She Queen of puds
Christmas acts like a magnifying glass, if you are happy and well everything seems to shine. If you are going through bad or sad times or are missing someone it seems magnified too and the pressure to be merry and bright can be too much to bear.
Thankfully all things pass, you might not get a happy ending but it always heralds the beginning of something new and with that , hope translates to the possibilities of better times in the future.
So Christmas has passed us by and I do hope it has been a good one for all my friends. When you hear about good people suffering or dying at this time of year it inexplicably makes me feel as though I've lost a friend.
In my own family we have people who are sick and I know this has put me in touch with a great deal of sadness even though the holidays with my own merry band have been full of comfort and joy.
I am looking forward to the new year with hope that our special ones who are sick will have the strength to cope with and overcome their ills or accept the things they cannot change. I will try to be there for friends and family if they have too much to endure, I love a good party and the best of times but I'm also a doer and am good at being around for the worst of times too.
To make life less difficult for one another and to be always kind and useful are the only resolutions I hope to keep this coming year.
My Matty loves Queen's pudding and after visiting his Mum today in her nursing home he needed some tender loving pudding care. She used to love watching Brookside where Sheila Grant was known affectionately as 'she Queen' , so this She Queen pudding was my way of saying to Matty that I am sorry his Momma is not well and that I'm his port in any storm.
She Queen pudding
4 slices white bread (stale!) made into breadcrumbs
4 egg yolks
3/4 pint of milk
1/4 pint cream
3 tbs sugar
Vanilla extract
4 egg whites
3 tbs sugar
2 tbs apricot jam warmed
Firstly make the breadcrumbs and put in an oven proof dish, then mix the milk cream sugar and a spoon of vanilla extract and pour over the crumbs. Bake for 15 mins at 180 degrees until it is springy to touch, spread the runny apricot jam over the top. To make the meringue whisk the whites until they are stiff, fold in the sugar and whisk again until the whites are glossy. Pile on top of the crumb and jam mixture and cook for ten minutes more in a hot oven until the meringues are brown and cooked. Serve with some cream. Pudding I find, says a lot more about how you feel about someone than a lot of kind words could ever convey.
Tuesday, 27 December 2016
Thursday, 1 December 2016
Shabernet cauvignon chicken
Christmas is coming!
I have been shopping all morning and don't seem to have achieved anything.
I have been pinned in a parking spot between two Grandads in huge people carriers in M&S car park and been subjected to a grumpy checkout old girl in that shop.
I could have grabbed a Grandad and berated them for trapping me and parking inconsiderately. I could have been as rude back to the brusque shop assistant. But away in Marks and Spencer's all I could hear in my head was "Away in a manger" and it might have been a till ringing but I think it was a Christmas Angel singing in my heart and I left the shop feeling deliciously calm.
Everyone has a story so it's so important to be kind this time of year, to frazzled unloved shop assistants selling tons of chocolate biscuits but never getting to eat one, or grumpy old Grandads who have lost the will to live waiting for their wives to return from the shops, but most importantly be kind to yourself.
Advent is a time of waiting.
We all have our own stories to tell or conceal. Happy and sad memories from Christmases past that shape our present day ones. Loved ones we have lost or who left us, special ones who are sick can weigh heavy on our minds. When you think about the Christmas story though it's all about Hope and Light. When we allow ourselves to be infused with the Christmas spirit it's an opportunity to write our own stories and the wait will soon be over.
Christmas will come, follow your own star, it's only a couple of days but the memories we make for our children will last a lifetime.
When I got home from town I felt a compulsion to speak to my parents, even though they've not actually spoken to each other since 1990! They have both recently moved and in my phone book sit jauntily side by side as "Joey Cornwall" and "Jimmy York" making them sound like a couple of old Hollywood film stars! All my memories of the Christmases they gave me and my brothers are light, happy and full of chuckles.
Now I have my own tribe to swaddle and coddle and I feel the need to give them a cracker of a Christmas. I can't remember a single gift I got last year or when I was a child but I do remember how I felt and what I tasted and how I was adored by my parents.
