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 got that book last year @PricklyBoband enjoyed it as a companion read to CC.
I’ve always fancied the poppy seed cake but I am a perennially useless baker however hard I try. I might give the recipe to my Mum who is a great baker and see how she gets on!

I'm really behind with CC this year (in that I haven't even opened it yet!!) We're moving house next week so everything is a bit crazy. I've never tried the orange and poppy seed cake but that's definitely on my list to try soon - once I've got used to my new oven! I quite often make the orange marmalade cake from Nigel's Kitchen Diaries - that's a lovely one.
Beautiful crisp sunny day here. Spent a chilly morning at a local playground with DD3 (Not Very Nigel). Picked up some cooking apples which had been left out to take so I'm just stewing them up with some cinnamon now (Bit More Nigel). Kitchen smells good.

Afternoon all,

Just catching a few minutes to escape into a more peaceful corner of the internet.

@Seasidebubbles sorry to hear of your DH's diagnosis, hope the Lake District is everything you need.

I'm sorry, @Seasidebubbles

Today is a very beautiful day full of sunshine- going to rain again tomorrow but for now it's wonderful. On my way home from work. I really really love going home through the city in the winter when everyone is getting ready for Christmas.

Edit to add that I was KittyRannaldini on the previous thread!

I am mostly keeping up with the book, but not posted. Really love reading everyone’s posts and seeing your photos.
I do fancy baking the poppy seed cake at some point.
I baked my Christmas cake the weekend before last, so it had its first feed yesterday!

I too, have fallen behind. Will try to catch up this week. I am utterly exhausted and at a bit of a loss with my eldest (only 8) who seems to hate me. Looked at boarding schools for his particular interest today. Don't think I could bring myself to do it, even if it were in his best interests, but that is how demoralised I am - that not being with his family might actually make him happier.

Still, there are worse things going on in the world, and I must remember that. So that's my place marking achieved!

I've dragged the lemon tree we were gifted this summer (you remember when it was the temperature of Venus outside) because the temperature has dropped. Expected it's mid-November (I am not going to complain about the weather). I was told "it's ok it will survive the UK winter 'so long as it's not a harsh one' if you wrap it up") what sort of instructions are they?

It's currently where the Christmas tree will go, so I have about a month to find a temporary other home in our (not big) house whilst the Christmas tree is there - because everyone will be upset if I kill this lemon tree I wasn't sure of when they dragged it home.

It has one lonely lemon on it at the moment, that looks ready to go, couple of smaller green ones, I am envisioning that it should go mostly in G&Ts. Does it need actual sunlight for the others to grow? I am not installing growing lamps they are really expensive to run and lemons are quite cheap really.

So we are having left over roast dinner meat, mash and beans this evening, NVN, but Nigel doesn't have to babysit a lemon tree as far as I can figure out. And if he did I am certain he has a bigger house without any teenagers in it.

I was working from home today and used the lunch time to mix the Nigel’s Christmas cake. It was so lovely to crack on with the work while Christmas smells were wafting in air. I had a jar of apricots in brandy from last winter, the fruit were put to good use in the cake. Now I am in the sitting room with a Christmas candle on waiting for DH to make a curry from yesterday’s roast leftovers. Life’s pretty good 😌

Right, confession time, in a NVN mode but it is really, another book arrived today... I found a copy of Delia's How to Cheat on Vinted and the reason I wanted it was I am going to spreadsheet my cupboards and freezer and she has excellent lists of things that I reach for and realise are not there... so it is a bit Nigel in sorting out the cupboards. (As I have now committed the spreadsheet to writing, I will have to do it, you can all check on me next November.)

I am on my own and find One is Fun still really useful albeit 40 yrs since I had it in my first flat in London. In fact, it was part of an essential books pack I had back then, along with Shirley Conran's Superwoman which was a lifesaver for household chores and Katherine Whitehorn's Cooking in a Bedsitter. I learnt the best day to go to a Dry Cleaner's (if done on premises) was Tuesday as they changed the fluid on a Monday, how to change fuses and plugs etc, I was a woman with a flat head and a Philps back then and I was not afraid to use them. I live in a Victorian conversion and each of the chaps who live in the building have knocked on my door to borrow my tool kit!

I am currently re-piecing part of my quilt top as someone did that thing where they thought they knew what they were doing and got it sewn in the wrong way around... what an absolute idiot, so Nigel will calm me down and get me focused tonight.

Hello everyone. My copy of CC arrived a few days ago. What a joy, loving it so far. It's a treat for me as I recover from surgery for a broken leg.

We were going to have the sweet potato and kale bubble and squeak tonight. DH set off to the veg patch to dig up our first ever sweet potatoes. When he pitched up at the back door with a wheelbarrow, hopes were high for a great harvest! Sadly, the sweet potatoes were each about the size of a fat thumb so we had to abandon any thoughts of the bubble and squeak. Next year ...

