Well, this must be my final Christmas post (2008 tomorrow) but I couldn't pass Christmas without showing you my Christmas cake with its electric street lamps that light up! It got me thinking that they would be ideal for a Narnia magic forest cake complete with wardrobe. This was my first ever Christmas cake and it was pretty good! Very moist and strongly flavoured with amaretto!!!!
It is hard to believe that after all the weeks of preparation, Christmas has been and gone. I hope that you all had a lovely time. My brother's lovely girlfriend Amy has departed back to New York (I am not sure whether she survived the madness of our family!!!), the rest of the family have gone home and my husband is back at work so the house is feeling eerily quiet today. Perfect for a long soak in the bath and a spot of tidying up! We had a wonderful Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent with Kathy Brown and supper with her lovely family - see Jonathan's photos of the delicious food on his blog. We had fun playing party games and I even tried to play the piano - sight reading was never my forte - it must have provided entertainment for those watching as Simon (who sings very well) tried to keep pace with my awful timing! 
These are the photos Jonathon took of the Christmas fondant fancies I took as a present! Very bright icing!!!
The last few days have been lovely. We had Christmas lunch with my Dad and visited Waddesdon Manor with a crisp winter walk - I have not been there since Masterchef and it was lovely to go back and not be under any pressure!! Friday was our village carol concert which included a rendition of the 12 days of Christmas by the village junior choir (the youngest member is 4), all singing solos! They were wonderful. We currently have the "travelling crib" (a wonderful knitted nativity - complete with knitted sheep, shepherds, kings and a knitted baby Jesus in a crib) which travels round the village spending a night with most families, ending up in the Church this evening - assuming that I do not forget to drop it off!
Winter is definitely here this morning...I am freezing! Our Aga is being serviced again this morning - I am getting a bit worried about whether we will actually be able to cook a turkey this year - fingers crossed that it will get fixed this time. So it is cold and I would rather be under a quilt, but that said, I would not change the views in our garden this morning for anything. It looked like a winter wonderland. My wonderful hens are miraculously still laying despite the dusting of snow in their pen this morning - I am convinced the porridge is doing the trick and am wondering whether it would be prudent to serve them some warm carrots for lunch! 
A bullfinch also came to visit outside my office window this morning and stayed for ages!
Christmas is primarily a time for children and today a few deserve a special mention. Firstly David Hall's (bookthecook) little girl Cerys who has very kindly bestowed on me a "Well Done Angel" award. I think she looks magical in her fairy outfit and am very honoured to have received an award from her! Thank you Cerys and I hope Father Christmas brings you lots of goodies!
The second mention is George who performed a wonderful puppet show for us all at our family party on Sunday - "Bob the Builder and Mickey Mouse follow the star". 
Whilst it may not have been a Christmas story that many of you will recognise, it had us laughing out loud and you will be pleased to know that they followed the star all the way to the north pole where Father Christmas made a guest appearance and gave them some presents!
My brother has arrived from America to stay for two weeks! It is so nice to see him after far too long. His new girlfriend Amy is arriving next week and we are all keen to meet her although we are hoping that meeting the family doesn't put her off him! Anyway, as if from something from We Three Kings, he arrived bearing gifts...Gold (a golden Sees Candies Christmas Hamper - we thought we had died and gone to heaven when we lifted the lid and saw the goodies inside) 
Oh ....and a turkey injector for injecting wine into the turkey flesh to keep it moist! Only my brother could find something like this! He bought it in Mexico! I have to say I am yet to be convinced by this but we will give it a try!
I hope that your Christmas preparations are going well and that you are having as much fun as we are!
