Oh my Darling Clementine!

Who doesn't like a Christmas Stocking? Finding small, individual treats to pop inside is the essence of giving. Waking up and groping for the lumpy bumpy stocking at the end of the bed is the joy of receiving. I'm in my fifties and my husband and I still do stockings for one another. My grown up children say it's still the most exciting part of Christmas Day. The anticipation and the pure selfish decadence is a wonderful start to the day.

One item guaranteed to be there is an orange (tangerine, clementine or satsuma). St. Nicholas allegedly threw gold into the homes of poor girls who had no dowry and some of it landed in the stockings hanging to dry. We now put oranges in Christmas stockings to represent that gold. Another story is that during the depression when toys and sweets were unavailable, an orange would provide a sweet, healthy treat.

Either way, we all love a form of orange in our Christmas stockings. It can be a nutritious start to the day, be saved or returned to the fruit bowl, or, made into a festive drink such as a Ginger St. Clement's along with squeezed juice from fresh root ginger, red grapefruit and lemon juice.

Christmas - New Year!

So, here we are in the lull time between the excitement of Christmas and the expectation of a new year.  My Christmas Day was spent with family; they eating turkey, pigs in blankets(!) and chipolatas and ... yes, sharing my nut roast!

I have to say it was a triumph.  The recipe I used was from an old Cranks recipe book as follows:

1  medium sized onion

1oz/25g butter

8oz/225g mixed nuts

4oz/100g wholemeal bread

1/2pt/300ml vegetable stock

2tsp/10ml yeast extract

1tsp/5ml mixed herbs

Salt & pepper to taste

Basically you just blitz the nuts and bread finely.  Chop and saute the onions.  Boil the stock and yeast extract.  Combine everything.  Place in a greased shallow baking dish and bake at 180 degrees/Gas Mark 4 for 30 mins until golden brown.

It looked a little like very dark stuffing and not particularly appealing but tasted absolutely delicious!

Around our dining table jokes and stories are shared, old and new.  Every year we await a mention of the RAF by my father and father-in-law (both of whom did National Service) and my mum shares a tale of a friend who would fry left-over Christmas Pudding with his cooked breakfast.  It's our tradition to share these stories and Christmas is all about tradition.  New Year, on the other hand, is all about resolutions and new beginnings.

My resolution, as always, is to be a better person.  I have already resolved to write this Blog for a year and, as part of that, aim to try out more vegetarian recipes.  Happy New Year and watch this space!