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!

That’s such positive-sounding news @IngenTing. Fingers firmly crossed that all remains well. I had a similar-ish experience once that got as far as a rather grave-looking doctor taking a needle biopsy….only for the suspicious lump to vanish - it was a cyst and had burst and dispersed as the needle pierced it, nothing to worry about at all. He was so genuinely pleased for me, too.

I'm away from home at the moment and realised that while I’ve left my copy of the CC behind, I have it on kindle too, having bought it a couple of years ago when it suddenly appeared as a 99p deal. So I’m catching up with today’s entry and planning to pop into the branch of Søstrene Grene which, fortuitously, is very close to where I need to be later today.

That is great news @IngenTing. Really great. 💐

It’s good to hear that grumbling teeth are being sorted - my dh has issues with anaesthetic too @RainbowZebraWarrior

@JustAMiddleAgedDirtBagBaby would the silver foil trick work? Make a tube of foil and tuck it slightly over the top of the candle in an inverted funnel - plenty of room for the flame.

I need to read back and to catch up on CC. It’s been an interesting couple of days for side effects but dh’s suggestion of “try putting Nigel on Spotify” when I was particularly green worked well. Hearing Nigel describe the clarity of his environment and the organisation of his kitchen battery was meditative and settling. I may reach vertical hold today and there are inviting shades of autumn outside to explore.

As always many thanks to all those posting amazing pictures and insights into different places. It is very much appreciated though I can't keep up to comment currently.

@IngenTing Good news, very relieved for you and nice to hear that there is lots of support and back up available. Nice that some of the forest came to see you on your way to the clinic.

@piscofrisco Really happy for you both. Didn't feel appropriate to say before, but previous very big dog here went through equally major surgery, with many qualms about if it was right or not. He was a rescue who'd had more rotten years than good ones, and turned out to have been living with a major tumor spreading, plus he was just beginning to get over being very afraid of most people. I was going through treatment of my own at the time, but he didn't have agency.
Lots of research on how far veterinary medicine had come, surgeons opinions, a lot of heart searching, and a ridiculously huge loan later

He had a relatively short difficult time where he got spoiled rotten tbh.
It brought him and everyone who loved him a couple of very well lived and happy extra years roaming forests, countryside and coasts, at a cost of a couple of months of dealing with healing issues.
Inevitably the cancer did come back in time and this time the odds where too stacked in terms of gains vs losses, but absolutely no regrets, and his behavior in the intervening time said those choices and treatments agonized over at the time where the right ones.

@Bimblesalong I didn't whether to laugh or cry at the (some) cheese on toast.
I found Worcester sauce and black pepper on it cut through.
I went through cold cap treatment too, and tbh lost quite a bit of a previously notably full head of hair, but endured the headaches and fears of how well it was or wasn't working, and came out with a slightly thin covering but none the less hair, which I was grateful for, and knew shouldn't matter, but tbh really felt.
Two seasons on it's thickening out! Many fingers crossed for you with all of it.

There's been both mist and light fog here, clearing to expose continuous grey skies. Though yesterday was downright blue.
Quietly enjoying the muted light greys forming a wonderful soft background to the vibrant reds, oranges, yellows and bronzes of ginkgo's, maples, rowans, birches, beech, dogwoods, hawthorns, etc.
When our vivid green red necked and beaked parakeets land on luminous orange and red maples and lift their wings, they flash brilliant yellow underwings and 'armpits' and ochre tail undersides against the grey backdrop, it accentuates the colours even further.
There was a similar but subtler effect when a little soft grey wagtail arrived on our now radiantly autumn yellow ginkgo, and lifted its tail to display light lemon yellow undersides, all framed by subdued grey sky.
It feels like some magical painted land, very far removed from dreary realities, but not quite November..

Have an invite to a firework display tonight, which might make it feel a little closer.

Notebooks, sketchbooks, and lists, far, far to many of them here!

Siberian gingseng berries and robin about to see off a tiny little siskin daring to invade the edgelands of the soil piles.

Morning all. Glad to hear medical things going well.

I have made apple cake today. Just waiting for it to cool enough before I can dig in! Doesn’t look very thrilling but will hopefully taste good.

That's great new @IngenTing and also great news about your dog @piscofrisco. @JustAMiddleAgedDirtBagBaby try wrapping a piece of tin foil around the outside of the candle so that the top extends inwards over the unmelted wax like a roof, leaving a hole in the middle for the flame. After an hour or two the candle surface should even out.

I’ve got a candle hack for you that you might already know, but when candles tunnel you can burn them with tinfoil wrapped around them. It gives them an even burn and sorta the tunneling right out.

on the topic of candles, I bought my first St Eval’s yesterday. I can’t contain my excitement waiting for it to be delivered.

