'Tis the season to be jolly

......fa la la la la, la la la laaaaaaaaaa!

I would like to suggest my house has been a hive of Christmas activity.
It hasn't.
My mum is cooking Christmas dinner and we are eating there.
I've not made a single craft item for the season. In fact for the whole of 2012!
I barely helped my mum decorate the Christmas cake which is our usual tradition.
In fact it wasn't until the other day when the Christmas spirit really hit me.
Note to self don't try and sell your house, declutter and generally have too much on your plate during your favourite month of the year.

I have baked a couple of things though.

 

Cheese and caramelised onion tartlets

 

 

 

Florentines the size of dinner plates. Chocolate still to be added.

 

 

These two were whipped up one late afternoon for my mum to plonk on the Christmas cake.

 

 

Am also thoroughly enjoying the lights. I derive much sensory pleasure from these. If I had my way twinkly lights would be up all throughout Autumn and Winter, brightens up the dark evenings a treat.

 

 

Before I can blink and catch my breath Christmas will be over for another year and I will be itching to put the tree away. For now though I will revel in the warmth of my family and their love, raise my expectations about happy family Christmas and have them dashed with the endless bickering of the Pups. And I have wine. And vodka. And rum. So I will at least be very very jolly.

 

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!



Oh my eyes!

Confession time. I love the idea of jam making and preserves but sadly I don't really eat it. So when people talk of gathering their fruit harvests for jam making my heart pines for an acitivity I shall never throw myself into. That was until I discovered the joy of onion chutney. This stuff is way better than Branston Pickle and with a sack of onions at a local-ish farm shop a mere £3 for nearly 5kg it's too hard to pass up.

Recipe I use requires 2kg of onions. So I quickly (and I mean VERY quickly) top and tail and peel the skins off and then weigh them. Oh dear the weeping that followed.....I resorted to wearing some close fitting sunglasses to protect my poor peepers without much success. Bet I looked pretty cool though :)

 Thank heaven for food processors. They help to take the sting out of chopping onions. Especially 2kg worth!

Simmer in vinegar for an hour before adding sugar and bit of salt (and a couple of other herbs unless you're like me and decided to ignore them), bring to the boil and then simmer again until thickened. Which never seemed to happen the first time I made this and I found out it actually thickens more once it cools.

Spoon into sterilised jars and leave to cool. Please note that I used white sugar when recipe called for dark brown, ergo my chutney is lighter in colour this year. Oh I am such a rebel.

As if making 8 jars of honey coloured heaven wasn't money saving enough here's another one. Do I spent £1.99 on wax discs to put on top of my chutney? Not when I can cut up an empty cereal packet (the plastic bag that holds the cereal). Was only going to landfill so best thing for the environment is to get one more use out of it :)

So whilst I might not make and eat preserves quite the same way my great granny did at least I am having a go at making something I know I will eat and enjoy.
Just wish my eyes didn't have to suffer in the process and that the house didn't stink of vinegar! Don't pop round to my house for a few days unless you want to think you're visiting a chip shop ;)