The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Welcome all new and old friends.

The journey continues.

@Bimblesalong what a beautiful table, and your chairs are fabulous, a rather ecclesiastical vibe.

I make a Christmas cake every year, in spite of the fact that almost no one in the family except OH and I eat it. For many years now my go-to recipe is Delia's Light Glace Cake, which I top with nuts. I love traditional icing but it would make the cake just a little too sweet, even for me.

My mother was a teacher and always made her cake at October half-term when she was on holiday, so I always do mine then too.....just one of those family traditions that I don't feel inclined to break. She died in 2021 and I feel her absence especially keenly at Christmas. Like you @Bimblesalong , I lost my dad this summer so it's my first Christmas as an orphan, which is taking some adjusting to.

On the subject of cake, I made the Orange & Poppy Seed cake and it's lovely, but quite wet - I used a large orange which yielded a lot of juice, so there was more syrup than I'd expected. I'm wondering how long it keeps - has anyone tried freezing it?

@ExpertlyDecorated just a quick clarification...did you have it on 120 fan? Thanks!

No, it's not a fan oven, it's like an Aga, heat storage and always on.

Ah thanks! I'll quickly go turn mine down then. Oh I love an AGA/similar...my grandparents had one and I loved spending time with my grandmother in the kitchen. ❤️

I think it comes back to that old thing of not causing ourselves additional stress, doesn't it ... I've made the decision not to get everything out of the loft this year. It stresses me out enormously, and I hate the fact that I have to find someone to do it for me. I kept some bits down in the old dresser from last year, and DD now uses her middle name, so I'm going to go and get some new initial stockings for us both today. The tree gets dragged out from the large hallway cupboard already fully decorated, so that's not a bother. I think a lovely candle and some nisser is the way to go.

Yes @RainbowZebraWarrior that's exactly what it is for me. I used to think alllll the little things mattered such a great deal, and I suppose they did at the time and nothing wrong with that, really. But honestly, especially this year I'm content just to have a few favourite things out and not to stress about the rest. I will keep giving myself permission not to be in competition with my past self.

'Not to be in competition with my past self' Amen to that! I wholeheartedly agree. It's taken me a few years to adjust to the fact that I am simply not capable of what I used to do 20 years ago (or even five years ago) but it can be very freeing to leave some of that pressure and expectation behind.

Hope you and yours are feeling better soon too, @MovingCrib I also suspect you are right that Nigel's Mum didn't use spices in her cake. I hope he replies, but he doesn't seem to be as active at the moment on Instagram.

Best of luck for your latest treatment, @Bimblesalong I found myself rather fancying your DH's fish and chips, even though I'm not a big fish and chip fan.

Shattered tonight again, but pleased I got the cakes done. Photo attached. The cracks have 'healed' since they have cooled. It's a lighter recipe than I usually make, and I've loaded them with walnuts and flakes almonds as I was liking the idea of a more nutty cake.

I've just been out in the back garden looking at the sky. It's truly spectacular at this time of year. Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Saturn are all visible at the moment. If it's clear where you are, it's worth a look. My neighbours cat brushed past my leg, and I got the shock of my life. To be fair, I usually return to the house and find him chomping on Mr Darcy's food. I once even found him one morning curled up on the bed in the spare room, not having realised he'd been there all night after putting the bins out late.

Thanks for this @RainbowZebraWarrior DH and I have just been out in the garden with our cups of tea after I read him your post. We missed Venus, and can't quite see Mars yet but it'll pop out later, but Jupiter and Saturn were looking glorious with all their wee star pals

<sigh> does anyone else have a cat obsessed with paper? Trying to write a shopping list? Forget it. Reading a magazine? Nope, not allowed to do that. Wrapping a gift? I don't think so! Attempting to take a photograph for tomorrow's CC entry? Look at me, Mummy! Me!!!

He's a love, and I'd clone him if I had the opportunity, but gosh he's a PITA at times.

🤣dd1 has just deposited this one back downstairs as she's trying to do college work & he's all over her papers...he's now annoying me trying to get to something under my chair 🙄

His sister's wandering around wailing like she's never been fed too <sigh>

Pleased it's not just me. Mr Darcy has just tried to follow DD into her bedroom and had the door closed in his face. He's also wailing at me that life is not fair, his food bowl is full of food more than three minutes old, and now wants to sit on my head.

Apparently, I am a bad cat slave. I know Nigel loves cats, but I do wonder if he also has these problems.

I imagine Nigel has well behaved cats who do not sit on papers he is using! Nor do they tear about the house like loons, when he's ready for bed.

These two seem to enjoy both those activies 🤔

And...Nigel's definitely do NOT attempt to sleep in the dish drainer...ever 🙈

Crazy cats. ☺️☺️

I was just looking at the calendar and realised that last Sunday wasn't the 1st Sunday of Advent as I had thought! So I might dig out my advent candleholder after all. 🙂

lucysmam I don't think they're that well-behaved! I remember reading something about them messing with the Christmas tree/decorations

My cats are equally demanding little princesses. Had to take one to the vet this morning so I am Not Popular.

