This week has been a flurry of baking activities, with some yummy loaves of Cranberry and Orange bread having been prepared for Christmas morning (sadly, or should I say unsurprisingly one hasn’t made it to see the light of Christmas morn!) These particularly caught the eye of our next door neighbour who happened to call as they were coming out of the oven, she was taken by the aroma and the honey glaze which makes then glisten provocatively. Last night I made an emergency batch of mincemeat as 12 jars were not enough and this morning the kitchen was turned into a mince pie factory, producing just six dozen for the nearest and dearest. Christmas morning is usually celebrated with chilled sherry and warm mince pies on the beach, so it really wouldn’t do to run out.
The gingerbread house was constructed this afternoon, the children were quite excited by this as a couple of years ago I had baked all the gingerbread for one but retired to bed for the afternoon and a friend Ian stepped into the breach. Much fun was had trying to get the thing to stick together and hold in place as it dried, it’s much trickier than it looks, and the stuff seems to distort in the oven no matter how carefully and cut it out and transfer it to tray and cooling rack. Let’s just say I’m glad it’s not my Christmas accommodation, but it was fun, especially eating all the sweets.
This years Christmas cake has gone “au natural” as the icing is always too sickly so instead it’s just marzipan flashed under the grill to give some colour. If you don’t really like shop bought marzipan I really would recommend having a go at making your own, it bears very little resemblance to the yellow putty flavored with almond essence masquerading as marzipan. I also made some lovely almond macaroons with the egg whites left over from the marzipan which I drizzled with dark chocolate which have elicited groans of pleasure (not just from me) but if only I could find rice paper they would be perfect.
We had a visit to the Chinese Supermarket on Wednesday, I think I could spend at least a day in here, reading all the labels, trying to work out what everything was and just admiring the beautiful packaging. It’s amazing just how different our cuisines are, some of the things I just couldn’t work out what they could possibly be used for but I did come away with a basket full and we had a tasty stir fry of pak choi with tofu that evening.
Really enjoying being able to open the jars and bottles of things I’ve made over the year and squirreled away for Christmas, the last jar of Strawberry Jam was broached this morning along with the first jar of Sloe Gin Jelly, both brought cheer to a dull December, a little taste of summer and memories of walking back from Loe Bar Beach and collecting pounds of Sloes!
It’s more than just food.