If like me you have lots of visitors staying over the Christmas period, there is always a dilemma of what to serve for breakfast. I try to serve something different every day but don't always have time to make waffles or cook an English Aga breakfast. If you are short of time and want to serve something yummy, make french toasts with cinnamon raisin bread (I usually have a bag of this in the freezer as standby). For 6 slices, whisk together 4 eggs and a few tablespoons of double cream or milk, a pinch of ground cinnamon and a teaspoon of caster sugar. Melt a tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan and soak your cinnamon bread slices in the egg mixture for a minute (don't leave it too long otherwise the bread will go soggy) making sure that all the bread is covered with the egg mixture. Fry the bread in the butter until it is golden brown on both sides. Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup and a spoonful of whipped cream if you wish! What more could a girl ask for when it is below zero outside and her chicken's water is frozen!!!
I have recently collected four of my embroideries from the framers and thought I would share the results with you. They have done such a lovely job and the colours they pick for the mounts and frames are always perfect. The fourth one will have to remain a secret as it is a Christmas present for my Mum and the surprise would be ruined if she saw it here!
I collect many things - baskets, jugs, teapots, samplers, picnic hampers...to name but a few! Our house could legitimately be called cluttered! My favourite collection is my walking stick basket collection, pictured here leaning against our pantry cupboard, which are perfect for collecting things from the hedgerows on country walks. I do not find sticks with baskets very often and my collection totals only three so far (which is probably already more than we need). My mum is also an avid collector - particularly of jelly moulds - and I have used one of hers this morning for my Country Kitchen recipe - a rhubarb and custard jelly - which is looking pretty with its pink and yellow layers as it cools in the fridge. I do hope it will turn out of the mould in one piece when the photographer comes later today! 
I am just back from being in London and I must say that it is nice to be home! My hens have laid me three eggs (they had stopped laying for a few weeks as it was so cold) including a rather unusual brown egg with white speckles on it! I am not sure which hen is laying them and will have to keep an eye out on the coup! Steven and my brief appearance on cooking the books is being shown this evening at 6.30 and tomorrow at 12.30 lunchtime on Channel 5. I am hoping that my orange and fig cake will look nice on the camera!
Mince pies - Two Ways
The 2nd December is our wedding anniversary (six years since our Christmassy wedding in Islington) and we traditionally put up our Christmas tree on this day. So yesterday, despite the storms, wind and rain, we wrapped up warm, went to a lovely Christmas tree farm near here and spent a long time picking our tree. Every year I think I must drive Brian Pell, the owner, crazy as I ask him to pull out tree after tree so that I can inspect them all! 
I know we say it every year, but I think this year we have the best tree we have ever had! Not too wide but nice and tall although I am slightly concerned about the lack of space under the tree for Santa to leave presents! So here is our tree in full decorated glory - just the swag for the fireplace and wreaths for the doors to make and we will be ready to welcome Christmas visitors (the first of which arrive next weekend). 
We had our first mince pies for supper last night, together with mulled wine and a roast chicken supper and crackers (we all refused to wear our novelty hats on account of it being early December) - so Christmas has definitely arrived in our cottage!
Spiced Chicken Noodle Soup
Serves 4, preparation time 10 minutes, cooking time 15 minutes
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 skinless chicken breast fillet, chopped into small pieces
1 – 2 chillies, finely chopped (seeds removed if desired or omit the chillies if you wish)
1 stick lemon grass, trimmed and bashed with a rolling pin to release the flavours
1 carrot peeled and slices into small strips or grated
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
Juice of 1 lime
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp chopped thai basil (or regular basil if thai basil is not available)
3 chopped spring onions
1 small packet of thin Chinese noodles, soak in boiling water for 3 minutes or according to instructions
In a wok or a large frying pan, heat the oil and then add the garlic, shallots and ginger and cook for 2 minutes until soft, taking care that they do not burn. If the oil gets to hot, turn down the heat. Add the chicken, lemon grass and chillies and cook for a further 3 minutes. Add the carrot and cook for a further minutes. Pour in the fish sauce, both soy sauces and the lime juice and give a good stir. Add the stock and simmer on a low heat for 5 – 8 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Add the coriander, basil, spring onions and cooked noodles and heat for a further minute. Spoon into bowls and serve immediately.