Anyway, I have been channeling Nigel today with a wander round Fortnum and Mason. Spent rather more than I should have done but it was mostly presents

27 November

Vienna, a city of sugar and whipped cream

Vienna sparkles. A city like a Christening cake. Horse drawn carriages, as polished as a Chelsea pensioner's boots, go clippety-clop on cobbled streets. Fir trees with golden baubles guard the doorways of the jewellery shops. Icing sugar cakes hang in gilded cages in bakeries, and strings of white fairy lights dangle between the houses like diamonds.

@ExpertlyDecorated oh my goodness. So many beautiful, precious things. I neeeeed that rainbow bauble swag thing hanging off the cart. I shall now attempt to search 'rainbow bauble swag thing' on F&M website.

I lived in London for ten years and then and still London adjacent. And it's right up my street-and yet I've never managed to go to Fortnum and Mason, no idea why. I'm determined to remedy it. I wonder if I could persuade someone to come to afternoon tea there with me? I could sneakily get it for my MiL for Christmas and go with her!

Chilly wet and cold
Here today. A few hours work and then I MUST completed my masters application. It's hanging over me and annoyingly so, but I'm the worst procrastinator in the world.

I'll admit to mixed feelings on today's chapter. NVN and I don't even know why but I didn't like Vienna when I went. I found it dull. That said I didn't go at Christmas and his descriptions are making me think I will give it another go at a more festive time of year!
I was however delighted to see Nigel's reference to hanging decorations from branches. I think he would be very impressed with my branch efforts over the years (I *like to think anyway ). My ones are dying out nicely under the verandah waiting to be spray painted when it stops raining.
Three sleepy doggies and I in the house today and I've defied DH and left the heating on. I love this time of year. I was born to hibernate I think.

We went in April this year and I loved the place. We did the most astonishing food tour (helped I think by the tour guide having two colleagues taking the tour that day too!) and the weather was glorious. I do feel I have seen it, mostly, so although I am sure it is beautiful in the snow I don’t know if I need to go again.
looking forward to today’s chapter, maybe Nige can persuade me otherwise

I've got so much work on this week I have decided I need to make sure I take proper breaks, so I'm catching up on my reading, Bless Nigel's fancy cashmere socks for this: 'I don't like live jazz bands in markets'. I do like a man who knows precisely what he does and does not enjoy.

I've never had a proper mooch round Fortnum and Mason before yesterday, I have dragged the DCs in occasionally and they've pulled "boring" faces and we've left after 5 mins, but yesterday I was on my own, waited till about 7 and it was busy but not rammed, I was in there for about an hour. I always like to go along Piccadilly after dark to see the Advent Calendar outside on the upper storey windows.

I loved today’s chapter especially as we are off to Vienna soon for five days. I am looking forward to the shop and museum where snowglobes were invented as well as trying some of the delicious foods he mentions.

Loved todays chapter really fancy going to the Christmas markets - something we are hoping to do for DD 18th next year 🤞 No photo as I was driving but the most beautiful sunset tonight - DS said the sky looked like a river. Hoping for a clear night here in Cornwall tonight so we can look at the stars - love it when I take the dog out for her final wee at night and it's beautifully quiet and clear. Always makes me think of a quote from a book I read years ago (have a feeling it may have been a Jilly Cooper so NVN) where the night sky is described as an upturned bowl of velvet scattered with tiny diamonds.

Hello, all. Hope everyone is well tonight.

@MadMadMad how wonderful that you will soon be going to Vienna. Please do share some photo's on the thread when you're there if you can.

The sky is very clear here again tonight and we are already down to zero degrees. An upturned bowl of velvet scattered with diamonds is a very accurate description @imp2007

I've had something of a 'cheats' cooking night here. 'Home made' tomato soup and cauliflower cheese pasties. The soup is made with Mutti finely chopped tomatoes, M&S Piri Piri spice mix and Waitrose garlic paste (much more mild and creamy than some of the jars of minced garlic I've used in the past) and ⁷is finished with a swirl of olive oil and a sprinkling of dukkah. The pasties are ready rolled Pastry filled with Waitrose cauliflower cheese and extra mature cheddar, with more grated cheddar on top. A final sprinkle of the same Peri Peri spices and a grinding of black pepper. It has reminded me of when Delia Smith did that series about cheat cooking that she was largely slated for. I'm happy with my efforts, anyhow. It's been a long day, and it's starting to get busy with honey deliveries for Christmas.

I hope Nigel's book event is going well this evening. (in case he's reading) I haven't received a reply to my question about his lack of spices in his Mum's cake, but I have had a few follow requests on Instagram. I note that one was from a fellow Harper Collins author. I've accepted the request, in case this lovely person is also following the thread.