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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2

987 replies

RainbowZebraWarrior · 14/11/2024 07:53

Welcome all new and old friends.

The journey continues.

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sueelleker · 28/11/2024 10:45

RainbowZebraWarrior · 26/11/2024 09:10

Morning, all. I'm just picking up where I left off cake-wise. I'm making BBC Good Food's classic Christmas cake (with a few tweaks) I've never done Nigel's. I don't like hazelnuts in a cake and I am perturbed that there are no spices listed among his ingredients. There's a paragraph covering spices, I notice. Maybe I've missed something along the way.

I put walnuts in my cake. I like the soft crunch.

ExpertlyDecorated · 28/11/2024 10:45

My DCs and DH have varying combinations of neurodivergent conditions and general disorganisation and I have now scanned everyone's certificates onto shared cloud storage and everyone has a fireproof wallet for the originals.

RainbowZebraWarrior · 28/11/2024 11:15

sueelleker · 28/11/2024 10:45

I put walnuts in my cake. I like the soft crunch.

I've just had a slice of mine (I made a traditional round one and an 'extra' one for eating now). That soft crunch - as you so brilliantly describe it - of the walnuts makes it a huge winner for me.

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imp2007 · 28/11/2024 13:14

@piscofrisco your house is gorgeous what a lovely idea! My DS is 11 too - so nice to find an activity together that doesn't involve screens. We just started the latest Christmasaurus on Audible last night - a tradition we've had for the last few years listening to a chapter each evening together before bed I wasn't sure if he'd want to this year but do pleased he does!

I really want a pistachio croissant now - never come across one but they sound heavenly!!!

ElectiveAffinities · 28/11/2024 13:20

I’m massively behind on the thread so will go back to catch up, but I just wanted to post my picture taken earlier of a brilliantly sunny, freezing cold London morning and the beautiful church of All Souls, Langham Place, which has just put up its Christmas tree. The light isn’t great on the tree but it’s decorated with huge red velvet bows, and the church is wrapped in velvet ribbon like a giant present.

The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2
ElectiveAffinities · 28/11/2024 13:24

And just for a little shiver of historical echoes down the spine, this is the very same church photographed in 1841, when it was only around 20 years old - 2 years before Dickens had even thought of ‘A Christmas Carol’.

The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2
piscofrisco · 28/11/2024 15:05

I love that building. What a lovely old picture of it.
I've succumbed and been and bought my trees. The posh grande one from the garden centre and the secondary tree from Lidl. (Smaller and decidedly cheaper. And will probably last longer). Let the Trim Begin!

IDareSay · 28/11/2024 15:10

piscofrisco · 28/11/2024 15:05

I love that building. What a lovely old picture of it.
I've succumbed and been and bought my trees. The posh grande one from the garden centre and the secondary tree from Lidl. (Smaller and decidedly cheaper. And will probably last longer). Let the Trim Begin!

Going to buy our tree tomorrow; ridiculously happy about it!

GrannyWeatherwaxsBroomstick · 28/11/2024 16:09

No trees until next Friday. DH would rather wait until much later in December, but I need the tree up before my birthday 😁

LillianGish · 28/11/2024 17:21

Amid all the chat about twigs and branches, I remembered I had some twigs, given to me by a random man in the greengrocers - I have no idea why! Holding off getting the tree, DH always thinks we should get it ASAP to get full value and because real ones are so eye-wateringly expensive in central Paris. I think this needs to be weighed up against the fact it needs to last until January 6th and I don’t want it to be too desiccated towards the end. Thinking of waiting until DS gets home on December 12 so he can help decorate it - not sure DH will hold out that long. Please post your trees when they are up - I love seeing them all.

The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2
Seasidebubbles · 28/11/2024 17:43

Lovely display of Christmas lights in Scarborough harbour.

The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2
Bearsinmotion · 28/11/2024 17:46

@imp2007 We are also reading the Christmasaurus! Pleased to hear it your 11 year old DS still enjoys it, my DS is 9 so will hopefully still enjoy it for another couple of years!

piscofrisco · 28/11/2024 18:06

@Seasidebubbles Scarborough or Monaco?! Looks beautiful!

HannahDefoesChristmasHamper · 28/11/2024 18:18

Lovely sky in the woods yesterday, just catching the end of the day.

The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2
The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2
Gettingannoyednow · 28/11/2024 18:38

Thank you for sharing your story @Bearsinmotion.

@Bimblesalong I am not a musician at all (did Grade 8 piano at 18, stopped having lessons when I went to uni and never successfully returned). I have my grandmother's 1950s Kemble. It's very getting a little reedy now but I could never replace it. I bang out some old pieces now and again (and Christmas music). When I have spare time I'll take it back up.

Music is an important part of Christmas for me though. Tonight I feel like I'm really starting Christmas this year - in a minute I'm off out to hear the Royal Northern Sinfonia Winter Tour in my local church. It's a rugged/beautiful setting. Can't wait. I love that they come to us instead of having to traipse over to the Glasshouse as the Sage now seems to be called.

On Monday I'm popping into Newcastle to hear a couple of the Kanneh-Masons play.

I had a baby in January 2020 and between baby and pandemic I feel I'm only just getting back into actually going out places sometimes.

