The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2025 - Part 3

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello all, and welcome to Part 3. 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)

For anyone new, it's a challenge to see of you can pick up the book as 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’ve got a b and b recipe for Easter that calls for hot cross buns and extra marzipan. It’s phenomenal. I’m the only person that likes it so I make a massive one and eat it over the bank holiday weekend every year :)

Bloody hell @piscofrisco , that is the first thing on my list to eat once the pesky gallstones are gone. It sounds incredible.

I was the fellow Jadvent celebrator, @RainbowZebraWarrior , but I'm practising delayed gratification and have decided to do the 'last 12 days of January' (it's one of those ones with only 12 doors) - so starting it on the 19th. Photograph will follow.

Feeling pleased with myself today - I challenged myself to do something scary and succeeded. Makes up for chickening out of my run this morning because it looked like rain. (It looked right too, stair rods here.)

I thought the persimmon b n b pud looks amazing (so annoyed I didn't buy some as I walked past the fruit stall in town yesterday but I was weighed down with bags) but the marzipan and hot cross bun one sounds like a must try!

I'm shattered. I did two hours at the beach. I knew as soon as I got there it was going to be a good ses glass day. Folk kept coming up to me and saying "here's a couple more pieces for you" as they could see I was collecting ❤️ I'm pleased the tide came in tbh, or I'd probably have pushed my luck too far. I haven't been through all of it yet, but here's some of it (nothing remarkable, but a decent haul)

Oh wow, beautiful, @RainbowZebraWarrior !

Apart from commissioning jewellery, do you have a purpose for it @RainbowZebraWarrior? Do you top plant pots, or use it for stability in vases?

Or just leave bowls of it about for admiring and fiddling?

I’ve seen wonderful art made with it, but it all required drilling which strikes me as potentially very painful.

Sorry! You can blame me for Bread and butter induced coronaries! Sorry it’s small-I cut it out of the Sunday Times magazine circa 2011! you may have to zoom in. (I add more marzipan than is listed as I love it, and have a very sweet tooth).

Home from work snd soaked through 4 layers of clothes to the skin. Had a co farmer who can’t tolerate being indoors so outside we have been all day long . We have waded through puddles, fallen in mud and ended up filthy. He loved it :)
DH has mercifully made a lovely jambalaya so I’ve tucked in to that and made myself some mushroom soup for tomorrows lunch with some old shrooms I found in the fridge, and now going to have a long bath! Poor DH and the DSS’s are at DSS2’s football match. Who on earth wants to play in torrential rain and darkness. I can’t believe it wasn’t cancelled.

What a beautiful collection of glass @RainbowZebraWarrior

@piscofrisco I don't like marzipan but I'd give that a try, it sounds excellent. I don't know who'd want to play football in this weather, I've just been for a quick walk and it was horrible.

Takeaway noodles for me this evening - had a huge craving and none of the ingredients. I've been browsing Nigel's other books for when Cc is done (sob) - I've got A Thousand Feasts as audiobook but thinking I might buy the actual book to dip into. And one of the cookbooks for quicker meals. But will probably check out my nearest charity shop first as they have very cheap books - usually 50p each but sometimes they have too many in and it's something like five for £1.

@RainbowZebraWarrior if you'd like to send your mother's cleaner round here I am pretty confident I can show her a dustier bathroom 🙄 Honestly why would you ever comment out loud. I used to have a great cleaner - she was probably the best at actually cleaning the house I have ever had - but I was not sorry when she had to give up, because she used to tell me all the things she had done, like they were a favour to me and not her actual job! And I had to go oh yes that definitely needed doing, thank you so much. My current cleaner is much less good at the cleaning (she's not even as good as me, and that is a very low bar 😂) but doesn't make me feel inadequate, so I like her best.
Loving all the B&B puds. It's hard to beat Nigella's one with stale pain au chocs, in my book.
I did a BBC good food celeriac and leek gratin for dinner tonight, with some random leftover roast chicken added and three times the amount of cheese. It was very delicious and I will add it to the rotation (even though DD3 is a fussy bugger and didn't like it)
@martha79 I've got quite an extensive collection of Nigel books and I like 'appetite' the best. If that helps.