Making an indulgence of the catch-up with Nigel.

Did anyone else read the Financial Times article linked to Nigel’s insta this morning? It was about his new collaboration. I did note that there was a smaller, less expensive version of his candle, although still costly enough to buy many St Evals.

@EphemeraleEudemonia glad to hear the cold capping worked. I’’m investigating cold mitts today as one of my fingers is starting to feel unusual and I just do not need that on top of everything else! Dh did bring some very good toast and honey this morning. I did smile at the some cheese on toast as this reminded me to a fun get together with pals involving trying to order poppadums over the phone, and eventually ordering some as we couldn’t work out the number!

You do right to indulge yourself @Bimblesalong

I'm just chuckling to myself about the game of cat and mouse I've had with my postman this week. Various cards have been left with scribbled instructions for parcels left such as "behind the bush" (which bush?) "behind owl" (garden ornament) and "beside the beehive" The bush one took me three turns around the garden checking every shrub until I found it actually wedged inside the box hedging!

I'm trying not to buy any more candles, but I've just googled something I wanted from White Company and this '12 days of candles' popped up from John Lewis. Darn those pesky algorithms!

www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-scented-candle-advent-calendar/p112097533?s_ppc=2dx_mixed_home_BAU&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_YTFsJzPiQMVC5VQBh0Z_yFMEAQYAiABEgJrUPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

DH has just drawn my attention to that FT article @Bimblesalong - though he literally snorted at "'I'm the least commercial person in the world,' he says with a slight shudder." having seen the price of his feast collection. My favourite line is the one about his Empty-headed moments to cherish which include ironing pillowcases and dusting his Edmund de Wahl ceramic installation. It also clarifies a point raised in this thread last year about a line in the first chapter of CC concerning his figs with maple syrup and anise - I often have one or two, straight from the jar, as a treat when I have finished the ironing.

Thank you for all the tin foil candle tunneling prevention advice! It has been on my radar to do this, but so far I have been remembering this when I go to blow the candle out and notice the tunneling again.

I will go and put some foil next to it NOW so that when I go to light it tomorrow morning I have more chance of actually putting the foil on.

Will report back.

I have seen Nigel out in the wild, as it were (he’s surprisingly tall), and in the nicest possible way, his attachment to ironing puzzles me. I think ‘rumpled’ is the word that springs to mind…

OMG the Neom advent calendar is amazing. I want one!!

I’m just home from TK Maxx for St Eval Mandarin & Clove candles. Can confirm it is lovely. The diffusers all smelt like municipal loos sadly. Anyway - home to a mystery red card of death:

@RainbowZebraWarrior behind owl 🤣 utterly brilliant!

@LillianGish our dhs are now on board with the Nigel love. I do rather like the quotes chosen, which would sit well in pseuds’ corner. I sense Nigel’s whole life is like this, whilst we try to create balancing moments of Nigel. I’m sure there are times when he bats metaphorical wasps away like Cecil in Room with a View returning from the tennis court, although I imagine a stretched and quiet displeasure rather than a flap.

@AgathaMystery I like to think of the creatures whose safe place is a hedge - very Brambly Cottage. Are you in fact a little hedgehog in a cotton sprigged dress and a mop cap?

@lucysmam moose are massive! They made me jump driving home last night! These huge beasts just lurking in the dark next to the road. I love seeing them though! They don't all have horns, the big fella yesterday did. I have to be really careful driving as they can be very dangerous on the road. Imagine a giant horse, crossed with a giant cow at about 8 feet tall!
Today we have made our mini Christmas cakes as gifts for the kids teachers. English Christmas cake isn't really a known thing here, so we make a little gift tag with the process etc.
We made the gnudi for tomorrow too! A lovely afternoon of cooking!
Tonight we will have cheese fondue for tea with reindeer meatballs, sossiser and crusty bread to dip!
These frosty pictures are from outside my front door. It's so foggy you can't see my mountain at all.

I’ve been in both TKMaxx branches and we have no St E candles so that is quite disappointing. Also, the cheap one I bought in a fit of optimism has absolutely zero smell once it is lit - will I never learn. I took my youngest into the white company today for a lovely sniff session though. She really appreciates a lovely smell.

It’s quite frowned upon to doxx people. Even hedgehogs 😂

@IngenTing - so pleased to hear the positive result of your tests. This happened to me a number of times a few years ago. I had a benign tumour surgically removed, and nearly every time I had a follow-up appointment at the hospital, the doctor found another lump which then disappeared when a needle was inserted to take a sample for a biopsy. A kindly nurse reassured me that it wasn’t uncommon for these cysts to keep recurring, and said I had ‘busy breasts’! Although there was always a niggling worry when I felt a lump, at least I didn’t go into immediate panic mode. I had six-monthly appointments for checkups for quite a long time after the lumps suddenly stopped appearing, and have had no more now for a very long time. However, I would always, always, always, urge anyone to get a lump checked out just in case it needs treatment.