StrungWithSilverBellsAndFlowers · 28/11/2024 18:38

Wow @piscofrisco , your house is amazing! I love a snowy house / village scene, they always make me feel cosy and nostalgic.

I played cello as a girl @Bimblesalong it's such a beautiful instrument. I dropped off as a teenager after reaching grade 5 and never really picked it up again but having recently watched BBC's Young Musician of the Year it's inspired me to try again. I'm not young! quite the contrary, but I have read that learning an instrument is good for the brain so it might be worth a go.

My father loved woodwork and painstakingly made both a violin and cello at evening classes (led by a very accomplished instrument maker). It took him years and I now have the cello standing on the quarter-landing. So I have no excuse not to get my bow rehaired, the wonky bridge set right and crack open my cello books!

If we have this thread again next year, please come back and ask me how I got on........ 😉

The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2
RainbowZebraWarrior · 28/11/2024 19:17

Some amazing photos today!

I've just been for a short walk with DD, but the pavements are glistening, and I was a bit scared. Thankfully, my lovely DD held on to me. There are quite a few fairy lights up outside, now and some peeking out from behind windows from those that already have their trees up.

I love the image of you and your family singing around your grand piano, @Bimblesalong It sounds wonderful. I did play cello as a child, but I'm not a natural musician and it fell by the wayside after I tripped over my bow and broke it. I saw it as an opportunity to get out of something that I found too difficult. It makes me feel a little sad, but I learned later in life that I was dyspraxic and was possibly never going to master it anyway. That said, I love music and uphold my mother's tradition of preparing the sprouts and potatoes while Carol's at King's is on during Christmas Eve. I'm also I'm awe of those who can make musical instruments. What a talent and legacy!

I've also been meaning to say for a while that I want to send heartfelt love to those who will be spending Christmas without a parent or loved one. Especially for the fist year. My father was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease today after many weeks of tests. He has another scan on Saturday and a further one in a month's time to review progress. He spent Christmas 2018 in hospital having six stents fitted, so he does amazingly well to do all that he does with these health conditions. My mother also has colon cancer. She turns 80 on 3rd December, and he turns 77 on the 4th. I'm acutely aware that we never know when we will spend our last festive season with our loved ones. My sister has also been gone for 23 years now, and I think of her every time I light a candle. Life is very precious, and I try to treasure every moment.

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MovingCrib · 28/11/2024 19:35

Life is very precious, and I try to treasure every moment this made me tear up ❤️

Sorry to hear of your Dad's diagnosis today and also your Mum's Rainbow.

What a lovely thing to do when you light a candle - remembering your much loved sister 💐

RainbowZebraWarrior · 28/11/2024 20:13

Thank you @MovingCrib

Also, my thoughts on Stollen. Every time I've tried to make it, I have ended up with a largely stodgy, bread like creature and have not been best pleased. I've found that this recipe by Nigel fulfils my marzipan needs best.

I also have a wonderful memory of making marzipan fruits at school aged around 10. For oranges, it was; add orange food colouring to the marzipan, roll into balls, roll said ball around the smallest side of a cheese grater for the correct texture, then push a clove into the top for the final realistic flourish. I've been obsessed with marzipan fruits ever since.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marzipan_berry_cakes_91508

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Seasidebubbles · 28/11/2024 20:50

So sorry to hear of your parents’ health worries @RainbowZebraWarrior, it must be a great consolation to them that you live nearby, but a big responsibility for you.

AgathaMystery · 28/11/2024 20:52

@RainbowZebraWarrior ahhh I love marzipan fruits too! I was having a lovely chat with my friends about this topic on Sunday. They are German & always have the best marzipan in their house - which I had with an amazing coffee. It was divine.

I feel like this is the sort of thread where I can share this. My very very good (the German) friend has this devastating cancer and on Saturday I popped round to pick her up and she just wept on the doorstep as she is so poorly she can’t sit anymore (no body fat so too painful to sit). So I ran home and grabbed my sewing and we lay on her bed together for a couple of hrs setting the world to rights and holding hands and having a cry and a coffee and we had a very long chat about the magic of marzipan fruits! It was lovely. These are the moments I will get to keep forever.

If anyone likes watching animated Christmas films with their children then you have probably seen and loved her work. Her latest and last film is out on Netflix next Wednesday. I feel so lucky to know such a talented woman.

Anyway, I’ve droned on. Pulled pork from the slow cooker for us tonight with jacket spuds. Delicious.

Seasidebubbles · 28/11/2024 21:18

@AgathaMystery - what a lovely and thoughtful way to help a dear friend in distress, it must have been such a comfort to her.

RainbowZebraWarrior · 28/11/2024 21:28

@AgathaMystery I honestly don't know what to say, other than it was a lovely thing that you did for your wonderful friend, and how lovely that you lay next to her, held her hand, put the world to rights and cherished that time together ❤️

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AgathaMystery · 28/11/2024 21:36

I think I did it for me really. I’m not ready. We met when our babies were babies.

It’s a funny time of year isn’t it.

RainbowZebraWarrior · 28/11/2024 22:10

I think that's a pretty normal and very honest reaction. Yes, it's a funny time of year indeed. Not always a bad thing to make us reflect, though.

I can guess at the film, but please do mention it if you feel able. It would be lovely to watch it and think of her.

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