Honestly? I have no idea. I just get a bit obsessed with things sometimes. I am massively paying the price now though and have been in bed since returning from school run at 3pm (save for feeding DD) Thankfully I have had cuddles with Mr D

What glorious photos @RainbowZebraWarrior.

That gratin sounds amazing @Celiathebanshee so I have nabbed the recipe from the BBC site - thank you for the tip off!

Thanks for this as it made me feel so much better. Also, Chicken and cheese is probably my favourite combination (Hmm, haven't had Enchiladas in a while) I once also employed a gardener who whinged constantly that his own garden was being neglected as he was too busy 'helping other people' drives me mad when folk think they are doing you a favour. I may have shouted at him "YOU ARE BEING PAID, YOU ARE NOT 'HELPING' PEOPLE OR DOING THEM FAVOURS" See also any man who says "I've done the dishes for you"

I have had tinned chicken curry once I actually managed to get the lid off the flipping tin and microwave rice. That is proper desperation food and, I have to say, only half edible. Needs must, sometimes though. I wonder if Nigel has ever had to resort to Sainsbury's tinned Chicken Balti.

@martha79 A Thousand Feasts is a very good shout. Kitchen Diaries 1 to 3 are probably the ones I turn to most, and also in diary form like CC. Also, have you read Toast? If not, I highly recommend.

Also, sorry to hear of those of you with torrential rain. I see there are so many flood warnings about. Hoping things calm down soon. We have been very lucky here for the past couple of days with dry and frosty weather.

The rain has been bad, and the road flooding, but the pot holes are worse! The roads are lethal at the moment, made worse by the recent weather. Thing is, some of us know where some of the potholes are, so we slow and weave as we approach. Those who don’t get very irritated. Including me, when the oncoming traffic was weaving all over the shop. When I hit that stretch of road, I could see the issue myself.

I think I’m on new tyre number 6 in a year now. Potholes and farmyards are not good for cars it seems. The roads around the farm were basically submerged and the A1 not much better. I’d love some frost instead!

I’ve also nabbed that leek and celeriac recipe. My two favourite vegetables in one thing!

Morning all. No chapter today.

Yes, the recent ice has done a great job of pretty much destroying the main road through our village. There's no way of avoiding the potholes now. They are everywhere.

This morning is -2 with ice / frost and freezing fog. I forgot / ran out of energy to grit the driveway and paths last night, so I'd better get out there and see how bad it is.

Morning all. I feel weary today for some reason.probably paddling around in all the mud yesterday. At least it has stoped raining it seems. Looking forward to the weekend. Be careful on those paths @RainbowZebraWarrior
A lovely Friday to all!

Happy Friday indeed @piscofrisco and to you all

I'm going to leave the link to thread 4 in a separate post as we only have a handful of posts left on this thread. I try to time it so that it's the last post of the thread, but timing wise that might not be possible this morning.

So here is the link to Thread 4, as we are about to run out here this morning.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/5475693-the-nigel-slater-christmas-chronicles-readalong-20256-part-4?reply=149871957

I'm just going to use the thread up. So here's a lovely photo of frost ferns on the car window this morning

And some buds in the front garden (flowering currant)

Sunny sky here and some lovely velvety magnolia buds.

And finally, a random photograoh of our old butcher which I have just come across in a book I'm reading. I remember the fella well from the early 70s when I was little. The butchers being next door to the bakers, being next door to the fruit and veg shop in the village back in the day <goes a bit misty eyed>

Do come and join us over on thread 4,.for further CC chat 😊

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/5475693-the-nigel-slater-christmas-chronicles-readalong-20256-part-4?reply=149894728