The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 3

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Welcome to thread three.

The Christmas Chronicles is the story of Nigel Slater’s love for winter. Taking you from 1 November all the way to early February, The Christmas Chronicles covers everything from Bonfire Night, Christmas and New Year to Epiphany. Throughout the season, Nigel offers over 100 recipes to see you through the build-up, the celebrations and the aftermath.

Anyone who hasn't yet joined in, there's still a big chunk of the book to go as you can see from the description above. It's in diary form with an entry most days and is easy to dip in and out of.

Anyway, welcome friends new and old. Pull a cosy chair closer the the fire, light a candle, pour a glass of something warming and settle in.

No CC entry again today. Here's one from Kitchen Diaries 3:

20 January

Rattle and putter

There's a steamed pudding on the stove, a porky version of the traditional steak and kidney. You can't hear a cake baking, but you can certainly hear a pudding steaming. The soft rattle and putter as it cooks, the sound of deep comfort and joy, or a mild dose of tinnitus depending on your outlook, is a subtle reminder that dinner, and a rib sticking one at that, is on its way.

DS returned to Birmingham yesterday signaling that the festivities are well and truly over - well they were anyway, but somehow DS’s continued presence made it feel as if they weren’t quite. So cold and dark here - I attempted to get the Nigel vibe with porridge and yoghurt for breakfast, but it didn’t really have thd cheering effect I was hoping for- I lack Nigel’s basement kitchen with a fireplace at either end and doors into the garden! Attaching a photo of a dog I saw yesterday waiting eagerly for his owner outside our local cafe as I returned from the airport which made me smile (and makes me smile again as I see him here!) Happy Monday to all.

Awww @LillianGish lovely doggie pic. I think he's saying "Hellooo! I say hello there. I have my ball here. Is it not time to go play catch now?" (or the French equivalent)

I have a poorly DD at home. I usually worry about keeping her off, but at the moment I don't give a fig.

I happened across a pickle in the sale down in Fenwick basement yesterday. I've been wanting one for a while, as so many have shared on here. The original price was silly mind!

I'm also loving this Neom candle which is nearing its end, but I'm so taken with the lovely shadows that it throws. As a result, I'm using it up today so that I can refill it with a lovely home made lime and lavender candle.

Catch up and 'housekeeping admin' day today.

@LillianGish I haz ball.

Sorry to hear dd is down @RainbowZebraWarrior absolutely agree re her first. My ds2 had time out due to his medical condition and associated immunity issues. School were good but I would have gone for anyone giving me trouble!

My treatment has been ok’d for Weds assuming bloods ok. Fingers crossed eh? I’ve had a lovely “week off” and done more baking and gardening, which has been super.

I’m finally accepting that the long awaited trip to Paris with ds for his birthday / special concert isn’t going to happen for me. I have a planning meeting with dh/ ds tomorrow before treatment clobbers me again so I can help them organise where to go and to work round food allergies / medical conditions. Sigh! I’ll be over some time this year - likely to depend what’s on at Garnier before it shuts for refurb. It’ll be good to think about future trips whilst I get through this final few weeks.

Bless you @Bimblesalong sorry that you're not going to be able to make the trip, but as you say, something to look forward to later in the year. Sending hugs.

My quest to remain festive into January has led to concern among my neighbours apparently. I've just got home to find a lady parked outside my house talking to a dog walker about how she thought I may have collapsed inside my house because my Christmas decorations are still up. I guess it's lovely that they were concerned, but it has also left me feeling a tad flummoxed.

@Bimblesalong sorry you're going to miss the trip because of your treatment.
Glas you've managed a bit of space for baking and gardening.

Sorry about your trip @Bimblesalong. But think of all the trips you can take once your treatment is done and dusted and you are well!
Sorry dd is under the weather @RainbowZebraWarrior. Dd2 is also again ill. She can't shake off this bloody virus she has had on and off for two months now. Back from school early and fast asleep. Not good.

Lovely pic @LillianGish

I had a great first day. I got to feed the sheep, then 300 chickens, and then grade the eggs for sale in the farm shop, alongside some lovely adults with LD, who were all so enthusiastic and happy to be there. It was pretty chilly though even with my thermals on.

@piscofrisco what a brilliant first day! 300 chickens sounds like a lot of nonsense ready to happen 😀

Sorry about your trip @Bimblesalong . Perhaps planning a great trip to celebrate when treatment is over would help.
@piscofrisco sounds like a wonderful first day!