My Dad has recently been over to New York to visit my brother - it was so noisy that he had to wear ear plugs at night! How different my brother's life is to mine where the only noises we get here at night are the occasional owl hooting and then the dawn chorus from the rooster and peacocks! These are the delicious treats I was bought back which I have used in my baking! See's candies are just the best ever and I hope that my brother reads this and remembers to bring some over for Christmas! He is coming to stay for two whole weeks and I am really looking forward to seeing him!
I do love my Aga but, being over 80 years old, it can be temperamental and this week it has gone on strike. Sadly the result is no real cooking in our house as our only alternative means of cooking are the BBQ (not great in this weather) and a microwave. Luckily the engineer is here at the moment fixing it so hopefully by this evening it will be working again and boiling a kettle will take less than the 25 minutes it was taking earlier in the week! Hopefully you will allow me to use this as a valid excuse for not posting a recipe today!
There are few things more satisfying than making your own spice mix. The aroma released by the spices as you heat them in the pan is terrific. I remember waiting in the Masterchef studio when we were just about to start cooking at the start of the semis (this was my ginger chicken and prawn with spiced chips dish). My spices had been placed next to the oven and had warmed up - it felt as if they were speaking to me telling me to cook with them! If you have ever seen the film "Mistress of Spices" you will know what I mean - I love that film! There are no rules really about what you can and can't add to a spice mix - it is all about personal preference! This one contained coriander seeds, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, fenugreek, cumin seeds and yellow mustard seeds. Once the spices are heated, simply blitz them in a spice grinder or crush them in a pestle and mortar and then seal them in a jar. Although they do last, some of the flavour is lost over time so it is best to make small quantities. For a delicious spiced omelet cook a finely chopped small onion in a tablespoon of ghee or olive olive in a large frying pan together with some finely chopped ginger, garlic and chilli (the chilli can be omitted if you want) with a pinch of salt until they are all soft - don't rush this stage! Add a few teaspoons of your spice mix (or shop brought garam marsala is fine if you don't have time to make your own spice mix) and cook for a further 2 minutes. If I have any in the fridge I also add a tsp of rose harissa paste for an extra chilli kick - again not essential! Whisk 4 eggs in a bowl and then pour into the frying pan and cook until the egg is set - if you have a grill you can place the pan under the grill once the omelet is almost cooked and it will rise slightly to give you a fluffier omelet. Serve with bread and coriander chutney.
Freddie and Charlotte of The Great Big Veg Challenge have ask what my favourite jacket potato filling is as part of their "P is for Potatoes" project! I love jacket potatoes - particularly in this sort of weather - as they provide instant warmth and satisfaction. They are lovely just with butter and grated cheese - or with baked beans and cheese! My favourite filling at the moment (I had it twice last week!) is herb scented mushrooms! It is delicious and so quick to make. I microwave my potatoes for 7 minutes (per potato) on high power and then transfer them to the oven to crisp the skins.
Herb scented mushrooms
David Hall, of Masterchef fame, was quite shocked when I admitted to him yesterday that I had never made a Christmas cake. Chocolate logs, chocolate truffle cakes decorated with chocolate holly leaves yes, but never a traditional fruit cake with icing and marzipan. We are not a household of fruit cake lovers but I have decided that this year is going to be the one where I attempt to convert everyone. I have scoured all my cook books for Christmas cake recipes trying to decide which one to make but ended up devising my own recipe. I am a huge fan of amaretto and so I wanted to use this in my cake. I soaked my fruits for 48 hours in the ameretto and they were juicy and plump when the time came to make the cake. We also really all love nuts so in an effort to make the cake appealing to non fruit cake lovers, I made it very nutty adding pistachios and cashews, together with the more traditional hazlenuts, almonds and brazil nuts.
Once the cake has cooled, wrap it in greaseproof paper and cling film and store in a sealed tin. Open it once a week, prick the surface with a darning needle or a fork and pour over a spoon of Amaretto.
