Crepes and Mulled Whine in your pants

[Auriga]

Somebody had to do it

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Don't PM the recipe! Share it on here! I bought another cookery book today, to add to the 200+ I already have. I can't resist a Williams-Sonoma cookery book, and have to be physically restrained when I go to the shop in New York.

[Blackduck]

Flip the car hire was a 'mare - every woman in the place threw a strop (sexist I know but true!) and every man was doing the 'well we are here so let's get on with it'. It was badly organised to be honest. Dp and I were fine, laughing at the crappy car we got because he insisted on a manual so they dug up something..... But then we end up on the highway with a less than quarter tank of fuel and the next advertised petrol station is 120 km.... I lose it big style.... At the toll we ask about petrol to be pointed onto the opposite carriage way where a man with a large plastic container fills our tank..,,,,,
Dp and I are just about talking... Chichen Itza tomorrow - we are the only people in the hotel - it's dead as the proverbial doornail round here....

[Auriga]

Sang in Christmas concert, best in years, with big orchestra in beautiful (& packed) central London Church. Festive & also moving at times, especially the amazing Fayrefax Carol by Thomas Ades. Enjoyed it all, even the Rutter

Hope fellow singers also had successful evenings with no actual sobbing into copies.

Ding dong merrily in your pants?

[bigTillyMintspie]

BD, you are brave, hiring a car in Mexico - we travelled about on public transport!

Had a lovely evening with neighbours - DD and her mates entertained the small children and DS played FIFA 14 with another of her mates! All the nibble were hovered up, so no temptation today! And I paced myself unlike DH

[herbaceous]

Making my first-ever sticky toffee pudding, for an Xmas gathering later today. Judging from then ingredients, no one's going to end the day without slipping into a diabetic coma. I shall pack some emergency insulin.

DP took DS to Dick Whittington yesterday. DS is now saying 'I like dick' rather too often.

[bigTillyMintspie]

Sticky toffee pud, yum! I am making my 3rd attempt at the Lakeland gingerbread house

[MrsSchadenfreude]

I have made some Christmas cupcakes with mincemeat. DD1 and I iced and decorated them with Christmas sprinkles. I have also made a Christmas cake that I hope is going to come out of the tin.

[bigTillyMintspie]

Recipe, MrsS?

The Lakeland gingerbread recipe is officially PANTS!

[MrsSchadenfreude]

I just googled Mary Berry and Christmas cupcakes, BTM. They are alright, but not amazing, like my cinnamon buns. I can't find my recipe books right now, but these are delish, and sit in a pool of caramel sauce, you turn them out of the tin and the sauce soaks all over them, oh my God they are so divine...

But you can't eat more than one at a time. Unless you really try.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Christmas cake is Delia's Creole Christmas cake. The fruit had been sitting in its alcohol bath for a week or so.

[bigTillyMintspie]

MrsS I think I saw someone making them on a TV show recently. Or did those ones have coconut milk?

[motherinferior]

I don't do Christmas baking, Ruby, and we're still debating what to eat on Christmas Day!

My concert was....variable. Loved singing the Ceremony of Carols, I must say. Then went to the pub and drank too much beer. Recovering today, via lunch with some friends the other side of London who have no doorbell and didn't hear us knock. We were on the verge of leaving (convinced they'd forgotten) when they emerged to nip out to the shops.

[CremolaFirCone]

This weekend I have achieved
a) a fresh tree
B) decoration of same
C) a clementine drizzle cake
D) some wrapping
E) a birthday gift for 40 yr old friend and flying visit to pub( 1/2 pint of beer ,+ plus round of drinks for gathered assembly) before attending a Shabbat dinner chez parents. Phew
F) chauffered dd to 3 choir rehearsals

Am now opening and eating and watching ski Sunday - in a heap . This week looks alarmingly busy too. Dd and dh have still not entered into any shopping at all. This is making me sweat .

[motherinferior]

Oh joy. BIL will be visiting next week. This means I will have to be nice to him and also not go to a party on Saturday afternoon I was particularly looking forward to. DP is behaving as if I were being particularly unreasonable if I enquire about logistics, how long for, etc. I am calling his bluff and refusing to do my usual "sorry, I'm sure it's all my fault" placating act. I may stab him instead. Ho ho bloody ho, eh?

[herbaceous]

To reassure you all, I do bugger all Christmas baking, or indeed cooking. The STP was as a dessert for an xmas get-together of old pals, where the hostess had made the entire main course – turkey, all the trimmings, all the veg – plus a lemon trifle and some profiteroles. Least I could do, I thought.

