The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles readalong 2025 - Part 2

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello all, and welcome to Part 2. We Continue our CC journey.

For anyone who has not already had the pleasure, the annual Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles read along is a real time annual MN tradition.
The Christmas Chronicles (Notes, stories and 100 essential recipes for midwinter) book began on 1st November.

We continue to read along and comment with the book which is set out in diary form. I will make a post each day (or let you know if there is no entry on a particular day)

Some regulars to the thread already have the book. For anyone new, it's a challenge to see of you can pick up a bargain. Vinted has come up trumps in the past, as has ebay. A rare and precious charity shop find is always a bonus. Don't forget, you can also listen along to Nigel's dulcet tones via Audible.

So, welcome to old friends and new, and don't forget that reading by candle light is particularly enjoyable. Cire Trudon may be one of Nige's candles of choice, but it's somewhat pricey. We don't discriminate against other less expensive brands - even if they are NVN (Not Very Nigel)

Pull up a chair, light a candle, grab a cosy blanket and join in!

I love this thread. I too am behind on Nigel after a week alone with the children. However, I have bought a couple of patterns from Arne & Carlos, and am hoping to pick the beekeepers' brains, as we are setting up a hive for the spring. We are doing some courses, but I am concerned not to get it wrong.

There is very little calm in the house at the moment. It is absolute chaos following two scouting sleepovers, one performance of the Messiah and not a lot of sleep for anyone. Hopefully our lovely cleaner and nanny will get it back in shape today. I am trying to get my inbox back in shape!

There is a piano exam next week, two nativities the week after that, a carol concert the following week, all interspersed with different Xmas choral services and the madness at work that the budget is causing. Pianist is refusing to practice, no spelling, no homework, no reading, no times tables are getting done without a major battle.

Will try to get back on track this week - with Nigel, putting stuff away and some calm.

Your honey does sound very good value @RainbowZebraWarrior, our local farm shop charges a lot more than that. I was at Chain Bridge honey farm in the summer and stocked up there on honey and beeswax, they are also very reasonably priced and it is lovely honey. I make my own herbal medicines with the beeswax. It's such good stuff.

I made the quince mincemeat yesterday with some quinces I foraged from a tree nursery I recently visited. They had loads just lying around on the floor and said I could help myself when I asked them if they were going to use them. The mincemeat is lovely. I prefer the ones without suet. I mixed a big spoonful into my porridge this morning (VN).

Thanks for the reminder that I also need to buy a pudding basin! I'll check out my nearest charity shop as they always have lots of kitchen equipment in. Otherwise it'll have to be Amazon.

Struggled to sleep last night so I spent some time looking up local carol services and events - not decided on anything but I have a list of possibilities now. I did book myself onto a December full moon soundbath - I've never been to a soundbath, but been wanting to try for ages and it's a short walk from home - and a hot stone massage for the evening of 23rd when I finish work.

Ah we know Willie (the owner) at Chainbridge very well. He's about the same age as my Dad. Yes, their prices are very reasonable and we keep ours pretty much in line with theirs and always have (maybe 50p cheaper or so) I'd love to know more about your herbal stuff. I make a propolis tincture and also a propolis balm.

Ooh, mincemeat on your porridge sounds lovely. I've just done a bit of a stocktake and found that I have 9 jars still to use up from two years ago. I'm going to make some mince pies later, but then start using some of it up on porridge and in Scones and Shortbread. Any other ideas gratefully received (apart from mince pie vodka. Made that a couple of years ago, me and Dad sat down to taste it on Christmas day, looked at each other and said "Well this is bloody awful!")

@RainbowZebraWarrior mincemeat ice-cream? I make apple cake with a layer of mincemeat under the apple layer and that works very well (it's DH's favourite).

@RainbowZebraWarrior I've made mincemeat flapjack before - both mixed through the oats, and as a layer in the middle.

Mincemeat frangipane slices go down very nicely here. Done as a traybake with a shortbread-type base.

Ohhh both of those sound really lovely!

Pudding basins do seem to be in short supply this year. I searched every shop and charity shop I could think of looking for ordinary white ones - not a one to be found. I ended up with Pyrex, which is perfectly fine as far as the pudding is concerned, but doesn’t look as nice when wrapped in cellophane and tied with a red ribbon to give as a Christmas present. I’ll maybe have to tie a nice white table napkin round it to disguise the Pyrex!

yes mincemeat icecream is a hit here too. I find mincemeat without the suet pretty versatile. Think I've had it in trifle, too. If I recall, that was another Nigel recipe.

