Year round Nigel Slater discussion thread - Part 3

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello, all and welcome to this lovely space for our continued chats.

A bit of background for anyone not familiar with this topic:
The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles readalong usually takes place here between November and February each year (the Christmas Chronicles being a book written by Nigel Slater full of winter recipes and anecdotes) It's been running for a few years, and the contributors have collectively decided it would be nice to have it running all year round.

So here it is. It is a place to appreciate all things Nigel-esque. Think seasonal food and recipes, enjoyment of nature, gardening, appreciation of the weather, and sharing of news and small moments of joy. It's a calm, cosy space for gentle chat and merriment so pull up a chair to the fireplace, grab a drink and relax.

A very hearty welcome to friends new and old!

The decorations are down from the attic with the help of Dad. Definitely a 2 person job. Have started putting somethings up but tree and most of it will have to wait till next weekend .

went into the city yesterday it was a bit mental but I had a plan and stuck to it. Brought a picture for a friend from one of the market stalls.

brought a winter spice candle from Sainsbury’s today. It’s double wick and at less than £10. Hopefully not too pungent and will last the festive season. If. It will get a st eval candle if it’s closer to the big day.

Our tree and decorations are also down from the attic. We’ll sort them out during the week.
There are some spectacularly beautifully decorated houses in our village. Also some with as many brightly coloured lit up decorations as possible all over the house and garden. I love them all!

@IngenTing your branch is really beautiful. We as a family are still mourning the loss of Borders - there’s a massive Next in that unit now and it is just not as nice

Loving the branch @IngenTing. It’s really beautiful. This weekend for our tree and decorations. I’m in the midst of the pre-decoration clean. Wondering why I bother. I’ll only gave to clean it all again when the decs come down 🤣.
Anyway here’s a round up of the candles so far in the St Eval advent calendar:-
1 sea moss and driftwood - this was a lovely subtle scent
2 Hawthorn and berries - sweet which I normally wouldnt go for but was very nice
3 Green vine - currently burning not a lot of scent
4 Bergamot and Nettle
5 Thyme and mint - looking forward to this one
6 Granite and Moss 🤷🏻‍♀️
7 Winter Thyme
I’m getting two evenings out of each one so about 6 hours

Candle smells of fresh pot pourri if anyone is wondering. Mum used (not sure if she still does) to get a new bag if it every Christmas and then keep it out all year well past the scent had gone.

I too keep pot pourri well past the time the scent has gone @CrushingOnRubies . I have a big wooden dough trough and I've filled it with expired pot pourri and loads of pine cones I've collected over the years. Every time I pick up a few cones on a walk, they get added to the trough.

I'm loving the branch @IngenTing . Looks fab!

We're off to buy our tree tomorrow.

I'm a big fan of sainsburys winter spice and get a couple of candles and an oil each year. It's all reduced atm (about a third off) I also love Next's Festive spice and also have a candle and a diffuser or two. I'd say they are probably made by the same company (and also possibly M&S' version)

Oh dear - such a traumatising day yesterday. I know traumatised is an overused word on Mumsnet but I really was!!! My hair has never grown back properly after my cancer treatment. It's 3 years on now and it is still thin and patchy. The Cancer Centre have tried everything they can, but I've had to accept that this is me now. So I wear a wig, thoughtfully provided by the NHS. Mostly it is ok. The colour is an exact match for mine and I quite like the style. But I have never mastered the art of making it really secure. I think I must have a weird shaped head. Yesterday was a very blustery day .... you can see where this is going, can't you? Yup, I was out shopping, there was a strong gust of wind and the wig flew off! 🤣🤣🤣. I immediately phoned my DH up in tears to tell him what had happened, and then in the middle of telling him, I began to see the funny side. Today I can laugh about it and I'm hoping this tale of woe has made you smile too!

Oh good Lord @Confusedmeanderings . I hope you've managed to sort out your barnet - what a to do. Mine is in the wardrobe and does not tend to come out as it makes me too hot. I like and dislike my "new" hair post-chemo and am waiting to see what this extra lot of new drugs will do to it.

Oh bless you @Confusedmeanderings but how amazing that you saw the funny side. I think when horrible things happen to us, we just want to tell the person we are closest to, and then it all sort of feels a bit more manageable.

I've made firm friends with the older couple who checked on me last Monday when I fell. We've been stopping for a little chat every day outside school and DD has thanked them profusely for helping me.

I think the majority of my building work should be finished by time I arrive home after the school run. Only plasterboarding, plastering and spotlights to be fitted after today. Oh and obviously painting of the new vaulted ceiling at some point (possibly post Christmas). So I say 'only' but at least the horrid, noisy and very messy stuff is done.

I'll have to give you all a laugh and post the before and after pics when it's finished. I am utterly disgusted with myself at the complete dumping ground my conservatory had become. Most of it has been chucked or donated and will not be retuning to my beautiful new room!