If the stars align I’ll be at the ballet gala at Opera Garnier this autumn. Pre-covid, the performance was the same night as my 50th birthday and betogged in black tie we indulged in free flowing champagne, got damp eyed at the ballet and had a brilliant night. We’ve been once since and it is an amazing experience.

The whole thing is so flamboyant that it is probably nvn and does make me wonder what sort of performing arts experiences he attends. The opera house is smothered in flowers, many stuffed peacocks in the theme for “ours”. There is red carpet, many amazing evening gowns and all in all a rarified experience. We did not dine but looked on, like the townspeople peering through the glass at Versailles.

No CC entry again today, but I love the look of this potato, cheddar and rosemary pie that Nigel posted this weekend. I see he's been keeping warm in his basement kitchen due to some of the house being heated with antiquated systems.

www.theguardian.com/food/2025/jan/19/nigel-slaters-recipes-for-baked-potatoes-beans-and-chilli-and-potato-cheddar-and-rosemary-pie?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Do you sense the subtle curl at “shop bought” pastry? This looks absolutely delicious, thankyou for posting.

I hope to attempt a bergamot lemon drizzle cake
later today. My refurbished kitchenaid is a joy to have back in the kitchen.

Morning morning!

@LillianGish hope ads settles back in okay & the house (?apartment) isn’t too quiet without him.

@piscofrisco congrats on a first day! I don’t think there is much of a way around the chill on a farm TBH. Make sure you are warm when you get dressed - I do find that makes a massive difference (not allowed thermals at work so just have to freeze in tights and short sleeve dress made of god knows what).

@RainbowZebraWarrior not to wish you ill but if one were to collapse at home I do think under the Xmas tree would be the way to go. I too got some Fenwick’s decs in the same (many yrs ago on bond St) and yikes - I would not have paid £25 for a small glass chocolate bar. That was back in the day when the priciest Liberty bauble was £12 as well!

NVN activities today. Planning a school summer festival and bottoming out the under stairs cupboard. I will take before/after in case that’s anyone’s jam. It certainly is mine.

Haha. Yes, he also assumes shop bought to be frozen @Bimblesalong as he says "I suppose you could use shop bought and thaw it" One thing I like about Jamie Oliver is that he always says not to bother making your own puff pastry. The only time I ever did was at school. Nice to learn the technique, never used it again. It's shop bought for me today as the reason the pie caught my eye is due to the fact I have a roll in the fridge begging to be used. Bergamot lemon drizzle sounds divine ❤️

@AgathaMystery yes please to before and after shots. That's very much my bag. I started a declutter yesterday and did '30 things' so today is 29. I'm raring to go already. I also like the idea of going under the Christmas tree. Wasn't it Nigel who's earliest memory is of lying on his back looking up through the branches and lights? It would be a lovely final image!

DD and I have taken the snowflake and bauble decals off from the windows this morning lest anyone break into my house to attempt a rescue mission. Althpugh by the 'Christmas decorations are still up' rationale, I'd have likely been dead under the Christmas tree for a good fortnight by now...

I attended Tosca a few years ago at the Royal Opera House. I had a fairly good seat for bobbins somehow and was seated next to an absolute maeven of a woman who I’d like to be when I grow up. Ex ballet dancer dressed impeccably in the most beautiful yellow silk dress.

During one of the arias there was a scuffle from the orchestra stalls and an older person was attended to and stretchered out. The Maeven turned to me and whispered “Darling. What a way to go!”

I have sadly had quite an unsatisfactory day clearing out the guest room which is absolutely minute and is either a sweet cosy single room for a single guest, or a poor attempt at an office. We are going full office.

So no before/afters today although 3 min bags in the recycling, all Xmas gifts away, 2 coats to the dry cleaner and 2 huge bags to the charity shop. I couldn’t quite say goodbye to 2 lovely little rectangular decorative cushions. I have absolutely no use for them but they are so lovely and were a 21st birthday gift from an ex boyfriends mother. Laura Ashley - vintage now I suppose! Any ideas? They are reds and pinks and velvet on one side. So richly toned.

Love that story @Bimblesalong what a way to go indeed.

@AgathaMystery that still sounds quite productive. I'm terrible at getting rid of sentimental items. The cushions sound lovely. Could you not use them on your own bed or a lovely chair?