I use the beeswax in ointments and balms, combined with some herb infused oils usually. I make beauty products with them, too. All just for personal use or gifts for friends if they need something. There are lots of folk recipes for herbal healing and we've been trying them out at home over the years. I use them for mild or chronic issues, anything serious or new I go to the GP. The batch of quince syrup I made last night will be used for digestive complaints. It has been shown to have potential for calming acid reflux, alongside a host of other digestive issues. We've been using it at home for years and it seems to help. Not much of a scientific study, but if anyone else gets acid reflux out there and has a bottle from their culinary efforts, it's worth giving it a go. There are clinical trials out there but they are small number trials so nothing conclusive as always. There's no money in evaluating herbal medicines and they're very difficult to do (and also difficult to disguise the medicine so it's never a double blind trial).

I met Willie - he was a character. He spoke to us about his and his family's experience and all the challenges the bees are facing. Fascinating!

This sounds amazing!

If you find headphones/ear buds uncomfortable I can heartily recommend bone conductor headphones. I love them, they don't sit in the ear so are much more comfortable. So much so that in Sept 24 when they were destroyed after I was out in a huge rain storm DH bought me a new pair 2 weeks later for an early christmas!
I am happily working from home today listening to a Christmas playlist that simply would not be tolerated 😆.

@RainbowZebraWarrior if you are making apple crumble stir a few spoonfuls of mincemeat through the apple before you add the topping. I often make crumble to use up old fruit before the next veg box arrives, and all sorts of stuff gets chucked in there to liven it up.

Just catching up as it is properly wintery here now! On that note, someone warned me that the book Wintering wasn't what I might expect. I ignored the advice but they were very right, I didn't enjoy it at all!

I was at Aldi earlier and following posters on here had a good sniff of all their candles, but they were all very chemical in scent, so that was disappointing! It may not be Aldi's fault though, I had a nasty strain of Covid earlier in the year and I don't think my sense of smell is fully recovered 🙁

Hello 👋 I'm new to the thread, just caught up with both threads.
I'm fairly new to CC and hadn't tried any recipes, until this weekend. The baked pears with marmalade and ice cream were delicious!

I do have a question, if you don't mind me asking.
I'm getting ready to make the apricot Brandy recipe. I really do not like liquorice/anise flavour at all. If you add the star of anise, can you taste it? If so, is there something else I could use instead? I figured I'd ask the experts!

@HazelNuttyElf yes it's strongly anise-y. You could use cinnamon stick instead?

Oh and also, I so love the idea (and smell) of mincemeat, but cannot bear the texture of raisins, currants etc. I am always slightly jealous of people tucking in and enjoying it. The quince one sounds amazing!

I haven't picked up Wintering since reading the warnings on here. Poor DH keeps asking if I'm enjoying it. I really do need to give it a fair chance. On a related note though, I was looking at Winter by Val McDermid in our local bookshop - this looks right up my street!

Had a successful Christmas shopping day yesterday and also picked up a St Eval Winter Thyme candle to treat myself. I love going into the city when the shops are all christmassy - but by December it is far too busy for me so I probably won't journey in again, at least not on a weekend.

Any you can recommend in particular @persisted ?

I’m on the second pair from Shokz.

The previous pair only died after I was caught in a cloud burst several miles from home, it was hot so I was only wearing a vest top and leggings so no way to protect them. I dried out but they never did!Before that I had happily worn them out running in all weathers, so they are generally water resistant.

I fear they come under NVN, but it is nice to potter about listening to the audio book/radio drama of one’s choice and still be able to hear what’s going on.

Thank you for this! I do have cinnamon sticks, which is what I was thinking I'd end up using. Thank you for replying.

@HazelNuttyElf you're welcome!

I didn't get time to look for candles today but I did see one on my way through TK Maxx - Turkey and stuffing!

@ProfessorIDareSay I use shockZ open water swim headphones for my daily swim. I was on classic fm the other day, talking about how I like to listen to their channel in the water!

Also a huge fan of shockz . I never go anywhere without them. I love being surrounded by music and with bone conducting headphones it really is like surround sound, like the music is playing but life is still going on at the same time. I used to hate the isolation of music being pumped straight into my ears plus I found both in-ear and over-ear headphones extremely uncomfortable. Shockz have changed my life.