@RainbowZebraWarrior good to hear the work is almost done. We are channelling similar vibes about not allowing the clutter to return. I have a few boxes to go through in my music room and spare room - the pressure is on as we'll have visitors over Christmas. Nothing like a bit of pressure to get things sorted though! I'm delighted with the kitchen and really enjoying cooking in there. I hope your building work brings you similar joy and that the dust soon stops falling!

Thank you my lovely. This is why this thread is such a gift. So much camaraderie and support. I am reminded of my resolution to find 'small moments of joy' in each day (largely prompted from A Thousand Feasts)
Yesterday, DD emerged from school absolutely beaming and clutching a brown paper bag containing a veggie quiche she had made in Food Tech. She was so proud that she'd made my life that little bit easier by making something I could have for dinner. It was absolutely delicious and I have leftovers for this evening!

Love how colourful the quiche is, not only delicious but very pretty too!

The quiche looks lovely, better than anything mine ever made in food tech!

Went to the local national trust house today… Trelissick. It’s not the grandest or biggest stately home. But it has a nice dog walk and these are some photos dm took of their Christmas displays

currently decorating the tree with a glass of sherry

"currently decorating the tree with a glass of sherry" That conjures up an interesting vision!

Oh I do love Nigel. He has such a lovely calm manner. Total opposite to Gordon Ramsey!

Oh that looks gorgeous. Thank you for this reminder. I had it in my diary to visit my favourite local NT property to see it all decorated for Christmas on 1st December. Then I fell down and now it's halfway through December! I am absolutely doing this one day next week as a treat to myself.

Also, the second image has just reminded me. I have a lovely neighbour who has a proper Instagram worthy house. Think trees in absolutely every room. She has a huge porch and always has a tree in there. This year's is a Mannequin with a gold sequinned bodice for the top half and the bottom half of the tree is her skirt decorated with gold baubles. I love driving past on my way home and seeing it. (I love just seeing glimpses of othef peoples trees through windows in general)

Hope you’re mobile enough to get to the NT @RainbowZebraWarrior they do a lovely show at Christmas. Your neighbour sounds very interesting!

I'm going to go on Friday with DD as she breaks up at Midday. I don't usually go inside the property as I can't do stairs at the best of times (there are about 8 leading up to the main entrance) but she's going to help me as I really want to go inside. Between her and my cane, hopefully I'll manage. I usually just do the gardens. Fingers crossed as it will he a lovely start to the festive break

I was trying to post this about a fortnight ago, before heading off to Europe, but couldn't get it to post and ran out of time.Accidental cross between gnudi and gnocchi (sweet chestnut flour accidental game changer) mushroom sauce and pecorino and feta cheese. late mushrooms, and a visit to CAT and the opportunity to be a human blood sacrifice.

Since then, been on mammoth drive to Brugge, Ghent, and Cologne and back, learnt a lot, and samples of work I took over went down really well.
But with VN interests but not the budget to match, ended up spending way too much on both vintage ornaments and some amazing repro bits. More disastrously for already tight Christmas plans, caught flu really badly. Today's the first day I've just been really ill, rather than a delirious mess, but I've given it to all here.
Just before going I had an emergency B12 jab after it turned out I had a level of 106.7, and I'm hoping against hope that's why I have flu so badly, and everyone else won't be so knocked over backwards, but all bets are currently off.
When I can sort my head out, I'll be posting lots of pics.

Oh no @EphemeraleEudemonia that does sound nasty, some of my colleagues had flue a couple of weeks ago and were wiped out. Hope you all get better soon.

That sounds horrendous @EphemeraleEudemonia I hope the b12 soon helps you build up - I have regular jabs and it may not be instant. Steady as you go - which probably sounds like top speed given how poorly you are.

@EphemeraleEudemoniasounds like you had a wonderful trip. Cologne is a beautiful city. I hope you feel better really soon

dp his finally home after being away apart from one weekend since August. So Christmas has come early here.

Sending huge but gentle hugs to you my lovely. I remember your trip to the continent last year and it all sounded very busy. Flu is everywhere atm and the worst ever from what I'm hearing. Pleased to hear you've been given a B12 shot with that level. Aged 10, my DD was sleeping 18 hours a day during the six weeks holidays so I demanded tests. She had a level of 100 so now has 3 monthly B12 shots. Ideally, you need loading doses twice or thrice weekly for a while to get your levels up, which isn't nice, and ultimately if you do have Pernicious Anaemia, it's a long term Autoimmune condition. This country has way to low a tolerance for testing and treating compared to most of the rest of the world. I struggled for years with levels of 155 which is just above the threshold of 150. Shocking when you find out that optimal levels should be around 500 to 1000 and can cause neurological issues. Sorry for the waffle, but this is a bit of a hobby horse of mine.