered and now spineless observers book of birds. (1966 edition) It was previously owned by my uncle and given to me when I was 9 or 10. It ignited a life long love of wildlife. The Mickey Mouse stamp came from a campsite shop in Loch Long where we stayed the summer Charles and Diana were married. Anything that didn't move got stamped with it.

@Bimblesalong adding to the joyful childhood memories here, I was also a keen I Spy book collector and I found them all recently. Such a simple time in many ways whereby pure joy is sparked by ticking off a certain bird or tree in a tiny little book ajd seeing how many points it was worth. It was also around the time that I was obsessed with trying out everything suggested by the gang on 'Why Don't You?' and daydreaming that I was George from The Fanous Five!

❤️

Oh how I used to read those books dreaming that I could be part of the Famous Five Adventures!!

I have tried so many times to encourage my children to read (rather than be on their phones), as a source of escapism, but I just feel as though I'm fighting a losing battle.

I find there are far too many other distractions for us all nowadays and reading takes a back seat. That's why I love this corner of NM so much. Encouraging each other to read and focus on the sometimes simpler, but more beautiful parts of life.

Sending out positivity to all of you struggling at the moment for one reason or another ❤ ❤

So I made my way to the rather fabulously named Nose perfumery only to find that they are not stocking the Nigel collab. Nevertheless spent a very enjoyable 15 minutes sniffing around the extensive Trudon display and succumbed to a Sant Maria Novella soap. I also took a some time (following on from discussions yesterday) to appreciate just how many excellent individual food shops we have here including this rather wonderful Italian deli and France’s oldest Patisserie (allegedly!). I then had a quick google and discovered that there was a Parfumer H boutique in the Marais so strolled round there only to arrive just as it was closing for lunch - I saw the girl locking up, but she was too far away for me to shout out to her and in any case I would have felt a bit awkward as I was only going in for a sniff. The full Nigel collab (candle, tea, cologne, incense) was front and centre of the window display- so near and yet so far. I shall return!

Oh, how wonderful, @LillianGish (apart from just being pipped at the post with the lunchtime closing.

Merci pour le petit tour de Paris ❤️

I love the childhood memories @RainbowZebraWarrior. I actually have a friend here who was part of the gang on Why Don't You? and in fact to this day I don't think any of the qualities that presumably earned her a place on the show have ever left her - always has a craft project on the go, a great organiser of days out and itineraries, interested in so many things and a finger in so many pies (rather like yourself and @Bimblesalong I imagine - are you sure you weren't on there?)

@LillianGish such beautiful beautiful buildings. The best thing about my local town is its proximity to Eurotunnel/ferries though sadly the Eurostar no longer stops. Once dc4 comes home from university for Christmas I have promised we'll go on a day trip to somewhere European and pretty.

@andIsaid thank you for the stuffing recipe. Only one of our four is home on Christmas Day but she will have her boyfriend there and he's allergic to nuts. No nuts in that recipe!!

@RainbowZebraWarrior dc2 lives not too far from the Si KIng favoured butcher and really rates the doughnuts there. Says the woman running it whenever she's been in is fab too.

@Mumwithbaggage that must be the maple cured bacon glazed Doughnuts that they apparently do on a Friday. (Pic attached) They look delicious, although I'm not a maple syrup and bacon gal, my Mum loves the combo!

My Dad has been foraging today and got some lovely looking blewit mushrooms. Autumn is still giving, even though the trees are now skeletons here and it feels rather wintry.

Beautiful photos 😊 I've never made the sausage recipe but am very tempted to do it one night after seeing a real life making of it!

I've taken to listening to CC on my way to work. Sets me up nicely, walking the short distance, through the park. There actually were some burnt firework remains lurking about this morning & dd1 commented, while we were in town collecting a click and collect order for Christmas, that the air smells different today - she said it's breathing crisper 🤣 but I get what she means.

I live in the US and relate very strongly to Nigel's black square of despair. This thread has, as always, cheered me up a little, and I am going to be following your lead and looking for the joy and the light. I think we're going to need it!

Love this @LillianGish and have noted the shops for future visits. The locations reminded me of many late night yomps back over Paris to the 10ème either en vélib with my skirt tucked into my knickers after good wine and food, or sedately walking and talking, or in a taxi/ métro. Happy days - many more to come. I travel around using Google street view now and again, revisiting times past and exploring places yet to come.

I got my bottles for my orange and apricot brandy. Today has been a wild ride for a variety of reasons but the bottles are nice!