Walking in Air .... on Christmas Day

One of the traditional aspects of Christmas Day in England that I love is going for a Christmas Day walk.

This was something of a novelty for me when I first came here as we spent most of our Christmases in Australia flitting in and outside in the gorgeous weather often eating our lunch outside. As my parents, brother and sister, cousins, aunt and uncle and grandparents numbered over a dozen, there was definitely enough to make a good fielding team, so there was often a point at which the cricket bats came out and a few overs were bowled in the back yard well into the afternoon.

Here, however, it is twilight on Christmas Day well before 4pm, so it is often a race to snatch a bit of daylight for a walk, especially since lunch is often served around 2pm. We often choose to go before lunch is served, in that final frantic hour when the cook is trying to time everything to come out of the oven at the once, usually with several hobs and an oven shelf short of what is ideal to accomplish this feat.

I think it is only a little bit about getting some fresh air on a day when you would normally be stuck indoors eating, and mainly about giving the cook some type of respite from people lounging around, clamouring to help or expecting to be fed.

This Christmas Day we went for a walk along the breathtaking Chirk Aqueduct on the England-Wales border. At an exhilerating  21 metres (or 70 feet ) above the valley below, it carries the Llangollen Canal across the Ceiriog Valley. Canal boats have been making there way across this 220 metre (or 710 foot ) span since 1801.

We walked the towpath alongside. If, like me, you get a bit dizzy at heights, it is definitely worth overcoming any trepidition to enjoy the experience of a walk both ways, delighting in the views of pinpricks of sheep grazing below and wondering at the skill of the engineer, Thomas Telford, for designing it, and the numerous labourers who would have brought his vision to fruition.

Once on the other side you can enjoy a sweet row of little cottages, with ducks gamboling and cats stalking squirells on the other side. Even the Meerkat's were out in force when we were there!

If you can not face the idea of being suspended over the valley with deep water on one side and a mere rail to protect you on the other, than the Chirk Tunnel on the other side, a dark and damp walk along the tunnel towpath of 421 metres (1381 feet) is another option.

We did both before heading back to devour our Christmas lunch.

While I normally make a Christmas pudding, this year I was consumed with Christmas cakes and so ran out of time. I was seduced by the promise of the luxury and delectable nature of gold leaf atop fruity Christmas puddings which were being advertised everywhere, and purchased a Golden Christmas Pudding from Tesco.

Divine!

And I got a cermaic Pudding basin for future sticky toffee puddings or steak and kidney pudding for Mr BB ....

My First Christmas Cake



My first Christmas Cake

This is the first year I have ever made and decorated my own Christmas cake and I am rather proud of the results. Following on from my previous post, I have just completed an 8 week cake decorating course and was keen to be use many of the techniques I had learnt.

I decided to make my fruit cake with Kirstie Allsopp's Fruit Cake recipe (I had bought a copy of her book 'Craft' from her recent series, but see link below for the recipe on-line). The recipe calls for a range of dried fruits and I used what was in the cupboard, including sultanas, raisins, currants, figs and prunes. It looked and smelt delicious while cooking.
 http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/kirsties-handmade-britain-recipes/caribbean-fruit-cake-recipe

The mixture looks nutty and fruity and smells gorgeous

I initially cooked the cake for less time than the recipe had said as a skewer came out of the centre clean and I needed to cook our lasagna for dinner. On reflection though I was worried it may have been undercooked and so put it back in the oven for the required time, plus another hour to enable the oven to get back to the right temperature. I think this was a good idea as it turned out really well, and I avoided burning it.

Feeding the cake

Over two weeks I regularly fed the cake with the Quince Brandy I had made up previously. The result was a sumptuous and moist cake. All this time I was so excited about the idea of decorating my cake. On the last night of my class I made the trees, the robin and snowmen with sugarpaste, using an example from my tutor for inspiration. It took a couple of days for the sugar paste models to dry, and then it was time to decorate.

It looks lovely, but I think it could still do with a little something....

The original design looked similar to the picture above  - although the robin was my addition, and I love it! I also used snowflake patchwork cutters on the sides of the cake - as the top of the cake and the board had soft peaks and glitter to resemble snow and I wanted it to look like there was snow falling down the side of the cake. I think it looked lovely. However, I felt I needed something to walk down the path in the snowy scene to finish the design, and so I decided to make a reindeer. It did look fantastic, but unfortunately I left the reindeer and antlers out to dry and one of the cats decided to attack it. Since time was running out and I wouldn't have time to make another reindeer and wait for it to dry, I bought a Santa to walk down the path. I think he sets off the scene nicely, and I am so proud of my Christmas cake. It tastes as divine as it looks as well - sweet, moist and delectable.

