Confession

Ethereal being forgive me. It's been over a week since my last blog.

But, in my defence, (all be it a poor one) I lost my computer lead and I don't feel comfortable blogging from a different computer.

I was quite organised last weekend and I wrote one in advance of going away so from the comfort of the passenger seat of the car, all I had to do was post it.

So, a week has passed, there is a new Mr and Mrs Brunell in the world (congratulations all round) and we had a lovely, if hectic time in the Dales. 3 hampers were delivered and 2 niece/nephew presents as well as the present for everyone's favourite Grandmother, Nana Maisey, who has been proudly showing off her copy of Prima to anyone and everyone. Of course Nana Maisey's anyone and everyone is a bit different to most peoples. As the wife of the Admiral of the (Merchant Navy) Fleet, she is incredibly well connected and my copy of Prima has gone to my spiritual home, Egglestone Hall. I'm thrilled by that prospect. I'm happier no where than there!

So, what have I been making? Good question. Well, I've been trying to finish Josie's blanket. I've finished the main body of it, I'm on the last ball of wool and doing the edging now so it'll be done very soon. My Nana bought a little crochet blanket in a charity shop the other week and I'd not seen the stitch formation before so I utilised the modern convenience of camera phones to be able to copy the pattern. I love technology!

I also have reduced my t0-do pile by 50%, I spent most of my day off on Friday taking in skirts and dresses. I now have a big pile of tops and trousers to get through and I'm hoping to do that in the next couple of days. Then, it's more Christmas tree decorations - I need to knock out another pile of those (I do like making them) and the next round of hampers.

We have our W.I. dinner next week and I really need to make something for the raffle. I wonder what I can do. I could give a cake, I suppose, I'll have to re count and see how many I have left. I have ear marked one of the squidgiest ones for an orange christmas pud a la Heston Blumenthal off of the Waitrose advert. Yum!

The End is Nigh!

Having decided that gardening is not my thing, I was quite pleased to take delivery of my onions grown down the mountain. Luckily, our goat is of no use to man nor beast, so he hasn't eaten them, or anything else really, other than goat nuts and a few thistles. Weird creature.

So this is the busy week coming up, I have the secret event happening on Friday, so, the house needs to be spick and span, and the Christmas decorations up beautifully. I asked hubby if we had to bother doing it a second time in December (seems pointless to me!) and he just told me not to be so miserable!

It's my niece's birthday next month, so I made her the cushion cover at the top. It's really pretty and I'm quite pleased with it, didn't take too long either, about six hours. That's another one to tick off the list. I did buy the pink felt, (80p) but the ribbon was scrounged, the buttons I already had in the house, and the fabric is beautiful damask cotton (formerly my bedroom curtains!), so I hope it'll stay with her for many years to come.

The Christmas cakes are done. Finally. Never underestimate a Christmas cake. Now, the box that contains all the cakes is so heavy I can't even drag it. So on tho the next thing, the edible tree decorations. Having learned many valuable lessons from making the cakes, I am now perfecting the gingerbread BEFORE embarking on the big bake. I need a perfect batch for next week's exciting event, but then the big bake will be reserved for immediately before the presents are to be given, for freshness purposes.

Bethan's Production Line

I once heard that the mark of a good recipe is the mess that it gets in. In that case, I think I have the best recipe in the world!

Crikey, if you ever thought that making a Christmas cake is easy, you have another thing coming. On the plus side, I have got one that's available for current eating and one test one that's living with the other gift ones for quality monitoring over the next few months. Honest!

The recipe "in print since 1978" was lies. It said "bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 4 1/2 to 4 3/4 hours on gas mark 1" well they weren't cakes, they were Christmas puddings. So I put them back in for another hour on gm1, no good. Another hour on gm4, still a bit gooey. 45 minutes on gm 6 and that pretty much did the trick. So, the next batch, I decided to only do two at a time, but I cooked them for 2 hours on gm3.5 then two hours on gm 1, then I turned the oven off and allowed them to continue cooking while the oven cooled. They came out pretty damned perfect, I must say.

I bought a big clear plastic air tight stacker box to keep them in last week. The smell when you lift the lid is just to die for, but I can barely lift the box already and there are only 5 cakes in there. There'll be 13 by the time I've finished. I have another two in the oven as we speak, another 4 are prepped ready to cook on Monday. I'm working tomorrow so I'm not going to get chance to cook them. I'm still struggling to think how I'm going to present the cakes in the hampers though. I guess I'll see how much cake boards are, I could go for one of those and some cling film. I supose if I could get my hands on some really strong cardboard, I could make round cake boards myself cunningly using foil.

As usual, I've learned several valuable lessons making these cakes:

1. Never underestimate the work, love, attention and blinkin' expensive ingredients in a Christmas cake.
2. Always have a practice run with a new recipe (schoolgirl error - sorry Mrs Phillips :) )
3. Go with your gut instinct to save money and ingredients (I dispensed with the very expensive candied peel and after 6 cakes decided to also dispense with the fresh orange and lemon zest because they it was an awful lot of extra work for very little result, AND, not everyone likes peel).
4. It makes you feel very smug in September when you're virtually ready for Christmas!

I don't know if I mentioned that I have completed the kids Christmas sacks. They turned out really well and have given me some ideas for what the children will be getting next year. It's never too early to start planning! However, I have managed to overlook another two birthdays coming up so I'd better get cracking on that. Not really got any ideas yet either. Hmmm.

And the other thing I have to do this week, other than make some edible gingerbread Christmas tree decorations, is make my Christmas cards. Luckily, Meg and I had a brainwave involving blank cards bought cheaply and one sheet of expensive gift wrap. A couple of hours that'll take, and that'll be another job ticked off the list.

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If You Can't Stand the Heat...

... get out of the kitchen, because your probably in my way anyway. I have a LOT to do!

The Christmas Cakes have started. I've done my research, found the recipe I like, and have dispatched my trust husband to retrieve the ingredients. He has an extensive list!

In order to make my cakes, I reckon four at a time I can cook. They'll have cooking times of nearly 5 hours per set of four, there will be four different cooking sessions. I think I'd better schedule in an oven clean after that!

Kath, if you are reading this I PROMISE I AM NOT GOING TO BE EATING ANY OF THESE CAKES!

I needed a calculator just to work out the quantities. I must knock off after this to tidy up and make sure I have enough room for the ingredients, before anything else.

13lb Currants

6 1/2 lb Sultanas

6 1/2 lb Raisins

2 lb Glace Cherries

2 lb mixed candied peel

A bottle of rum/sherry, something like that

6 1/2 lb Plain Flour

2 jars of nutmeg

2 jars of ground mixed spice

6 1/2 lb Butter

6 1/2 lb brown sugar

52 eggs

2 lb flaked/chopped almonds

1 tin of black treacle or molasses

13 lemons

13 oranges

1 bag of whole almonds

Crikey!

This is now an urgent appeal. I need cake tins. Not the sort you cook them in, the sort you store them in. Roses tins or biscuit tins, that sort of thing. I had loads after Christmas but they've all been given away as presents. Either that or some good ideas for how else to present them?