The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Welcome all new and old friends.

The journey continues.

I love a gong bath. Haven’t done it for ages (the last person I went to was way too far along the woo spectrum even by the standards of people who do gong baths so I didn’t go back 😂😂)

@Bimblesalong thank you. We are both very very excited now 😁.

Thinking about candles @IlovetoKnitandRead - a few suggestions: I love the White Company Winter candle a classic Christmassy one also mentioned as a favourite on here by a few people, and St Eval Winter Thyme (described as ‘uplifting scents of rosemary and thyme with earthy wood notes’. Also White Company Fir Tree smells as if you have a freshly cut Christmas tree in the room. If you’re buying yourself a treat it’s nice to be able to smell them before committing so you’re not disappointed, and that’s part of the treat!

Been offline for a few days, got back and it took ages to find you all. Thanks for the new thread @RainbowZebraWarrior

With my mum for a few days - she will be 88 a few days before Christmas. She always used to be a big Christmas fan, but has really slowed down over the past year and has lost a bit of her Christmas mojo. I have made her a Christmas cake which I will ice when we return for the holiday itself and have just been helping her put up an artificial tree in her conservatory (not generally an artificial fan, but this one is white and covered with glass and silver ornaments so looks quite magical through the glass). Much earlier than she would normally allow, but plans to keep curtains closed and lights off until what she considers a more acceptable date! Trying to sprinkle a bit of the Nigel magic and take the pressure off (it doesn’t help that she lives in a rather large house so trying to get her to focus on a few nooks). We’ve actually been having a lot of fun and quite a nostalgia fest going through all the boxes, but tinged with a little melancholy with the feeling of the baton being passed.

Loving all the photos - beautiful landscapes, and comforting bakes. Cake is such a joy, is it not? I could live far more easily without chocolate than without cake.

We have a very old Panasonic bread maker that continues to provide us with lovely loaves, some twenty-plus years after we bought it. Since reading 'Ultra Processed People' we have used it more than ever.

@Gettingannoyednow your salad sounds amazing, I love stilton and nuts in a salad.

@daliesque saying goodbye to an old dog and hello to a pup is such a shock, isn't it? I remember the land shark stage very well, and without affection. One of our Border Terriers managed to chew a hole in the kitchen wall. Congratulations on your forthcoming wedding, how exciting, and yes - VVN.

Encouragement to all those living with tricky teenagers. Our three are all in their 30s now, with children of their own, and it's hard to believe these delightful, civilised, responsible adults were once so monstrous challenging.

For the first year ever (I'm ashamed to admit) I plan to make a Christmas pudding. I have been poring over Nigella's, Delia's and of course Nigel's offerings. Can anyone enlighten me on these or indeed any other tried and trusted recipes? TIA 🙂

Here's our old boy in his favourite snoozing place.

Thank you @daliesque having recently had our Ddog pts your post really made me smile 😊
Not quite ready for our own land shark yet but maybe one day.

Your wedding venue sounds wonderful, hope your day is as special as it can be.

@StrungWithSilverBellsAndFlowers whilst I may be totally NVN with regard to mincemeat, I always make my own pudding. Not just my pudding either - over the years the requests from friends and family have grown and now I usually make about 7 or 8. I use a Delia recipe from a book so old it is from before she was on the telly, but I sneaked a look at the recipe on her website and.its pretty much the same. We don't like peel so I sub extra sultanas for that, plus we really like sultanas so I usually bung a few more in. The really key bit is when you are adding whichever spirit you decide to use. It is really important to measure it out exactly, and add it to the mixture. Then think sod it and tip a really generous extra slug in!

Oh, I adore borders ❤️.
Ours is 15 at Christmas and is really starting to show her age 😭

Give yours a cuddle from me!

They're fabulous little dogs aren't they? Although ours is actually enormous, way over the breed standard (which is how we got to have him, but that's another story).

I have not made a Christmas pudding for years so I am in a similar position to you @StrungWithSilverBellsAndFlowers (what a lovely username).

I plan to use Delia's recipe with @Confusedmeanderings' excellent adjustments.

18 November

Surf and Turf

It is a rare day when I don't make something to eat. If I am going out to dinner, then I will make lunch, because I can't get all the way through to eight in the evening. My fishmonger has pieces of hot snoked salmon, cut from the thick end of the fillet. I bake them with new potatoes and dill.
While the oven is on, I test a quick recipe that I feel might be fun. A sort of toad in the hole for two, with chubby cocktail sausages, and a handful of sour red cranberries from the freezer to offer a sharp contrast. A keeper.

@daliesque your wedding sounds fabulous!
And loving the doggo pics. Our poorly boy is very fed up now. He obviously feels better enough to want to get up and run with the others but isn't allowed. 50 days to go for him but I'm terrified he will escape me and mess up his recovery-not least because I don't have another 5 grand to fix him if he breaks.

Rainy and cold here but of course no where near frost or snow. I'm thinking of packing up the car and driving north to see my mum (the snow), as I'm so fed up with the uninteresting dankness here.

Off to work for the morning then a friend coming for the afternoon. Then I WILL make the damn pork with miso as failed (again) yesterday.
Did have a lovely time in Sostrene Green however. There will be a return trip before Christmas I think.
A Happy Monday to all and here is our puppy in his new jumper looking cheery.

Morning all, poor doggo having to stay in @piscofrisco , love the little doggy-jumper though, very cosy.