It was delicious to devour for afternoon tea on Christmas Eve

Foodie Christmas Gifts

Christmas Cake for presents

Having become addicted to 'Ace of Cakes', I decided it was time to learn, if not how to spray paint a cake and make it look like a flamingo or the Taj Mahal, at least cover a cake with icing and some simple decorations. For that reason, I decided to join a cake decorating course at my local college, and have spent the last 8 weeks learning so much. To test how much I have learnt I even borrowed a book from the library in my half term to read and see how much I understood - and I can honestly say that at the beginning of the course I would have felt like Alice in Wonderland upon opening the book, but after just 4 weeks of my course I understood the majority of the techniques and had at least an inkling of how to carry them out. The course finished just in time for Christmas, and I decided in order to practice and reinforce some of the skills I had learnt I would make and decorate Christmas cakes for my Foodie colleagues and give them as gifts.

Making Nigella's Christmas cakes

I decided to make the majority of the cakes from a Nigella recipe, as I thought it would be more gooey than traditional Christmas Cake and that the combination of fruit, chocolate and Tia Maria would be enjoyable... and it was! Mr BB seemed to love it as several disappeared rather quickly from the cooling rack. If you want to try it follow the link below - it is a good last minute recipe as it does not need time to mature - and nor does it need to be covered in marzipan and icing, although I covered them to make them sweeter (and neater) presents.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/chocolate-fruit-cake-recipe/index.html



Nigella's Chocolate Fruit Cake

Since I wanted to make my main Christmas Cake with Kirstie Allsopp's recipe, I also decided to take this oppurtunity to test it by making several minature cakes with that recipe as well, and they turned out very nicely. And for those who really can't stomach fruit cake, I purchased madeira cake (I just didn't have the time to make it unfortunately), covered it with vanilla frosting, and decorated it.



From left to right - Kirstie's Christmas cake, shop bought Madeira, and
Nigella's Chocolate Christmas cake

During my course I made some poinsetta's and Christmas roses, which adorned the tops of some of the cakes, and then used my minature Christmas tree cutters on alternate green or white icing for the rest of the fruit cakes. On the maderia cakes I made snowflakes in a variety of sizes with snowflake patchwork cutters. A dusting of edible glitter on the top of all of the cakes finished them off, and they were then wrapped in white issue paper and tied with red ribbon, ready to gift. I was really happy with how they turned out, and better yet I was able to practise my newly learned skills. I think from the texts I recieved that the recipients were happy as well x



Decorating for Christmas

A Pastel Christmas

Today Mr BB and I went to the local nursery to buy our Christmas tree. I think it is my favourite Christmas tradition, and certainly begins the whole of the Christmas season. Having decorated the house now, I just want to cosy indoors, bake Christmas goodies and enjoy the warmth. Although it is always lovely to then contrast that with visits out into the chill to visit friends and family.

Our tree wasn't very large this year, as we only had a small space for it, but it was a lovely Fraser Fir. I relish having a real tree at Christmas - it is not a tradition from my youth, as the heat made it impractical. When I came to England I was keen to adopt the British/Germanic tradition of having a real tree, which had been started by Queen Victoria's husband in 1841 when he introduced the traditions of his German childhood to his children.

To me decorating a tree is as much about the accompaniments as what goes on the tree. To Mr BB, it wasn't Christmas without Brazil Nuts. While he did the preparation, I cooked a batch of mince pies with some homemade mincemeat I had made last year - a Delia recipe - and ready made pastry. The finishing touch was to use a minature Christmas tree pastry cutter to make the lids. They took 15 minutes to make and bake, were utterly lovely to look at and delicious as well. We also made Snowballs - a kitsch Christmas drink popular in the 70s and facing a recent revival thanks to Nigella's championing several years ago. It is made with 2 measures of Advocaat, topped up with lemonade and a dash of lime juice, and for the purists served with a cherry on a stick. We also decided to try it with Cream Soda, which was utterly divine - I nicknamed it a 'Fluffy Snowball' and personally prefered it.

Drinking a Snowball for Christmas - delicious!

As Christmas music played we sipped Snowballs and munched on mince pies while we decorated the tree with some some lovely silver bauble lights, pastel glittery baubles and tinsel (Mr BB believes it isn't a Christmas Tree without some). Our tree was a bit understated as most of our decorations are in storage and with Pompey and Moscow, our two young cats, we thought it possible the tree may become a bit tousled - so we went for that look to begin with. We had forgotten to get an appropriate topping for our tree, but I feel that the wrens are an unusual but sweet touch, gifted to us from the nursery where we bought our tree.

