Merry Christmas all

[petronia]

We watched the Doctor Who Christmas special... from two years ago, shut up we're getting there. XD;; helvetius, your discs are the holiday gift that keeps on giving. Now that sororial unit is off we may make it through the fourth season by decade's end, and then I can actually READ SERIES DISCUSSIONS ON THE INTERNETS oh joy oh wonders, oh no wait there's more to download isn't there. orz

The s3 ending arc before that, which was kind of \o_O/. And then I had to imdb to figure out where I'd seen the dude before (sororial unit didn't know, normally with UK TV she's like "oh that one's been in Harry Potter, she played whatserface in season one of Rome, and I think I saw the other on Buzzcocks"). EDIT - re this thread, I'm still waiting for my onsen special dammit.

Holiday foodery roundup, because I know I will be looking for it next year: cake pan gingerbread thing from a Nigella Lawson recipe, swapping fresh ginger for galangal because... well, galangal tastes more like gingerbread, or is it just me? The test batch was subtle on it anyway, tomorrow morning's will contain two teaspoons (grated ginger is a productivity bottleneck when one doesn't own a grater). Sprinkled liberally on top with chopped cranberries and demerara sugar before baking, and confectionary sugar after. Tomorrow I will attempt Nigella's actual frosting with err Sicilian lemon soda in lieu of lemon juice what could possibly go wrong. It also rose higher/cakeier than I'd imagined, so maybe a tad more syrup and cut the oven time to 40 minutes from 45. If any of this sounds potentially disastrous to more experienced bakers let me know. XD;

No matter what stuffing recipe I use, I always end up changing it because I don't like celery, and I'm not hugely fond of savory stuff with apples and nuts in, and frankly I can do without rosemary too. So it's just six cups of bread cubes, a packet of bacon, two onions, and enoki mushrooms, and only two tsp of powdered sage and half a bottle of beer save it from turning into a differently-structured Quebecois-style pizza. Maybe next year I'll put the apples and nuts back in.

I also bought, get this, stuff for making mince pies? XD;;; It's incandescens talking about it every year, I've gone around the bend.

Lauren, Cindy, your card and postcard arrived (several days ago, I've been neglectful XD;). Thank you! ♥

Comments

[cis.livejournal.com]

nigella's gingerbread cake is rather meant to be cakey - if you don't want it to rise so much i'd recommend lessening the baking soda more than cutting the baking time (which i suspect won't so much make it rise less as make it sink more). Or you could replace the eggs with some plain yoghurt (since eggs are a raising agent and yoghurt ain't, though it does bind. but maybe milk + yog would be a bit much).
I've never bothered making the icing: i imagine it'll be a little weak with lemon soda instead but w/e.

What is this "stuff for making mince pies", Sabina if you using both shop-bought mincemeat and shop-bought pastry it DOES NOT COUNT. I have only made about twenty-four mince pies so far this season! |I am falling behind. (also i decided to make jam tarts instead that one time)

Merry merry Christmas, my dear.

[incandescens]

(cackles) I shall corrupt you all!

Reports are expected.

Stuffing

[vureoelt.livejournal.com]

Quebecois-style stuffing: that's priceless. ^_^ You sure you don't want to toss some cheese and pepperoni in?

Ye olde family recipe which I've always found delicious goes a little something like this:

Finely chop the giblets, 2 onions, 2 carrots and all the leaves and smaller pieces from one celery. Cook them all in a frying pan with oil and salt to taste. Mix with a loaf of bread (cubed) as well as a can of meat broth or reasonable facsimile. Add water as needed. I like celery, but don't let that bias you against the recipe: you don't taste it as an individual flavour as it becomes a medley of tastiness. Ditto with carrots, onions, etc. The recipe avoids wet stuff like mushrooms or bacon because it will be soggy enough already. It always vanishes really rapidly after the turkey comes out of the oven, although we still have a small bit left. I could even theoretically sneak you a sample if you like (assuming it does not disappear in the meantime). ^_^

[helvetius.livejournal.com]

Soz, been a bit swamped with WoW (What's new, aye?), hence the late comment. Glad you like it though. There's more, but I think you would already know. XD;

Haven't gotten my paws on the latest X'mas special, but with the foxy Tennant disappearing, I'm... not really all that keen. (A Brit wow guildee commented that the latest Doctor looks like a "Twilight twerp". LOL!)