I do make pudding but only in tiny quantities, I use Nigel’s recipe and quarter it, the DCs don’t like it and the rest of us (me, DH and DParents) will only want it on the 25th, not lots of leftovers. I don’t like the dark, traditional shop bought puddings, but we used to always go to my aunty for Christmas Day and she made a light, spongier version which I liked, Nigel’s is not dissimilar.

Went for a walk through a local nature reserve yesterday. weather was glorious (finally), lots of colour and lots of ducks

Ahaha I can just imagine!

Hi to everyone! Hope the day has started well for each of you. ✨✨✨

Haven't managed to read yet - building work has been all-consuming this past week. Hoping I can bring some order to the sitting room today in which case I'll be able to enjoy a long reading and relaxation session this evening.

The salmon dish today is one that DH and I both really like (being Scandinavian a love of dill is practically built into me!) but we only eat wild caught and sadly that's really hard to come by.

I've still not made anything from the book this year and truthfully I've found it so nice not to be beholden to it. I make things like brisket and so on quite often anyway in the colder months, but not having to coordinate timings to the chapters is much nicer especially with everything else that's going on.

I think I saw some references to my name earlier in the thread or maybe in the last one? So I'll try to read back later and reply. I'm not being rude/ignoring, I promise - I just can't hold very much in my head at once, especially now that I've not slept well for the past 3 weeks or so. But the last 2 nights have been a bit better so fingers crossed!

I usually use Nigella's pudding recipe because it's dark, partly due to prunes like Nigel's dark recipe.

This year I bought a waitrose Number 1 pudding wen there was 20% off. Because fatigue 😩 and cutting myself some more slack.

Am trialling low histamine diet but hoping to enjoy a Mince pie Christmas Eve.

Not saying you should make a dark pudding. Just adding to was @ExpertlyDecorated said. Some recipes are lighter and some darker, more treacly, richer with alcohol so might not suit everyone?. So it depends....

I'm on a low histamine diet. It's one of the reasons I can't do fermented stuff etc. The amount of people who swear by so many things for x,y,z health reasons all of which usually make me ill is depressing. Also hear you on the fatigue front. Are you trialling low histamine because you suspect MCAS by any chance? Ignore me if not.

Yes, it's good that there are so many variations. DH loves the dark treacly type but usually gets some at a work Christmas meal or similar. I prefer my fruit cake light as well, not like the very dark Christmas cake I grew up with, I don't like treacly stuff at all and always sub out treacle or dark muscovado sugar if it's in a recipe.

@ThatRealFawn Many happy returns my lovely. I hope your cake turned out delicious ❤️

I'm just properly catching up after an exhausting day in York yesterday and meant to send a warm welcome to @daliesque

I am never doing York at Christmas ever again. It was awful. To be honest, since Christmas markets are everywhere now, they are all virtually identical anyway. They were a novelty in the UK 20 years ago. It's just four brownie stalls, four fudge stalls both of which have people breathing and coughing all over the goods, mucho overpriced alcohol based offerings, pies, jams and cheeses. There were one or two more individual type stalls and I got some cute candles. The crowds were vast and horrible, people are rude and stop dead in front of you and won't let you past even though they can see you're disabled etc. DD got a few bits in two independent shops, but hated Søstrene Grene (don't blame her, it was rammed which made the one way system claustrophobic) and she got one thing from Flying tiger. The queue was too big for Betty's tearooms so that was out which was a shame as we were looking forward to that.

We were exhausted and fed up after two hours so made our way back to the train station and a booked an earlier train on the app. Immediately after booking it showed as being an hour delayed and seats weren't together. We decided to wait two hours at the train station for our original train instead. When that came, madness ensued. We couldn't get on as people were standing in carriages. The guard wouldn't let me and DD on (because naturally everyone else had bullied themselves in front of us) DD went full AuDHD meltdown and smashed her bags onto the platform, screamed and pulled at her hair. By this time, I was in tears. The guard gently asked why we hadn't asked for assistance. I don't know was my reply. I think I can manage. I know we struggle when things go wrong. Maybe I just hope things don't go wrong. Mad, I know. It's just all so hard to accept sometimes. Asking for help makes you feel doubly shit in a world that doesn't notice you struggling 99% of the time anyway.

The guard got us on a train 35 minutes later and we could barely speak as we were both totally overwhelmed. I got us off the train, on the metro, into the car once back at the metro station car park, drove home, gritted our path, locked the door behind us, fed the cat, got some snacks and took us both off into my comfy bed to watch old Miranda Christmas specials at 6.30pm. We were asleep by 9.

Anyway, sorry for the rant and essay. All good now. Nothing was broken. We will recover. Lessons learned.

I did take this photo, and I also really enjoyed a packet of Burger King mini hash browns which we grabbed before boarding the train yesterday morning. (I know Nigel isn't against a bit of fast food himself now and again) This is what DD bought from Flying Tiger which DD has positioned accordingly. 😁

Oh good Lord @RainbowZebraWarrior that was not the hoped for lovely day. Small thank goodness for help from the guard but FFs human beings are awful sometimes. I hope you guys get the respite you need today.

I’ve been to physio, which was lovely and another first for me as in addition to treating the dodgy shoulder, she showed me how to massage the surgery site 😳. Something else off the never have I ever game! This will apparently help with healing, shape and getting any feeling back. I feel like I’ve had a very off kilter but lovely spa morning!

Relaxing with some knitting and a brew. I have bought nvn marks’ puff pastry pies so may indulge.

Sorry you had a rubbish day Rainbow. I think I would find that stressful so I can only imagine what it’s like for a ND person. Hope you’re both OK now.

And agree re the UK Christmas markets - lovely idea but never anything on them I actually want to buy!