 

Since I am now seriously addicted to fabric, I couldn't resist buying some Christmas prints in cool greens and blues to decorate the house. Although I love the seasonal red and white 'Scandanavian Christmas' colour scheme so popular in magazine spreads, Mr BB doesn't really like red furnishings in the house as he says it makes him feel angry due to some football association- which is obviously not the Christmas mood we want! For that reason I avoid it as much as possible. I just had to have some of the Moda 12 days of Christmas range of fabrics, and a panel of reindeers and baubles named 'Winterscape'. I then had to think of something to make with them.... and so hastily made some envelope cushions.

To make envelope cushions, all you need to do is to:
1. Measure your cushion.
2. Allowing for a seam allowance of about 1/4 inch, cut a front piece of your fabric.
3. When measuring the back piece of your fabric, add about 3 extra inches to the length of the cushion.
4. Cut the back panel in half on the long edge.
5. Along the cut edges of the 2 back panels, turn under about half an inch and sew a quarter inch seam, catching both sides of the fabric.
6. Pin the right sides of the fabrics together - the front panel to the two back panels. At this point the back 2 panels of fabric will overlap - make sure the sewn edges are in the middle and overlap. This will form the opening when the cushion is sewn together.
7. Sew your quarter inch seam all around the four sides and then turn your cushion right side out through the centre parting at the back.
8. Stuff your cushion into your cushion cover and plump.

Since one of the fabrics I fell in love with didn't fit with the other fabrics above, I decided to make something for the bedroom with it. I loved the name of the fabric 'Enchanted Winter' as much as I loved the white sparkling winter roses on a midnight blue background. Therefore I made it into a Bed Runner. This was done with a couple of metres of fabric, and an equal lengh of calico (for a cheap backing) and wadding. With right sides of the calico and chosen fabric together, sew around the edges with a quarter inch seam. Leave a 40cm gap to turn the fabric through and insert the wadding. Turn the raw edges under and sew a scant seam along the turned edges in order to close the gap (don't worry as it will be barely noticeable).

I made the bed with white bedding and draped 'Enchanted Winter' at the end, and finished the look by winding snowflake lights around the bedsted. The photo didn't quite capture how gorgeous it looked, but with the cat cosied at the end I think it couldn't have looked more enchanting.

Decorations in the bedroom - an Enchanting Christmas

Honeycomb, Chocolate Pie and Mist

Winter Mists

It is the begining of December and it looks like the winter may finally be here with the gorgeous misty fog that has been lingering all weekend. The photo above was taken at sunset on the first Sunday of December at about 4pm. The mists which had lingered all weekend had lent a moody atmosphere, and a sense that after all of the mild weather the winter was finally arriving.

The day before, when shrouded in the miasma that pervades most of Sherlock Holmes novels, I prepared some treats to take to a friends as we were going for dinner and staying the night, and taking desert was my contribution. I had already decided on a recipe from Rachel Allen's 'Home Cooking', which I had borrrowed from the library and had been slowly devouring. I decided to make a Chocolate, Hazelnut and Caramel Tart, and some of Nigella's Hokey Pokey honeycomb as well. The honeycombe, and the pie-in-progress are pictured below - see the link for the Hokey Pokey recipe - it is so incredibally easy you will wonder why you don't make it more often. Only one warning - I perhaps had mine in too deep a dish for the time I left it to set, so despite being able to smash it into pieces, it didn't maintain the brittle consistency that makes it so irresistible, but became sticky and gooey again when sealed in a tin for transportation. However, it was still chewily delicious.
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/hokey-pokey-36

What a gorgeous way to start winter.



Nigella Lawson's Hokey Pokey and the Caramel and Hazelnut layer of Rachel Allen's tart



Chocolate, Hazelnut and Caramel Tart

For the pastry

I bought Ready-rolled shortcrust pastry, although there are instructions to make it from scratch.

For the caramel layer

50 g butter

75 ml cream

100 g light brown sugar

150 g roasted Hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

For the chocolate layer

200 ml double cream
200 g dark chocolate

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C/gas 4.
2. Line the tart case with the pastry. Bake blind by lining the pastry with greaseproof/parchment paper when cold. Fill with baking beans, or dried pulses (you can use these over and over), and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry feels dry to the touch.
3. Remove the paper and beans, brush with a little left-over beaten egg and return to the oven for 2 minutes. Take out of the oven, and set pastry aside in the tin while you prepare the filling. (This can easily be made a day in advance, and covered until you need it.)
4. To make the hazelnut caramel layer: place the butter, cream and brown sugar in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat, add the hazelnuts and allow to cool.
6. Spread the cooled mixture over the cooked tart shell.
7. To make the chocolate layer: place the cream and chocolate in a pan on a very low heat, stirring until the chocolate is melted.
8. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and allow to cool, to almost room temperature.
9. Spread the mixture carefully over the hazelnut caramel in the pastry case. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour, until the chocolate layer is set.

The lushly gorgeous Chocolate, Hazelnut and Caramel Tart