We got called into the GP surgery this evening as DDs resting heart rate is high (she has it checked at an appt every week) so we need to try and get to the bottom of that. Could be a multitude of things as she has many medical issues. It's possibly her thyroxine, but unfortunately she won't let them take bloods now after an utterly disastrous experience with Paediatrics.

Hope everyone is well this evening.

Can I just go "Wooooooo! I've made an adult!" Ds1 is 18 today and has turned into a lovely young man, even if I do say so myself.

No photo of him, but I did get this lovely picture of penshaw monument when picking up his cake. (NVN for a bought cake, but I'm still traumatised by the experience of making a rocket cake when he was 4)

I think opera/ballet could be v Nigel- an ultimate expression of an art form. What would be NVN is to not recognise the beauty that is in the everyday, alongside the extravagant, and looking down on "ordinary" as lesser. I think everyone in the thread is VNigel in that respect.

Congrats @BobBobBobbing and a very Happy 18th birthday to your DS. I always love driving past Penshaw Monument as it always looks so majestic. It's such an impressive landmark. As is our more modern Angel of the North (or Kevin, as we affectionately call him here) it signals home and something we are very proud of heritage wise. So much rich history in the NE of England.

Happy birthday to your DS @BobBobBobbing - mine had his 18th during lockdown so it was a rather subdued affair (he has made up for it since). We bought him a very expensive Japanese cooking knife as a gift (VN on reflection) which was almost confiscated when he tried to take it through security at the Eurostar on his way back to university in October. Fortunately he was with DH who persuaded the head of security to hold on to it for him and was there to meet him with it when he returned a few days later (above and beyond the call of duty and just one of the many reasons I love Eurostar so much).DS has had to survive in Birmingham without it - his culinary efforts impeded with a supermarket replacement knife (NVN!) Hope you can eventually reschedule your Paris trip with your DS @Bimblesalong - you’ll always have Paris, even though you’ll miss the concert there is bound to be some other splendid adventure in store for you.

I love the ballet. I used to go every summer to stay with my Grandma in London and she would always take me to the ballet. This was the sixties, so she was taking me to see people like Nureyev and Fonteyn. I was so lucky! The ballet gala at the Opera Garnier sounds amazing, maybe I should put it on my bucket list. One of my Christmas presents was tickets to go to our local cinema to see Swan Lake. Much appreciated, but not quite the same 🤣

Also, I've now decided I want to be a Maeven. I think it might be a bit of a forlorn hope though. When I was much younger I quite fancied the idea of being a scarlet woman, but I was far too conventional and well behaved for that. Next I flirted with the idea of being a hippy. I kind of drift in and out of that idea even now. In fact, I've just realised that today I have worn a tiered maxi in a floral design with Doc Martins, a long knitted coat (known by my DH as my lambing gown - I have no idea why!), fingerless gloves and a woolly hat - so that is quite hippyish really, and of course nothing to do with the fact that they are all really warm to wear and I have been working in a freezing antique shop today.

Talking of antique shops and lambing, which I kind of was, I just have to show you one of my latest purchases at auction. It's a 19th century pine child's lambing chair. It needs a bit of tlc, but I love it. I put it in the shop today, but I think it is most likely to sell at the antiques fair I run. I will be sad when it goes!

@Confusedmeanderings I love that chair and have been looking at something very similar in my local antique pine shop. I originally wanted a Monks bench or settle for my hallway, but the size of the lambing chair is perfect. I've been holding off as I really want to move house, but seeing your pic has made me want to go and see if it's still there.

22 January

Still waiting for the final CC entry, but for today I've just been reading Rachel Roddy's recipe for vegetable ragu pasta with parmesan cream which was published on this day last year. Here is is:

www.theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/22/vegetable-ragu-pasta-parmesan-cream-recipe-rachel-roddy

It has been NVN at all here for the past week or so - haven't picked up a book or checked in here at all. No real reason just January: back to work back to school (mocks, mixed) back to university (briefly ... she's coming home again this weekend) horrible weather, ran out of catering steam over Christmas and CBA really at the moment etc etc and I have to confess the hours I might usually spend reading have been occupied watching the traitors! I wonder whether Nigel secretly watches too - lots of people (myself firmly included) who consider themselves far too intellectual for 'normal' reality TV are hooked on that one! For somebody who generally really enjoys the winter, dark evenings and cosiness, I do find January quite hard going.
@Bimblesalong I hope today's treatment goes OK x