Christmas Cookery

I just wanted to say "cookery".  Nobody says that anymore do they?  One of my oldest recipe books is called the "Commonsense Cookery Book" it was a textbook back when my mother was at school I think and certainly when I was.  This is a Christmas cake recipe someone sent me years ago off the net.  It kind of reminds me of how I used to cook at Christmas time.

Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe

1 cup water

1 cup butter

4 large eggs

8 oz mixed nuts

1 tsp salt

juice of one lemon

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups dried fruit

1 tsp baking powder

1 bottle bourbon

Method

Sample the bourbon to the check quality.

Take a large bowl.

Re-sample the bourbon to ensure it is of the highest quality.

Pour one cup and drink.  Repeat.

Turn on the electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.

Add one teaspon of sugar and beat again.

Make sure the bourbon is still okay.  Cry another cup.

Turn on the mixerer.

Break two eggs and add to the bowl, chuck in the dried fruit.

Mix on the turner.  If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers, pry it loos with a drewscriver.

Sample the bourbon to check for tonsiscency.

Next sift two cups of salt, or something.  Who cares?

Check the bourbon.

Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.

Add one table.  Spoon.  Of sugar or something.  Whatever you can find.

Grease the oven.

Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees.

Don't forget to beat off the turnerer.

Thrown the bowl out of the window, check the bourbon again and go to bed.

Bloody oven in this house is a mongrel of a thing.  It has two temperatures, off, and burn.  I added butter and carb soda to my fruit mix and boiled it for a few minutes.

Then let it cool completely before adding the eggs and flour and I also put in some orange juice as it tends to be a bit dry.

I topped it with some blanched whole almonds, some glace cherries and some macadamia halves.

Then burnt the top of the rotten thing.  My oven doesn't seem to have a thermostat and I have it down low for everything I cook but clearly it wasn't low enough.  I was distracted by a phone call from my sister saying her mother in law took a bad turn in the middle of the night, and then I could smell the cake burning.  I scraped all the nuts and most of the cherries and a bit of burnt cake off and luckily the burnt flavour hadn't gone through the cake so I just whacked what cherries and nuts I had left on it and covered it with foil.  It won't be pretty but it smells great and I think it will be okay.

Last night I made the wonderful kofta recipe that I found and we've made a few times.  I made home made hommus and I don't know what I did right but it is really good.  I just winged it, a tin of chickpeas in the foodprocessor, a few spoonfulls of tahini, about three cloves of garlic and some EVOO and a bit of water.

Some smoked paprika and a drizzle of oil, YUM and so healthy.  We just had bought tabouli and some pita bread along with the garlic yoghurt sauce for the kofta.

I made a dodgy cheesecake too, with lemon jelly, what was I thinking?  It didn't set as well as it should have but everyone loved it and we have leftovers for dessert tonight.

This is how mine ended up when I dished it out, upside down.

I watched the sequel to the Anne of Green Gables mini series thingy last night.  Watched the first lot last Saturday and loved it.  I adored the books when I was young.  I was disappointed in the sequel though, I don't know if they cut bits out of it but it was a bit disjointed at the end, and the very end made no sense at all.  Beautifully filmed though in and around Hamilton, Ontario in Canada and I wouldn't be surprised if it boosted Canadian tourism in 1986 or so when it was made.

We have pressies under our tree now!

And the cake looks like a bit of a dog's breakfast but if it tastes as good as it smells who cares?

Emily went to the pool today but there was something going on down there and she came back here with Spittin' Kim.  I don't like her but I'm not going to fight with Emily over it.  They holed up in Em's room, where she insists on keeping the curtains closed so it's like a dungeon in there.  Not healthy.  I felt compelled to employ my "Teenager BeGone" tactics.  Started off with Carole King "Music".  Loud.  With me singing along.  I do love that album especially "Song of Long Ago" where James Taylor sings backup.  It worked, they left.  I had a plan B though, the James Taylor Christmas Album.  I played it anyway while I made my cake.  They came back but quickly left again.  A whole day out in the sunshine and fresh air, that has to be a good thing.  They came home soaking wet claiming they'd fallen in the pool of one of Kim's friends.  I doubt Kim has any friends who have pools and if she does, their pool must have what looked suspiciously like Muttama Creek water in it.  They must think we're stupid.  The creek has subsided and isn't running like it was so it's not as dangerous, but they've been told repeatedly not to go in there by us and the police (at school). 

Got a meatloaf in the oven and potato and pumpkin to mash simmering on the stove.  I told Josh he doesn't have to have any vegies with his dinner tonight.  I have puree brocolli and cauli, as well as grated carrot in the mix. 

Last day of the school year tomorrow for our two.  Last day is offically Wednesday but Tuesday is Em's excursion (another water venue) and nobody really turns up on the last day of the year and I've learned that the teachers like it that way as they do a lot of sorting and tidying ahead of the long Summer holidays.

And I've decorated my blog for Christmas, I think it looks nice.