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!

Darn it. Lost my post. Huff.
Hornung, don’t despair of your DS. This was the worst age for mine. He’s almost 30 now and lovely. Didn’t end up in prison or various other fates I worried about back in the day.

This morning did a very early walk to allotment to pick up some winter greens. The water trough was covered with ice, the sky had some pink speckles, and I brought full shopping bag with kale, pak choi, spinach and herbs. Every autumn there is a moment where I consider giving it up after a busy summer break f gardening, but come spring I am twitching to get started. I had the “giving up mood” first few weeks of November, but bringing all that food back home, I already know I will keep going next summer again.

all the talk about Nigel’s posh soap put me on slippery path of placing order for some Santa Novella goodies for DH Christmas present. The parcel arrived today and everything is so nicely packaged.❤️

The temperature has plummeted - much chillier today. DS decided to mark the occasion by rustling up some ginger shots (fresh ginger, lemons and apple juice blitzed in the Nutribullet then chilled in the fridge). He swears by it for warding off colds. I commented that it looked like a very small serving - I realised why when I had a sip, it nearly blew my head offf. Homemade drinks always give me Nigel vibes. Surprisingly invigorating!
ETA your DH is a v lucky man @Strawberryfield12

Oh Aldi candles are on! That’s my evening sorted then!

Since looking up Nigel's favourite soap, I'm getting adverts for it on practically every web page I visit!

I think I'll make today's salmon recipe at some point - got a friend visiting next weekend who loves fish, so would be a good one for then.

I’ve had a stressful and busy few days so an early night catching up with these threads is just what I needed. I did some VN cupboard sorting yesterday in preparation for Xmas, was shocked how many things had gone out of date but quite excited to stock up on all sorts of nice herbs and spices and things. I was listening to the audiobook as well, trying not to get too far ahead but it’s so comforting!

Welcome. I love the way your parkin is like a ticket to the thread. 😁

I can't do misery books or real life crime TV.

Like @PricklyBob Wintering was a gift from my DH who thought it was the sort of thing I'd like. In its defence I liked the idea of retreat and personal winter as a legitimate way of taking time to recover. I liked the mention of being neurodivergent parent/writer without it being the subject of the book. I also liked the way the chapters are a bit like magazine articles and I have been able to pick it up and put it down according to my long covid/menopausal/whatever brain fogginess.

The Salt Path was irritating before the scandal broke.

A few years back I walked the bit of the path between St Ives and Zennor. According to the guidebook it's one of the toughest stretches. Bits of it were not a path and entailed scrambling over boulders. At one point I tripped and fell onto my knees in a stream.

I was looking forward to the account in the book which went something like this- we walked up a hilly bit and saw some birds. What? I smelt a rat.

It's snowing! And Scotland qualified for the World Cup. (Apologies to Denmark based posters here)

19 November

Planting bulbs and a lamb boulangère

I have spent winters deep in the Worcestershire countryside, on the Cornish coast, the Yorkshire moors and in the Black Country. I have trudged through the snow in the Italian Alps, the Norweigian forests and the Icelandic lava fields. I have run from saunas to freezing ice pools in Finland and rolled in the snow after many a steaming hillside onsen in Japan. And yet it is still winter in the city that I find most entrancing

I gad to give in and get up at 5am as the snow and hail hitting my bedroom window kept waking me (it would have been so much nicer to just wake up to The Silence) It is absolutely bleaching down here, but with crazy winds making it almost horizontal. So, as I sit here at my table (with my sleeves pulled over my hands as I wait for the heating to kick in) I can hear snow plopping down the chimney and melting into the stove tray.

Interestingly enough, it was exactly this morning last year that a lot of us woke up to our first snow of the year, so that's two years in a row we have been in harmony with the chapter.

ETA my neighbour is an emergency call out chap for Northern Powegrid and has just cleared his van of snow and headed out. I feel for both him and the people he's being called out to!

Good morning, RZW. What a lovely description. I can really picture you sitting at your table.

