Bookalicious - Christmas 2009

What's a holiday without books? Nothing I tell you - so in the spirit of the season I donate a few reviews of the books I have read recently.  Most of them are fiction - shock horreur.

The Southern Vampire Series 1 - 9, Charlaine Harris

This series spawned True Blood but I prefer the books, always have prefered book characters they are better developed.  Based around Sookie "the telepathic" barmaid and her relationships with vampires, shapeshifters, werewolves, goblins and faeries, also with the fellowship of the sun.   They are never going to be "literature" with a capital L but I like them I like Sookie and I like Eric and I like how she develops the relationships.  Read them.

An Echo in the Bone - Diana Gabaldon

I like Diana Gabaldon.  I dont like that it takes her around four years to write one of her tomes.  I didnt really enjoy the two previous to this one - but I feel like she has gone back to the writing of the first four novels in the Cross stitch series.  I loved Cross stitch (which I went back and read after getting my hands on this one), Voyager and Drums in Autumn.  Didn't love Dragonfly in Amber.  An Echo in the Bone continues the Fraser whanau story and I liked the twists she put in there :) and as always left me wanting to read the next one right now - sigh.  I will be ancient before the next one is out.

Cross Stitch, Voyager - Diana Gabaldon

Book 1 and 3 in the Cross stitch series.  Jamie is just hot and time travel and smelly highland scots - what's not to love.  Read them.

The Nazi Officer's Wife - Edith Hahn

True and compelling story.  This book just goes to show really when there's a homicidal dictator on the loose in Europe it's luck of the draw as to whether you survive and tbh I think this woman had one rather large jewish fairy godmother looking out for her.  It is the autobiographical story of Edith Hahn, Viennese Jew, who managed to avoid being sent to polish concentration camps by "borrowing" her friends details, hi tailing it into Munich (which at the time was the deep dark opposite of where you would expect to find any Jews - given it was Hitler's stomping ground).  She then met and married a Nazi officer (well he was a pleb that became an officer during her marriage to him) and had a child with him.  She told him before they were married that she was a Jew and because he was of a perverse nature decided not to turn her in.  The man, even by her account was a few sandwiches short of a picnic - but he never gave her away.  After the war she became a judge in east germany but couldnt deal with another oppressive regime and skipped out with her daughter to England.  

There was an interesting part in the book where she describes how she went looking for her mother   after the war and was accosted because she wasnt anorexic, therefore had to have been a collaborator.   Which for me was one of the interesting bits of the book - her story was one of the most interesting ones I have read.  I have read a lot of books on the Jewish experiences during WWII and while the stories are horrific and compelling they tend to follow the same line - segregated, deprived of rights, isolated, shipped off to camps where one of two things happened they survived or they didnt.  Very few of them step away from this.  This book does - she must have had balls of steel to step up and walk into Munich (the heart of Hitler's groundswell) being a Jew.  The sheer luck or good fortune that came her way during that time is amazing - she found the one Nazi officer who was just a little bit loco enough to ignore that she was a Jew and marry her anyway.

I like this book you should read it.

I have read more than these few books - but I will leave the rest for later.  Also going to do my to read list for 2010 - well January anyway :)

S.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Other than snowing like there's no tomorrow Scotland had a lot going for it this weekend.  In particular, Glasgow's fabulous Christmas market, awesome lights display and wonderful street performers.  We went up for an annual Christmas party - which was fab and we sampled two different kinds of mulled wine - Gluhwein (German) and Glogg (Danish).  I have never really enjoyed mulled wine at Christmas because well Christmas in the southern hemisphere is too warm for it - I loved going to the Christmas market being freezing and it warmed me up delightfully so I have found some recipes for you to share to keep you warm.

Gluhwein

4 bottles of red wine

600 mls brandy

1 cup of sugar

6 cinnamon sticks

12 cloves whole

1/8 tsp allspice

1/8 tsp mace

2 oranges, sliced

1 lemon, sliced

Put all in a pot simmer for an hour.  Drink.

Glogg

250ml water

4 tblspns of white sugar

1 cinnamon stick

3 or 4 cloves

5 or 6 cardamom seed pods, peeled

small piece of ginger, peeled

peel and juice of 1 lemon, 1 orange

1 bottle of red wine

90 gm dried fruit

90 gm blanched almonds, chopped

Quarter of a cup of port

Boil cinnamon, sugar, cloves, cardamom, ginger and peel in the water for about 10  minutes.  Remove the peel and spices.  Mix in the juices, fruit and nuts and heat to almost boiling. Take off the stove and mix in the wine.  The port gets mixed in just before serving.

S.

It'll warm the cockles of yer heart..

So the weather has turned decidedly chilly, with the prospect of snow tomorrow or friday we have had soup twice this week.   When I was a kid we would have large pots of soup (in particular pumpkin or bacon bone) bubbling away for hours on the stove or on the cast iron fireplace in the front room.  There is just something satisfying about eating soup and sharing it with friends and family.  The soup we had tonight was based on this recipe.

Celeriac and Cheddar Soup

1 tbsp butter

3 sliced onions

3 potatoes peeled and diced

1/2 a large celeriac peeled and diced

1 litre of vegetable stock 

4 Sage leaves

Rind of a medium sized lemon

1 cup of grated cheddar cheese

1.   In a large pan, melt the butter. Add the onions and cook for 5 mins until softened, add the potato, celeriac, stock, sage and lemon peel.

