Since the end of November and the end of NaBloPoMo I have, clearly, vanished from view on here. With perfect timing the last day of November coincided with the start of a bout of tonsillitis which left me sick and dosed up on penicillin for the rest of the week.
I was just well enough to go to an Ottolenghi cookery class at Leith's on the 6th but all the exertion left me a quivering wreck for the remainder of the weekend, fun though it was. I'm definitely hanging onto the buttered spiced rice and the meatballs so they should crop up here eventually.
So, I was back at work last week but not back to cooking. A week away from the kitchen ended with a good food weekend in Edinburgh that mostly consisted of revisiting old favourites while we had the chance, I'm a little sad that the weather made eating German Christmas market food an unappealing prospect but with our favourite Chinese takeaway, three great lunches with friends, and a delicious Edinburgh pizza we couldn't complain.
Now I'm back in London and back in the kitchen. I spent this evening scissoring dried fruit while watching Nigella's Christmas Kitchen and am keeping my fingers crossed for finding somewhere, anywhere, to buy whole pieces of candied peel tomorrow and hoping that if I add enough booze to my Christmas cake and pudding no one will notice that they only had a week to mature...
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6 comments:
Glad to see your back, it sounds like you've been busy!
I'm sure Sainsbury's sell whole pieces of candied peel, they certainly used to.
Thanks Sam. I think I'm just cursed with poor supermarkets, Sainsbury's in Islington didn't have any candied peel at all so I had to settle for some chopped organic lemon peel instead.
Gemma x
You're alive! ;-)
The Ottolenghi class sounds fab - everythign of his that I've made is just wonderful...
Hope you're totally better. The cooking class sounds like fun, as does the weekend in Edinburgh. I'm sure nobody will notice about the cake and pudding - fingers crossed.
I wonder how the Christmas cake tasted? My sister only made hers on Chrismas Eve and it tasted just great, maybe not quite so dense but no one minded at all. Did you notice much of a difference? Maybe the whole maturing for ages thing is a bit more optional than they make out (good to know as I always plan it too late myself)... Hope it was grand.
The cake was delicious but very boozy from the rapid and heavy handed brandy soaking! I think the maturing thing is lovely if you can manage it but a good home made Christmas cake, even if it is made at the last minute, will always be well received by fruit cake lovers.
Gemma x
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