Has anyone made the rhubarb trifle? That looks perfect for Christmas day.

What a fabulous selection of books @LatteLady!

I'm not sure I've ever had panforte. I do very much like panettone though, and I'm now considering today's toasted sandwich for Christmas day breakfast.

@HornungTheHelpful sorry to hear that you're struggling with your 8 Yr old. Sending gentle hugs to you as it sounds very difficult x

@LatteLady I loved 'How to Cheat' by Delia. It was properly breakthrough at the time, as was 'How to Cook' She was slated for both in the press (even though it was a fact that many folk didn't know how to boil and egg!) I was once off sick for a week in December around 2007 and did nothing but watch Christmas episodes of Delia on the (newish as it was then) Food Channel. She was amazing with everything she did and I think Jamie O has largely, successfully, copied her formula.

Hope the house move goes well @Markknopflersheadband and love the user name. MK comes from my neck of the woods, so I've always been a big fan.

Lovely to hear of much baking of Christmas cakes. There really is nowt better than the smell!

I'm having chicken, pigs in blankets, potato dauphinoise and gravy for dinner. I can highly recommend Waitrose Honey and Rosemary pigs in blankets for the meat eaters on the thread. I've been so disappointed recently with the usual salty supermarket offerings.

So cold here tonight. I've salted my garden path and driveway. Went on the adjacent farmland just before sunset with Dad and Belle (our Cocker) and by time we got home just after 4pm it was only 2 degrees. A low of -2 is forecast here tonight. I've got 3 candles lit, the candle lamp on and the stove on. Alarm is set 20 mins earlier than usual to allow for car defrosting.

Here's a pic of 'Wor Belle' sitting patiently waiting for her master to catch up with us on our walk tonight.

Ooh I get 'wor' after having it explained to me at St James's Park. Something to do with their fans.

I think CC is meant to be read in wodges - much like cake. Very Nigel.

I'm further up the coast and snow is forecast from tomorrow night. Proper cold today.

@LatteLady I’m another big Delia fan, I have owned most of her books over the years and was over the moon when she replied to my question on a MN webchat many years ago. I used to love watching her on TV, so calm and the recipes always worked. My Dad sent me off to uni with one flathead and one Phillips screwdriver which came in very hand over the years, he also bought me a hammer drill when I bought my first house which I still have 30 years later.

No frost her yet but the gritters are out and it’s very chilly out there. Just been catching up with Nigel on audible.

Well if we're name dropping, I'll add that Nigel himself answered my question on a MN webchat years ago 🤩

@Seasidebubbles I am so sorry.

I have been AWOI, this weekend (absent without internet), went away for the weekend to the Welsh coast to help celebrate MILES birthday. The DC were besides themselves, able to play on the beach in their wetsuits. I stored up fresh air and sunshine, to last me through this week. I have 180 GCSE science papers to mark 😓

Some lovely photos and food. I am still gently putting stuff into cupboards and have a small Nigel section on a little bookcase holding some of the more frequently used cookbooks.

We had a trip to the beach and shared a bag of chips after I’d been for some medical stuff, it was golden hour and very pretty.

I must add a VVN moment from the day which amused me. The new treatment I’m going on means that I must not consume grapefruit or pomegranate. I had a moment, and went to check if there was pomegranate included in the Santa Maria novella melangrano soap or body oil, which I’m enjoying so much. My oncology nurse was so patient and, I think, knows my quirks by now. She reassured me that trace levels would be fine (& I think I’m fine, having read the ingredients lists!). I am laughing at myself (as ever!) but little treats matter.

Would love to know what wintering is like - just got this as an e book from the library but not started yet. Like you thought it looked Nigel adjacent.

I couldn't get on with the narration of Wintering on the audiobook but did really like how she describes the concept.

Pleased to see that Beth Kempton's Calm Christmas podcast is back for this year - will probably doze off to that several times over the next few weeks.

Same. It reminded me of what is now coined as 'Misery Lit' (see also Midnight Chicken) and then went on to suggest The Salt Path which I actively avoided even before the controversy.

Sorry to all who may like these books. They just aren't for me.

I've scrumped some of a neighbours Quinces tonight. I did knock on her door first, but I think she's away for her annual sabbatical in Malaysia so they were fair game (I've known her since I was 10, I'm sure she won't mind)

I read wintering in the early days of chemo last year and it resonated, although felt a little too navel gazing.

@martha79 thanks for the podcast recommendation, I’ll look it up.

Hi @lucysmam. I am an inveterate lurker but I just wanted you to know that whenever I check out Mumsnet on a Sat morning I always hope to see your thread “what’s everyone up to today?” I love a glimpse into other people’s lives and they are generally filled with family and home.🥰 Thanks for all those happy threads.