@Bimblesalong your sense of humour is top notch today. I loved Brambly Hedge (and Country Companions and Hollie Hobbie) I am now perusing Amazon and contemplating wether I have a need for a Brambly Hedge Festive colouring book. Definitely NVN.

My friend in Northen Sweden once swerved to avoid a moose and ended up in a ditch. Happens a lot she says. She had to walk the rest of the way home in her snow shoes and it took her five hours. Can you imagine people in the UK doing that?

I was told by the breast clinic that I just had lumpy breasts. I also had a massive abcess when I was BFing and they had to go in search of a bigger needle to aspirate it. 'Busy breasts' is quite something though. I've just been to my Mum's and the Waitrose advert was on. I said "you can't tell me that showstopper desert doesn't look like a bleeding colon" and she had ro agree. Sorry if I've put you all off your dinner and apologies for the utter random wanderings of this post.

Whispers to @bigbadbarry … tkmax online …

We are in danger of a Cordoba moment in our house. I planned a tour of Andalusia and took dh and ds2 on Semana Santa by mistake. It was incredible. In Cordoba we stayed opposite the mesquita and had views out over the religious parades. At one point I called ds out to see the next amazing float and he thanked me but said he had had “too much Jesus” for that day.

I’ve happened upon Nigel’s Christmas Suppers on the food network. DH is being very patient as it has very much been a sofa day for me today, but I think he may be reaching Nigel saturation point.

Hi everyone, I had visitors last weekend and then a busy week, culminating in a birthday party this evening.

There was a Hallowe'en festival last weekend, so we took part in some of the events. It was a fun weekend and lovely to see our friends again.

Now that Hallowe'en is over, I've switched to full Christmas mode. I did some Christmas shopping last night in Dublin city. This time of year is the perfect time to go shopping - the shops are fully stocked and it's not too busy, especially in the evenings. I see someone mentioned Sostrene Grene. Funnily enough, I was in there last night. There's a really big store in Dublin city centre. It's a bit like IKEA, because the shop is designed in such a way that you end up walking/winding your way around the entire shop before you reach the till area. But they have the most gorgeous selection of Nordic Christmas decorations and it was like walking through a winter wonderland. I spent a small fortune bought a few things.

I also popped into Hodges Figgis (bookshop) and ordered a copy of the 'Advent' book for a friend who loves Christmas and baking. Naturally, I own a copy already. I picked up a gingerbread house kit for DD for a present, but unfortunately, she spotted it this morning . I gave her a lift to work and while I was locking the house door, she must have opened the boot to put her bag in. If I had noticed, I would have told her not to open the boot. I didn't realize until we got to the shop and she opened the boot to take her bag out. It was too late to say anything then. Kicking myself that I didn't sneak out to the car late last night and bring it in. It wasn't in a bag, so there's no way she didn't spot it. I mean, she's well past the Santa stage but even so, I was looking forward to surprising her. I like to give her a few things she's asked for and a few surprises.

I'm thinking of getting concert/show tickets for some family members. One is my Dad and his eyesight isn't so good, so the old reliables (books and jigsaws) aren't an option anymore. He has dermatitis so anything scented (like aftershave or shower gel) is out. Anyway, there's a Burt Bacharach night in the National Concert Hall, which I think he'd enjoy. And maybe tickets to the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for DD and my sister. And obviously I'll accompany them. And it means we'll have something to look forward to when Christmas is over and done with.

Sorry for all the shopping talk. But I think Nigel would approve of the list making. And if I get all my shopping done early, then I can sit back in December and enjoy the festive season, while everyone else is rushing around like headless chickens. Well, that's the plan anyway.

I haven't read any of the CC. But I'm reserving tomorrow night for a lie on the couch with a candle and a Baileys coffee. I'll catch up with your news then.

@Taytocrisps Nigel is singing the praises of the list today, so you are attuned.

Agree. You are peak Nigel today!

DD has just fed the Christmas cake and we are going to make risotto for supper (J Oliver Pancetta & borlotti bean). Right now I’ve got a brick of frozen chicken stock defrosting in the oven - not sure how it was frozen in such an awful shape as I usually freeze everything very thin and flat. Annoying!!

The TKMaxx/StEval collab candle doesn’t have great throw but it’s better than nothing. Def preferable to the Mulled Wine glade plug in 🙄