It was bloody brilliant, as it happened. The trick was pouring the sauce on to the cake, then grilling it for a while. Yummo.

DS excelled himself with his manners. As part of Secret Santa he got a little desktop drum kit. 'I've already got one of these. Can I have something else?' Luckily we all saw the funny side. cf Viz.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

MI - go to the bloody party - what does Mr Inferior expect you to do? Sit in and hold court and ply DBIL with food? He can do that, it's his bloody brother.

We now have a lovely red wall and are set for the arrival of shelves and Granny Doom. (Arrival of latter less pleasing than the former.)

Have noticed that the parasites (who would descend on us with no warning and eat and drink us out of house and home on holiday) have not been in touch at all since we've been back. And due to dreaded FB, I know they have been in London...

[bigTillyMintspie]

MrsS, that's exactly what I was thinking re MI. I'm sure they won't miss you for a couple of hours anyway, MI
Red wall and shelves sound good, am looking forward to tales of GD!

Well done Cremo are you back to normal now?

Herbs,

Last 5 days and counting...

[CremolaFirCone]

Fairly normal BTM . As normal as I'll ever be .

[lalsy]

MI, I make a point of welcoming overnight guests (mainly MIL) to our (v small) house by going out for a while.......essential I think. ds welcomed family today by making their Christmas fudge in front of them, taking low-key to new heights.

I seem to have been standing up for days....I am now firmly settled on sofa (on a towel as having an on/off geyser-like period), with telly remote, prosecco and knitting. Oh yes.

Very envious of all you singers. I can't at all, and would so love to be able to make a nice noise (or even a bearable one), at this time of year.

[CointreauVersial]

I'm currently slumped on the sofa watching X Factor on catch-up with the DDs, enjoying a sneaky glass of wine. I did a quick flit to Kingston earlier (breaking my usual no-shopping-on-December-weekends rule, but I did go in late), but it wasn't a huge success - I had a few things I wanted to return before the post Christmas rush, but I forgot there wasn't a Mango or a Warehouse in Kingston. Doh.

Not a lot of Christmas baking goes on here either. I certainly dont do a cake or a pudding, as the shop-bought alternatives are so good. I am starting to stress about Christmas lunch planning, though (now up to 14 people, as it appears that my DB is going to crawl out from under his stone and join us), and DH has just invited two families round for dinner on Saturday, so I shall be catering for 15 then too. I had to restrain him from inviting even more people; he seems to think that bunging a few jacket potatoes in the oven will do the job, and even mentioned "baked beans" as a possibility.

I love a good STP, Herbs. I use a great Nigella recipe that involves emptying a bag of soft brown sugar on top of the mixture, then pouring on boiling water. It looks like a dog's dinner but comes out delicious.

I am planning to make some limoncello though. I have a bottle of vodka looking for a purpose in life.

[herbaceous]

This stp recipe was from the guardian, in its series trying to I find the ideal recipe for various faves. So it incorporated the best bits of Nigella's, Deliah's etc. greatly enhanced by our hosts' carton of Birds custard they unearthed.

I must say, I do love my singing. And the descant parts of carols are a particular seasonal joy. I'd like to join a smaller choir, and perhaps have some lessons, to be a bit more 'vital'. I get the feeling Auriga's choir is rather more high class than mine.

Have to sing at the funeral of an ex choir member tomorrow. I know it's terrible, but I rather enjoy singing at funerals. Lovely songs, that I know we'll, in a small group, forgiving acoustics...

[bigTillyMintspie]

CV, does your DH think it's Bonfire night again?!

Cremo, glad to hear that all is well now - how long was the recovery time?

lalsy, I'm a knitter too

Off to a circus party today

[addle]

Agree there's no reason for you not to go to long-planned party MI. Take a stand.

Mrs S and all - here's HM's orange parfait recipe completing with - looks v nice and meant to do it yesterday but a great wave of ennui prevented me

Ingredients:

3 egg whites and a pinch of salt
8 oz sugar
1/4 pint water
Juice and fine zest of 2 lemons and 1 orange
1/4 pint of double cream

Dissolve sugar in water over low heat.
Add zest and bring to boil and simmer for about 3 mins.

Whisk the egg white until stiff (meringue mixture). Then gradually pour the water/zest mixture into the meringue mixture whisking all the time until stiff (this takes some time and I think is where I lose patience and get it wrong).

Whisk in the fruit juice.

Whisk double cream until thick and fold into the meringue mixture. Pour into ice cream boxes and freeze overnight.

[motherinferior]

Ah, the thing is I am already going to a long-planned concert in the evening...

Back in editing hell.