Happy Christmas!

It seems that Christmas is upon us - for such a long time I felt it was too early to think about and then suddenly it was almost too late. Not quite, luckily. I will be having a mini blogging break because we are going away today, to my parents, for a few days. Cooking-wise, I will be cooking the turkey from the recipe in Cook with Jamie and will also make again the roast rib of beef with beets; I got up unseasonably early this morning to make shortbread from the book for my grandmother. Otherwise I will resume working through the book after the festivities. It all feels a bit manic today, so obviously I am procrastinating by blogging instead of working my way through the impressive list of tasks I have assigned to myself, not least of which is finishing wrapping presents (is it just me or is wrapping highly tedious, after the first couple of parcels?).

Yesterday, I marzipanned and iced the Christmas cake, which looks quite cute (I added one Christmas tree and lots of holly leaves made of leftover scraps of white icing) - I hope it tastes okay. Usually I make a cake that lies somewhere between Nigella's from How to Be a Domestic Goddess and my nana's old recipe, but this time I was seduced by Nigella's Christmas Kitchen and made the cake from the show. My nana will definitely tell me if it isn't any good, so I will find out soon enough.


My brother and sister-in-law and their dog are coming north today; we have family over at my parents' later for tapas; Christmas is here. Oh, and yesterday we went to an out-of-town Borders, which has Starbucks in it - and Simon found some gingerbread syrup (the syrup he ordered is somewhere in the post, but don't get me back on my high horse again...). So last night we had some of what Nigella calls Christmas in a glass - gingerbread syrup and prosecco. It really honestly does taste like Christmas in a glass - it is delicious. Thank you again, Nigella; I'm looking forward to more liquid Christmas later.

For now, though, the farm shop awaits us for the turkey and beef and for some vegetables. When we get back I have to wrap the edible goodies, pack and go. Happy Christmas to anyone still reading me (Christmas is too busy for blogs..!) and I will be back before the New Year, probably via the sales (I never said I was one of those pure, walk-in-the-country types, who celebrates Christmas as a chance to avoid the shops). Merry Christmas!