Tag: from the kitchen

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creating Christmas * day 21

The handmade gifts, part 2

It has been like Santa’s factory here today. I finally made the last of the gifts and today it was the gingerbread stars. It sounded quite easy, but in fact because my mind kept wandering I made a few mistakes here and there; nothing too drastic that couldn’t be fixed, but annoying all the same.

Instead of getting the ready roll gingerbread again I decided to make my own as I wanted it to be more gingery than the bought one….my first mistake – even though I added more ginger than the recipe, I still think I could have added more.

As always with my gifts I have a vision in my head of what I want the final result to be. I must say halfway through I thought it might all be going wrong but in the end I think they turned out close to what I had in mind. You will see the finished results below.

The first step was to cut out hundreds of small stars (well not quite, but it seemed like it at the time). Even this was tricky trying to keep their shape and stop them looking like starfish with wonky points.

I cooked the first batch to the times the recipe stated but I thought they were a bit too crisp and I wanted them a little softer. So I reduced the cooking time for the next batch to 8 minutes and that did the trick.

The next step, once cooled, was to dip in dark chocolate…

….then add some pretty gold sprinkles.

A second batch was dipped in white chocolate….

…..and a few had white chocolate laced over the top.

Once dry, I carefully filled one of the lovely Christmas glasses I had bought specially from Sainsbury’s.

…and repeated three times…

Packaged in cellophane, added a tag and voila!

So now my gifts to my friends are complete: one calendar of local scenes, and a glass filled with gingerbread stars.

Tomorrow, I will deliver them and I can turn my attentions, once again, to the final bits and pieces. Master Freddie will be coming Monday or Tuesday, so all the presents will have to be hidden from sight again.

Mum managed to ring a few times today when I had my hands full of sticky gingerbread dough. She times it well! She doesn’t seem to able to grasp the fact that it will be Christmas in a few days time and also asks over and over if we will be going up on Christmas Day. We have been round it all so many times, and not only me, but so have the carers, and I daresay my sister will have had the same questions.

On the whole though she has been remarkably good in the last few days and there have been minimal phone calls from her. The worst one being her call for help as she had lost the sound on the TV whilst watching Sense and Sensibility. She had obviously pressed the wrong button on the remote as it had changed programs and she had got Shrek on the screen suddenly. Even mum knew the difference! Trying to talk her through the steps to get it back took half and hour by which time Sense and Sensibility was almost at an end!

I expect when my sister says to take a jumper and a bucket on Christmas day in case of heating failure and roof leak in her new home (it is by all accounts a bit of a wreck), she may not be joking.

It won’t be the first strange Christmas…we have had some unusual Christmases in the past which are documented either on this blog or my previous one. When my daughter and her husband worked in a village pub near Masham we had our family Christmas dinner there whilst it was closed to the public. We had the whole pub and restaurant to ourselves and a room each for the night. Catering on such a large scale was much easier in the professional kitchen than it would have been trying to do it at home and, of course, as daughter was then married to a chef it was all prepared and on time.

It was a good Christmas and the men all loved it as they had a pool table and the bar all to themselves.

The other crazy Christmas day was when my MIL was in a care home in Shrewsbury and we went to spend Christmas day and Boxing day with her. We had decided this particular year not to have dinner in the care home with her (don’t ask me why as we usually did) so because all the cafes are closed on Christmas day DH and I had our Christmas dinner (actually cup a soup) in a car park somewhere in Shrewsbury, complete with a camping stove and some very funny looks!

Well that is me finished for the day…just time to press publish before day 21 is over and then time for bed I think. It was exceptionally dark this morning being the winter solstice. I was glad to be warm and cosy in bed and lingered far longer than I should have done, especially as those stars were calling out to be made.

So what is left to create for Christmas now…well I hope you might drop by and see.

I hope all your plans are going well, back soon x

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creating Christmas * day 15

The Christmas neighbourly get together

(This post is a day late but I didn’t get home unitl after 1 o’clock last night and then straight out again today for an appointment).

Most years, but not every year, we get together with our immediate neighbours for an evening before Christmas.  It is always a casual affair and a date set if both parties have an evening to spare.

I thought it was definitely my turn to host it but apparently not; so on Monday night we went round to our neighbours house and I had very little to do apart from take a bottle and make the chocolate.