2.   Bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 30 mins, remove and discard the lemon zest and sage leaves, blend the soup until smooth.  When smooth add the cheese, serve with buttered toasted seed bread.

This week we also had Tomato and Tamarind soup with toasted spices and raita that B found in Cuisine.  OMG it was really, really good tasted perfect and B even made a dark rye bread to go with it.  It did smoke up the kitchen a bit when he toasted the spices, but it smelt good :)

I made the fruit bread today - was okay I thought the fresh cranberries made it too tart but as it was made to be toasted it should be fine.  Next time I will use more fruit and use crasins  instead of fresh cranberries.

S.                                                                                                             

So this is Christmas...

And what have I done?  Well Santa John I have been quite productive I think.  I made sloe gin and raspberry gin, apple and hawthorne jelly (hawthorne's I picked myself), hawsin dipping sauce, apple and red pepper chutney, chocolate christmas cake balls, cranberry and spiced squash christmas muffins and I just put up the christmas lights :).  Christmas lights always make me feel good.  I brought some lovely fresh cranberries when I was at borough market, which went into the freezer and I used in the muffins, but now Im thinking I want to make some fruit bread for christmas morning.   Lots of lovely fruity toast with drippy marge yum!  Am searching for the right recipe as we speak - I'm looking at this one but with some major tweaks - no saffron or almonds - I want it a bit more like hot cross buns with a heap more fruit.  Actually I have found this one which will just be made into a loaf but with lots more fruit.

S.

Cranberry and Spiced Squash christmas muffins

I found this recipe but tweaked it to give it the Christmas Goddess touch :)  You will need to bake one medium size butternut squash split in half for about an hour and a half at 180C.  Cool the squash and remove the flesh, removing excess fluid.   I also sprinkled a little sugar on the top of each muffin before cooking.  Have also been taste testing the chocolate balls I made the other week - they are improving with age - yum!

Cranberry and Spiced Squash Muffins

2 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons Baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup baked squash flesh

1 cup of fresh/frozen cranberries

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup of milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

1.      Cream brown and white sugar with butter.

2.      Combine egg with creamed sugar.

3.      Add remaining wet ingredients and mix.  

4.      Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice and salt.  Make a well and add to wet ingredients.  Mix to a smooth batter.

4.      Generously grease a 12-muffin tin and dust with flour or line with paper muffin cups.

5.      Fill muffin cups about 2/3-full with batter.

6.      Bake muffins in preheated 180C oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until nicely browned.

S.

Chocolate Christmas Balls and Sloe Gin

So I have shaken my Sloe gin (Left) and Raspberry gin (Right) today - the raspberry red colour is gorgeous and will make a nice pressie for someone.  I also made chocolate christmas balls which are currently in the fridge setting and when I pull them out I will cover them in more chocolate -yum!  

Chocolate Christmas Balls

800gm christmas cake
200gms dark chocolate
120gms unsalted butter
3-4 tablespoons of Brandy (or 2 of orange juice)
2 tablespoons of finely chopped glace cherries or citrus peel

Crumble christmas cake into large bowl, add brandy and set aside.  Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler or glass bowl in hot water, when melted add to christmas cake/brandy mixture.  Mix well, then using a teaspoon make small balls, rolling them around in your hands.  Place on lined tray and put into fridge to set for 1 - 2 hours.  Then ice with more chocolate and return to fridge until icing set.  Makes 30 - 40 little balls.

You can use white chocolate on top of dark chocolate and use glace cherries or jelly lollies to make them look like little puddings.  Yummy!!!

S.

Pickled magnolia flowers

Hmmm - Late Autumn slash early winter is not the time to be going hunting for Magnolia petals - but I imagine they would be quite delicate.  I found a recipe for pickled Magnolia petals, as a sort of side dish. Will have to wait till spring time :) 

The sun has disappeared too - gone south - raining now it's meant to snow tonight on the hills.  

S.

Check it out - I has been struck down by the domestic goddess syndrome

Just so you dont think i have fallen quite off the earth - although I have found myself in small secular community - apparently a lot of BNP supporters in this part the world.  I have also found a side of me that quite enjoys making stuff and since I have naught but time on my hands I thought I would share with you.  In the past month I have made apple and hawthorne jelly, hawsin dipping sauce, slow-roast tomato sauce and apple and pepper chutney.  I might mention B has been productive too he has made his world famous christmas puddings - which we are sharing for the lucky few.  I also put away sloe gin and raspberry gin yesterday into the dark cool cupboard to steep.  I have been productive.  I foraged for the Hawthornes and Sloes btw.

Apple and Hawthorne Jelly

1.5 pounds of Hawthorne berries washed and dry

4 windfall apples

2 litres of water

Juice of 1 lemon

1 pound of sugar

Put Hawthorne berries, apples and water into large pot and boil for an hour. Mash the pulp every 15 minutes or so.

Strain the pulp, letting the juice run through muslin cloth or old clean teatowel. Add lemon juice and sugar.  Bring up to a rolling boil for approximately 15 minutes.  Put into sterile jars - voila makes around three jars of yummy jam.

The apples contain the missing pectin - although to be fair I think the berries probably had a reasonable amount in them.  Will put up other recipes at a later date.

S.