Winter Weather and Christmas Ideas

We’ve had snow, stormy winds and lashing rain in the last week or so. The garden has taken a battering yet still manages to surprise and often please me. I’m not a fan of snow but it does look magical as it falls silently over everything it touches.

It only lasted a day for us and snow is never as damaging as hard frost. The plants revived.

The birds took advantage of some late windfall apples beneath the trees.

It’s lovely to think we’re helping them to withstand the cold. We feed them regularly with sunflower seeds and peanuts so the garden is always full of activity. Beautiful Nuthatches visit the pear tree outside the window, enjoying a bit of upside down eating. A Jay has been visiting too, daring to come close to the house for the free feast.

Feathers are a regular feature around the garden. Such a pleasure to have the opportunity to see their beauty up close.

At this time of year I need to use my imagination to find points of interest and loveliness in a dreary garden but as I walk around they’re never difficult to find. Textures, berries, raindrops.

It’s a good thing that the demands of gardening are few at this time of year because Christmas is a busy time. I’ve just started writing our Christmas cards and will be wrapping gifts soon.

I have to be ready a week early because we have a family get together on the preceding Saturday. (Fingers crossed it will happen this year.) Because we have meat for this family meal, a few years ago I decided to do a vegetarian alternative for the two of us on Christmas day. This is my festive flan. It became a firm favourite and I enjoy making it on Christmas morning. It’s really delicious with seasonal ingredients and tastes fabulous with my homemade cranberry sauce and roast potatoes.

I love to bake it with a glass of sherry on hand and listening to The Messiah. I’m not a religious person but religious music is so inspiring, especially Handel on Christmas Day. The atmosphere is wonderful. The smell of good food, booze and the soaring notes of fantastic music fill my kitchen. Then the pleasure is completed by eating something so tasty, wholesome and Christmassy and having it appreciated too. I love Christmas Day.

If you’re vegetarian or, like us, you’d simply like a different meal on any of the festive days you will find the recipe on “Festive Flan and Log Fires”. Just scroll back through my previous posts to find it.

Although we love Christmas pudding we prefer to have something light as a dessert. Usually we have our homegrown strawberries from the freezer. I cook them in sugar syrup and allow them to cool. Then I serve them with greek yoghurt. Simple but delicious and refreshing. All the senses are satisfied without that horrible feeling of being stuffed.

This year though I’ve decided we’re having an all-time favourite. Vanilla ice-cream with toasted pecans and chocolate sauce. If you want a truly sensational taste with little effort try this.

Pecan Nuts
Cocoa Powder
Milk or Oat Milk
Vanilla Ice-cream

Break the nuts into pieces and spread in a baking tin or on a baking tray. Heat the grill. When the grill is very hot place the nuts under it and toast for a few minutes. Keep an eye on them because they quickly burn. You want them well browned though.
Allow to cool.(You can do this a day or two ahead and keep them in a screw top jar or container.)
To make the sauce, put a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder into a jug or mug.
Add a small quantity of milk and stir well until a paste forms.Takes a minute for the powder to start taking up the milk. Add a little more milk a drop at a time and mix well until a thick slightly runny consistency is reached.It will thicken more  when heated.
Place the jug or mug in the microwave oven and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove and stir well.
If you prefer it sweet add a little sugar after removing from the microwave. However, the bitter dark chocolate is especially good with the very sweet vanilla ice-cream.
Place scoops of ice-cream in tall glass dishes and sprinkle the toasted nuts on top and serve with chocolate sauce drizzled over.

I use a good organic cocoa powder for this. Don’t use drinking chocolate powder. The sugar in it might cause the sauce to burn. The chocolate sauce can be served hot or cold but it is more runny and enjoyable if it’s warm. Toast plenty of nuts because they really are “more-ish”.

As my regular readers know, I like to photograph my recipes when possible. They may not look like those in glossy magazines and professional cookbooks. There are reasons for this. My food is exactly how it looks. I have not employed the tricks that professional food photographers use. The photos you see in magazines and books are often undercooked to preserve the shape and colour, coatings are sometimes used to highlight them and special lighting techniques improve the effects. I not only have none of these at my disposal but I really do intend to show people what is reasonably within their capability in a real home kitchen. So I hope you will not find my pictures uninspiring. They are my recipes, cooked in my normal kitchen and I hope you will find you want to make them too.

Some of my ideas, well, most of them really, come to me at night when I can’t sleep. I do have a problem with sleeping but I try to think about the positive side even though it would be nicer to wake up feeling refreshed. Here’s a short poem I wrote about it.

Sleepless Night

Dead of night and nothing stirs but me.
I gently tread the creaking stairs
As from my bed I flee.
My mind is racing, full of thoughts.
Plans are forming in my head,
Ideas, schemes and plots of sorts.
Must write them down while they're fresh,
Must retain this inspiration
While the brain cells mesh.
The silence stimulates my focussed head,
This time is never wasted -
Though I'd rather be in bed!

Shooting on towards Christmas now. The weeks are flying by. Don’t give in to the pressure. Stay calm, enjoy the creative process. With you again next week.