No snow here but it is cold and windy so there is whooshing down the chimney rather than plopping. I am in bed drinking the first tea of the day whilst contemplating the fact that I have bought too many bulbs again and really need to plant them out.

Flippin heck it's cold this morning 🥶

Humph. As usual no snow for me. Though the rain is lashing against the window and it’s blowing a gale. Very glad that Wednesday is my day off and I don’t have to get up and drive to work.
Im determined to break my Christmas paralysis today and get to work on the present purchasing. However I’ve woken up with bunged up ears, sore eyes, blocked nose and a sore throat so I’m going to stay in bed with a Lemsip a touch longer. A friend recommended drinking a sort of concoction made with Turmeric so I might give that a go too!
Nigel has had some lovely winters hasn’t he? I can’t agree with him about winter in the city however -in the UK at least-as in my experience of winters in London and Leeds (the two British cities I’ve lived in) they have just been endless grey, slimy pavements, too hot inside and cold outside affairs (outside of Christmas of course when the lights and atmosphere make up for it). That said it’s probably different if you live in Hampstead or wherever he lives!

Cold and wet here, but my weather notification flashed up that there could be snow in the next hour or so. It won't lay, but the children would be delighted.

I sat down in the gentle candle light, read the chapter and have planned the day. My DM is visiting for the weekend, I'm out for a 14 hour day tomorrow, and working until I collect her from the station on Friday, so everything needs to be ready today. Hard work! But, a joy to do, as I don't get to see her enough, and she's been having a trying time at work.

I was just reading about all of you with snow and thinking we won’t have any as were quite far south then it started to get light and it’s snowing! So unexpected, it’s been mild for weeks here.

Having lived in London i also disagree with Nigel but I was in Copenhagen last year and it was magical there when it snowed.

Very wet here this morning (Hampshire) would like some snow but not cold enough.

Hi I'm another who loves this thread but don't usually contribute. It's a wonderful annual tradition and I'm so grateful for it, and send my good wishes particularly to those of you going through tough times. I moved to Durham from Sussex, where snow was a rare and major event, and today we have big fluffy snow falling and starting to settle, although rain is forecast to turn it to sleet later. No doubt the teens walking to school at the end of my road will still be wearing pumps and short skirts with bare legs, bless 'em 😀 I work from home today so can get up later. Am in bed reading with a nice brown cup of tea and a big fat cat, lucky me. Have a good day everyone.

I absolutely agree with Nigel about the joy of proper cold icy or snowy weather. None here so far sadly (I think we might be in between Northern and Southern snow today!), so I'm going to share this much nicer view from this day last year.

No snow here but it's blooming cold.

Emerging from lurkdom (was on the thread last year under another name) to report that it’s throwing snow down here in our part of the South East, a mere half-hour from London. And our heating's broken <laughs hollowly>

I'll now refill my hot-water bottle and catch up on the thread….

Actually now I've been out in the daylight there's snow on the hills (I'm on the edge of the Peak District) and the wind coming across is bitter. Very bracing.

Just put ox cheek into the slow cooker (Mrs Beeton recipe) and am off to work. Hope everyone has a lovely day.

Boarding on more Nigel than Nigel here @piscofrisco
Wonderful!

It just snowed a bit in central London - that’s pretty unusual at this time of year (glad I didn’t cycle this morning!!)

Had a covering of the white stuff and whilst I was debating on letting the eldest teen chance the later train (big mistake it got cancelled so we drove him in) I took a steaming coffee into the garden and had a walk trudge with the soft crunch of because as predicted it will all be gone by lunchtime.

Youngster looked very cool and ninja cycling in, waterproofed up with face snood.

Excitement over, have to go and get some potatoes, vegetarian cottage pie night tonight I think, gravy, pea, carrot, onion, mushroom, mince, covered with heaps of buttery mash potato, served out of one steaming oven dish. It's Nigel enough.

And then I am going to tackled the dumping ground that is our bedroom, which is going to be a nightmare but it's a final push of the decluttering before Christmas which should spur me on.