Love is the best gift of all , it fixes everything.
When I have had a few glasses I tend to get my words mixed up !
"Shabernet Cauvignon"Chicken
(when they ask for a spoon for the gravy ,it's just one of the memories I leave for my children.)
1 bottle Cabernet Sauvignon
12 boneless chicken thighs
4 cloves crushed garlic
Celery stick
1 carrot diced
1 leek diced
Sprig of fresh rosemary
Maple syrup
Soya sauce
Tomato purée
1/2 pint chicken stock
Sea salt
Black pepper
Milk
Marinate the chicken in garlic, soya sauce, maple syrup and tomato purée. Fry them in a heavy pan until golden with celery, carrot and leek. Then pour yourself a big glass of red, add the rest to the pan, season and add a splash of milk, rosemary and a teaspoon of sugar, and stock. Simmer until the chicken is tender and the red wine reduced. Serve with some mashed potatoes and curly Kale and a spoon for the little ones to drink their gravy!
Happy Christmas, Love is the answer, Love yourself and those who Love you back.
I have been shopping all morning and don't seem to have achieved anything.
I have been pinned in a parking spot between two Grandads in huge people carriers in M&S car park and been subjected to a grumpy checkout old girl in that shop.
I could have grabbed a Grandad and berated them for trapping me and parking inconsiderately. I could have been as rude back to the brusque shop assistant. But away in Marks and Spencer's all I could hear in my head was "Away in a manger" and it might have been a till ringing but I think it was a Christmas Angel singing in my heart and I left the shop feeling deliciously calm.
Everyone has a story so it's so important to be kind this time of year, to frazzled unloved shop assistants selling tons of chocolate biscuits but never getting to eat one, or grumpy old Grandads who have lost the will to live waiting for their wives to return from the shops, but most importantly be kind to yourself.
Advent is a time of waiting.
We all have our own stories to tell or conceal. Happy and sad memories from Christmases past that shape our present day ones. Loved ones we have lost or who left us, special ones who are sick can weigh heavy on our minds. When you think about the Christmas story though it's all about Hope and Light. When we allow ourselves to be infused with the Christmas spirit it's an opportunity to write our own stories and the wait will soon be over.
Christmas will come, follow your own star, it's only a couple of days but the memories we make for our children will last a lifetime.
When I got home from town I felt a compulsion to speak to my parents, even though they've not actually spoken to each other since 1990! They have both recently moved and in my phone book sit jauntily side by side as "Joey Cornwall" and "Jimmy York" making them sound like a couple of old Hollywood film stars! All my memories of the Christmases they gave me and my brothers are light, happy and full of chuckles.
Now I have my own tribe to swaddle and coddle and I feel the need to give them a cracker of a Christmas. I can't remember a single gift I got last year or when I was a child but I do remember how I felt and what I tasted and how I was adored by my parents.
Love is the best gift of all , it fixes everything.
When I have had a few glasses I tend to get my words mixed up !
"Shabernet Cauvignon"Chicken
(when they ask for a spoon for the gravy ,it's just one of the memories I leave for my children.)
1 bottle Cabernet Sauvignon
12 boneless chicken thighs
4 cloves crushed garlic
Celery stick
1 carrot diced
1 leek diced
Sprig of fresh rosemary
Maple syrup
Soya sauce
Tomato purée
1/2 pint chicken stock
Sea salt
Black pepper
Milk
Marinate the chicken in garlic, soya sauce, maple syrup and tomato purée. Fry them in a heavy pan until golden with celery, carrot and leek. Then pour yourself a big glass of red, add the rest to the pan, season and add a splash of milk, rosemary and a teaspoon of sugar, and stock. Simmer until the chicken is tender and the red wine reduced. Serve with some mashed potatoes and curly Kale and a spoon for the little ones to drink their gravy!
Happy Christmas, Love is the answer, Love yourself and those who Love you back.
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