The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Welcome all new and old friends.

The journey continues.

Joining you, with a Baby Guinness clicks glasses

Busy day here as we’ve been packing to head to Vienna tomorrow- storm permitting, but now DH and DD are getting ready to go out for a Christmas social for a club they both belong to so I’ve got a glass of wine and I’m ready to watch some NVN Christmas films in peace whilst burning one of my new advent tea lights.

I had been going to ask about your Vienna trip as I had the 7th in my head. I hope your flight isn't disrupted. Enjoy your wine and films. We've got The Holiday earmarked for this weekend.

Hope everyone stays safe. We have a slightly different weather front hitting us right now here on the NE coast, but the weather warnings for elsewhere look very scary. I've moved all our bins and taken the wreath off the front door.

Ooh @RainbowZebraWarrior we're heading up to the NE tomorrow, all the way from Somerset. At least, that's the.plan - we are in the area for the red weather alert so we might have to delay setting off if it's really wild. Sounds like we'll be heading into wild weather up there!

7 December

A cracker, a quacker and a Danish charm

Roast duck, and the invariable ensuing fug of smoke, is just the thing for a winter's night. In fact, there is no other time of year I eat it. The juices and fat that come from the bird are too full of promise to sit in the bottom of a roasting tin. By stuffing the bird with potatoes, breadcrumbs or grains you can sponge up and exploit much of that goodness.

iirc you're coming up to Alnwick? (I may have misremembered) Safe journey to you. We have a lot of rain forecast for the next couple of days along with the winds, although we are just in a yellow warning.

Yes, Alnwick. I'm really looking forward to it!

Good luck with your trip Confused. I am also in Somerset and it’s very windy here and due to get worse later.

I’ve got the St Eval tea light advent calendar too and have been enjoying them, although I’m a couple behind. I really liked the Walled Garden one. Haven’t opened it yet today so looking forward to seeing what it is…

Waving from windy Cheshire. Interested in updates from those travelling as ds2 is going from Cheshire to Warwickshire later today and I’m concerned about his drive in this weather. Safe journey from Somerset to Alnwick - extra snacks and drinks in the car for you!

@RainbowZebraWarrior how’re you doing? Have you had advice? Hopefully you’re comfortable.

@piscofrisco hoping the land of lurgy is improving.

@ChessieFL I’m really enjoying it. I’ve not burned all of mine yet but open on the day and then leave them in the calendar so there is a reminder of which one is which. DH has a “grind” coffee calendar which he is also enjoying - we’re like little squirrels checking our stash of nuts as we seek the doors and open together each day.

It’s going to be an interesting walk for our elderly dog today (& probably fairly short). We’ll need to pop down to ds1’s and get eyes on his roof to check it out- he had it replaced before he moved in and hopefully it’s held. He has picked the right weekend to be over in Italy!

@Bimblesalong Not too bad thanks. I have an appointment with the breast surgeon on Monday morning, so I'll see what he says.

Also, I love this:

"we’re like little squirrels checking our stash of nuts as we seek the doors and open together each day"

@Bimblesalong yes I’m leaving mine in the calendar too if I’m not burning them so I remember which is which! Also keeping a separate note of any that I’d like to buy again. When I bought the calendar I got a voucher for 15% off so may stock up on the ones I like.

I have a lovely Christmas tree shaped tea light burner which I love using so am really enjoying having more lovely tea lights giving me an excuse to use my burner. I bought it in Poland a few years ago and keep it out all year round as I love it so much.

Also keeping a separate note of any that I’d like to buy again - I've been doing the same @ChessieFL. It turned out that I absolutely loved Biscuit, but Lavender gave me a headache. I've been keeping up and burning a tealight a day - distinctly UN Nigel as it has meant my Trudon has gone by the wayside for a bit. I had had lunch with a friend yesterday who served confit de canard - presciently Nigel as it turned out. I never cook duck at home myself so it was a bit of a treat. We also discussed crackers - which are less readily available here in Paris (though slightly more so than they used to be). There's something very reassuring about being unintentionally Nigel - or even instinctively Nigel - depending on how you look at it!

Good morning everyone!

Beautiful photos, and lovely thread, as always 😊

Sorry to read so many of you have been unwell, I hope everyone's on the mend now?

@Bimblesalong I hope your treatment went well. Is the cold cap working for you?

@LillianGish your photos of the decorations (paaaaages back!) were stunning. I would love to browse there.

I've just caught up with the thread after cancelling our planned trip to Harrogate for the Christmas market there. The weather's set to be very windy & storm Darragh had completely bypassed me somehow 🤷‍♀️

I'm planning a festive kitchen weekend instead - I'll make a stollen and set dd1 on with making pastry for mince pies then assembling them. I may decorate the cake for my friend's dad too. & I'll put my food shop list into Tesco.

Hopefully there'll be plenty of time for my crochet church to go with my village. The rest is patiently waiting to be assembled when the church is ready!

Hmmm...I have a small stollen based problem! I don't think I have any suitable alcohol for the fruit. Unless you all think Southern Comfort would be ok maybe?

Good morning everyone. Safe travels to
Those braving it today, be careful!!
I made it out for my birthday dinner and have woken up feeling like death, but worth it-so lovely to see some old friends and get out of the house a bit.

I've finished trimming inside now, pics below. Very pleased with how my twigs came out, though they don't show up so well in the pictures.

Was going to do the outside today but won't now due to the weather. Will spend the day making endless cups of tea for my parents and watching football with my Dad. He can barely see of follow what's going on but he likes to watch it with us as he took both me and the DD's to our first games and bought us our season tickets etc. The best memories are of football days with him .

I think Southern Comfort would be fine. Lots of cake recipes use whiskey?

And another three. I've gone for a bright sort of Christmas Fiesta look in our dining area. No one likes it but me but I care not. They are going to *really enjoy it on Christmas Day when I bring out the fed he sombreros

*festive sombreros.

@lucysmam I should I think southern comfort would be fine for the stollen

@HannahDefoesChristmasHamper yes, that's true about whiskey!

Thanks both of you, Southern Comfort it is!

Quite pleased we cancelled today now, looking outside. It's very rainy & the wind's picking up a little now 🌧

Hope everyone is OK in the wind and storms! We are in the west Midlands and have lost many panels off our greenhouse, much to DH's annoyance.

Dh is making chicken tikka masala which we will take to eat with friends this evening, and once he's finished in the kitchen we are going to pop in to a local church Victorian Christmas fayre where another friend has a stall.

Have a great day everyone, and stay safe.

The dough's on it's first prove & oranges drying as much as they dry on kitchen roll, while I wait for an empty socket.

Dd1 reminded me that Nigel's recipe in CC makes a very large stollen, so I think we'll make it, then half it before the second prove. And freeze half ready to bake at a later date.

There's never enough kitchen sockets using thereLucysmam?

Weather not great here. Was supposed to meet a friend for coffee but between wind and rain and now ds down with COVID I've cancelled. He's in the middle of Nat 5 prelims exams too 😭

I meant 'to use is there?' sorry

@MovingCrib nope! Certainly not in my stupid kitchen <sigh>.

While we're busy in the kitchen, does anyone have a trusted plain biscotti recipe please? Dd2 would like to have a go again but my last attempt was very wet!