Stollen Bloody Stollen and a Happy New Year

Ten days of silence after frenetic activity and you may be forgiven for thinking I’ve disappeared over some kind of bloggers’ precipice.

I have been occupied at home with my little boy opening all of his presents, two bigger boys (aged 40 and 65) who require even more attention than the 3 year old and catering for a stream of visiting relatives and friends.

Christmas television these days seems to be reduced to a regurgitation of old clips boiled into evening long wodges that glue you to the sofa. Whilst I love reading them and certainly don’t mean to belittle anyone who has done this, the various round ups in the blogosphere right now are much the same and I will enjoy reading them just as much as I’ll sit through a Channel Five countdown of “Top 100 Christmas Moments of All Time” (which believe me, I do, Quality Street in hand). But I don’t really do looking back of my own. Besides, I’m too busy to sit and compile it at the moment.

As I said in my new year’s post last year, I prefer to look forward and relish the opportunities and the clean slate that January represents. It’s not that I need January to make new changes but “the chickens are all pointing in the right direction” as a non English friend once endearingly said to me.

Instead I will present with you a trio of my Christmas baking projects which will never make it into blog post form but are nevertheless worth sharing now:

1. Ted and I make gingerbread cookies for the tree using Ikea ready made cookie dough. Costs £2.50 ish from their Sweden shop chiller cabinet in November/December, worth every penny.

2. Stollen Bloody Stollen. This monster has sat on my worktop for the past FORTNIGHT I am embarassed to admit, sprawled out like a corpse in the corner of the kitchen because I never got around to photographing it. This month’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge was set by X Y Z of ABC blog (to be inserted later I promise) and the challenge they set was stollen. How smug was I fitting it all in by December 15 in the midst of frenetic activity. Damn thing never got photographed properly, never got eaten. To my shame. Lucky old ducks at Hollow Ponds eh? We’re off to recreate the “dead duck” scene from “About A Boy” although we’ll omit the bit where the mother has attempted suicide on their return.

3. Gingerbread Stable. Knocked up in 15 minutes using a rather whizzy kit from Dr Oetker. For more creative gingerbread houses check out Ms Marmite Lover’s marvellous Gingerbread Slum with chocolate fingers on the roof.

I will leave you now to bring in the new year. Now I admit freely that I am a total numpty with wine and any talk of wine smelling like green baize cutlery boxes crossed with barbecued socks bores me to tears.

Champagne on the other hand… I know all about decent champagne and whilst I’ll drink cava and prosecco without complaint all year round, tonight we’re in for a treat opening a bottle of the same pink fizzy Champagne Lanson we enjoyed at our wedding reception.

Happy New Year everyone. I’ll be back soon.

XXXxxx