Impromptu Christmas Work Gathering

Last week my workmates and I received an impromptu Christmas invitation to an evening of champagne and strawberries at the home of an ex-workmate, and wonderful friend (GS and her husband S). The text was “Champs and strawberries…can anyone come?” You betcha, we were all there! And it turned out to be a delightful gathering […]

Maqui Berries

Maqui Berry (Aristotelia Chilensis)   Also known as Chilean Wineberry, this is an evergreen tree shrub that is native to Chile and Argentina. It has thin branches that are very bendy.   The tree produces very small berries, about 4-5 mm. They turn dark purple, bordering on black when ready to pick. Inside are large, […]

My Christmas Tree, 2013

  I intended to put the Christmas Tree up on 1 December, but procrastinated as it is a large artificial tree, (that almost touches the ceiling), and is constructed out of many many many individual pieces. Each branch is assigned a letter that matches to letters on the trunk. It takes a lot of time […]

Old Recipes and Dialect Words from East Anglia

I recently came across a very unique book. Well, Mum did really, as it was in amongst Mum’s collection of recipe books. It is a slim paperback book that was hiding in amongst larger volumes. She had picked it up at a booksale a while ago. The title is : East Anglian Ragbag: Recipes, Medicines, […]

Christmas Cakes : A History

CHRISTMAS CAKES : A HISTORY   Here, I am going to look at what we now know as a Christmas Cake: how it came to be associated with the Christmas Day tradition, how it became known as a Christmas Cake, and changes to recipes and ingredients. “Christmas Cake”, as the title of a recipe, only […]