Homemade chocolates
Homemade Chocolates

My neighbour always welcomes the chocolates I make, so I make extra and leave plenty with her. These are old pictures but it mostly looks the same with some variations on nuts and adornments.

We had a lovely evening chatting about old times on our cul-de-sac (we have both been here 40 years now) and the changes that have occurred over the years.  We have daughters, grandchildren and a mother of similar ages and can relate to all the problems that we have being in the sandwich generation.

We discuss everything and anything from garage clear outs (that we both need to do), the cost of living, the best supermarket prices to plays and events we have been to.  We are very comfortable in each other’s company so it is always a nice relaxing evening where we can be ourselves.

I look forward to this one evening a year (although if we can manage it we have another in the summer months); this is in addition of course to our long chats on the driveway as we see each other coming and going or in the garden.

It is so lovely to have a good neighbour as others have come and gone over the years and a few have been rather problematic.

So I will keep plying them with my chocolates in the hope that they don’t move before we do!!

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creating Christmas * day 14

The gingerbread men

As requested by Master Freddie, today was gingerbread day and as Little L and Sweetie were here for the weekend all the grandchildren took part (though baby Chocolate only helped with the decoration as he arrived later).

I cheated and bought two packs of the ready made gingerbread from Sainsbury’s. I noticed it in the ready roll pastry chiller and thought it a good idea….and thank goodness I did as I had little time to make some beforehand and when all said and done the children are really eager to cut out the shapes and then get down to the serious business of decorating.

I would say it all went off successfully – you can usually tell by the size of the mess and the extent of the stickyness!

DH rolled out the gingerbread, whilst I filled the waiting oven trays once the shapes had been cut and a bonus – there was no squabbling over the cutters.

The 10 minute wait for them to cook, with watchful eyes on the oven…… and at last the decorating could begin.

Sweetie decorated the least of them, but ate most of them!

Little L is quite artistic and was able to control the icing better. I love her gingerbread man with a moustache!

Master Freddie’s technique was to pile everything on….it will all taste good.

With the remains of the white chocolate and sprinkles we made some chocolate lollies for Christmas.

The clearing up was a mammoth task, but with all hands to the deck we managed to clear the table to have lunch when their mums and dads came to join us – probably thankful that granny had volunteered to do this.

Afterwards, my younger daughter unwrapped her birthday presents with a lot of help from the little ones. Little L had made her a lovely card that was like one of those children’s activity books with pop up sections and flaps to raise and pull out bits.

They all left with trays of gingerbread and a few other crafty bits we had made over the weekend and now everyone has gone home and peace has descended….. bliss.

But, I must get back to finishing my cards.

Methinks, it is going to be a mad week ahead as we move ever closer to the big day. We have a neighbour’s get together, a hairdresser’s appointment and another concert to attend. The crowds are building up now to such an extent that you have to wait in a long queue for the smallest of things, or even to park the car or vacate the carpark.

Luckily, I won’t have to go back into town for very much now other than the fresh fruit and veg. I do need to take stock though of what is still to be done and go through my list.

Hope you had a lovely Christmassy weekend and for those of you that are under the weather I wish you a speedy recovery. X

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creating Christmas * day 12

The humble mince pie

I don’t know about you but as I get older a mince pie gives me more trouble than I need at Christmas. Call it indigestion, heartburn or whatever I know when I have eaten one these days.

It is a bit miserable that I can’t eat them without suffering anymore as nothing says Christmas quite like a mince pie; I swear they have been in the shops since we returned home from holiday in August. In Sainsbury’s, like most supermarkets, they are piled high but are never as good as a homemade one, at least I don’t think so.

I still make a few but these are mainly to give to people dropping by unexpectedly or take to some event. I like to make those tiny ones that you can eat in a mouthful and they do make a lovely little gift.

Strangely, I can eat a small amount of the wonderful Ecclefechan tarts that we can buy in our local Sainsbury’s now. They are like a cross between a Yorkshire curd tart and a mince pie. At one time we only ever saw these in the shops in Scotland when we went up to our cottage, the little town of Ecclefechan being only a short detour on the way to Stranraer.

So I will stick with these at Christmas time, maybe one day I will try out a recipe for them!

As I missed posting this yesterday, there are two posts today so that I can catch up.

Back soon x

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