Living in the twilight zone...

image from Clipart Library

Well, that's another Christmas under our belts ~ I do hope you all had a super time, my lovelies, and that Santa brought you lovely things 😊  Now we are in that weird twilight zone between Christmas and New Year, where the days seem to have no definition ~ they just meld into one continuous stream of hours whilst we plough our way through the leftovers, and make vague plans for "Big Changes" in the upcoming shiny and bright new year, whilst vegging out in front of the TV 😄

We had a rather lovely, albeit somewhat bittersweet, Christmas ~ another of those "firsts" since Mum passed away back in April.  Amanda and Liz brought Dad up here on the 23rd, and they all travelled home again on the 27th.  Beverly's shift pattern meant that she wasn't working on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day this year, so she was here too, as was our friend, Phil.  The only person missing was Sam, who didn't have enough annual leave left after his move to Leeds in October, but we video-called with him on Christmas Day 😊  As you know, we only have two bedrooms, so Dad stayed here with us whilst Amanda and Liz booked a holiday cottage just up behind where we live.  Beverly had been going to stay with them in the cottage, too, but in the end decided it was too hot in there so made herself comfy on our sofa for a couple of nights instead 😄

It's been a few years (well, since we moved up here actually) since I've catered for more than three or four folk at a time so I was a little bit anxious.....which was then compounded by our oven conking out on the big day 😯 Thankfully the turkey was actually cooked through when the oven decided it had had enough, and only needed to be browned off (which was rather how I felt at that point 😉).  Luckily we have a double oven, and the top oven was still working fine, plus we've recently bought ourselves an air-fryer, so everything was perfectly cooked and Christmas dinner was only a little later than I had planned!  Next week we'll get in touch with the guy who replaced the element for us last year to see if it's a simple fix ~ we think if may be the thermostat that's gone wrong, so fingers crossed it can be replaced without too much bother.

On Boxing Day we left Adrian at home, pottering about making the lasagne for dinner and watching the sport on TV 😄  Amanda had hired a lovely big people carrier for the few days they were up here, so we went for a little drive around the island and for a walk on Evie beach to blow away the cobwebs.  All in all, it was a lovely few days with (almost) all of us together 😊

As for my new year resolutions.....

😉

Merry Christmas!

image from Freepik

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas, my lovelies, I hope you have a wonderful day!

😊

 

Christmas-Every-Day

image from Freepik

I trundled over to Kirkwall yesterday to pay my annual "Mother Christmas" visit to Beverly, where I then spend time hanging the fruits of my gift-wrapping endeavours for her to open one each day during December.  It's a rod I made for my own back tradition that I started a good number of years ago, before Adrian and I moved up to Orkney.  Beverly very rarely came south for Christmas, a combination of her working shift patterns and the unpredictability of the weather for travelling at that time of year.  I came across the idea when I was idly surfing Pinterest one day, and thought it would be a lovely idea to do for Beverly to remind her that we were thinking of her even if we couldn't be together 😊

I can't show you all the little gifts laid out ready for wrapping, just in case Beverly takes it into her head to read my blog for once 😉  Suffice to say, the two bags above were stuffed with all the little goodies I came across for this years Christmas-Every-Day.  I keep wondering when she will grow out of it but she shows no sign of doing so thus far ~ and she'll be 34 at the end of this coming January 😏

Ta-daa ~ everything hung up ready for this year's tradition to begin!  It didn't take too long to get the job done, despite the "assistance" of Belle, one of my grandkitties 😉  The cats are also the reason why the little parcels are rather bunched up, rather than dangling more elegantly 😄

Adrian and I had both planned on going to see Beverly but unfortunately he wasn't feeling too well.  He had the first of the two shingles vaccinations on Wednesday and it's left him feeling very tired and "flu-ey".  He would normally have carried the stash of little gifts for me, of course, but I was able to get everything packed into my trusty shopping trolley.  There was plenty of room on the bus over to Kirkwall, so I had a seat near the front and tucked my trolley in beside me 😊

I had a lovely couple of hours with Beverly, and got the 12.26pm bus home again.  I get on and off the bus at Tesco in Kirkwall, and I suppose it takes me about 10 minutes or so to walk from there to her flat.  By the time I'd got home and had some lunch, I didn't really feel like doing much else so had a lazy afternoon.

I did finally get something done with my little air plants, though.  I bought them when we were down south back in September, and managed to get them home unscathed!  I propped them up in a pot with one of my succulents until I'd decided how to display them ~ and there they sat for three months 😏  As you know I'm currently sorting out my craft room (aka the dumping ground 😉), and in one of the boxes I was emptying out I found the perfect little vintage container for them.  It was something I came across when I was sorting through stuff at Mum and Dad's earlier in the year.  Dad had no use for it and said I was welcome to take it 😊

It's stamped on the base "Hillstonia" and although I haven't been able to find much information online, it would appear to have been made by a company called Moira Pottery.  I was a little confused when I read the Wikipedia article as it said that the Hillstonia range was for forcing bulbs and containing plants ~ I couldn't quite see how you could get bulbs into the very slender opening along the top of the container!  However after I did a general search for Hillstonia pottery, I came across an identical container to the one I have on Etsy.  The seller there describes it as a posy vase, which makes much more sense 😄

I don't know where my Mum got it from but I suspect it came from my Great Aunt Mary, who had some interesting items.  I now have a number of things that were both hers and my Grandma's (Mary's older sister), none of which are worth very much monetarily but are nevertheless a lovely link to that older generation.

My little air plants sit in the posy vase beautifully, with that narrow opening firmly holding them upright.  I've placed it on the kitchen windowsill, which should hopefully remind me to check them regularly to see if they need spraying/soaking! 

A self-inflicted lazy weekend

image from Freepik

If only I had been doing something sporty ~ alas I was only changing our bed 😯

Saturday started off well and I was planning to carry on with what I had been doing during the earlier part of last week, i.e. working in the garden in the morning, and continue tackling the mess in my craft room after lunch.  I decided to be a bit sensible, though, and have a somewhat "slower" weekend as we'd both been working hard during the week.  We almost always Komp with my Dad either Saturday or Sunday, depending really on which day suits him best.  This weekend it was to be on Saturday, so I thought I'd strip off our bed and get the bedding in the washing machine whilst I showered, breakfasted, etc.  We then chatted with Dad and as time was marching on somewhat by the time we'd finished, I decided to remake our bed and only do an hour or so in the garden.  So far, so good 😏

I got the fresh bedding on the bed and was just straightening up Adrian's pillow ~ leaning across from my side of the bed ~ when I felt, almost "heard" actually, a popping sensation in the back of my right leg!  Omg, my lovelies, pain shot through said leg and I had to sit down very quickly as I felt decidedly odd😧 I just sat there for a few minutes sort of rocking myself back and forth in an effort to calm down ~ it sounds mad, I know, but it did work!  I gingerly felt my leg and nothing seemed out of place, as it were.  I was worried that perhaps I'd managed to somehow tear a muscle but on reflection I think I must have just given something a good "pull", as I'm sure I would have been in much more (and continuing) pain if I'd done anything more serious.

So as you can imagine no work has been done either in the garden or craft room these past couple of days.  I'm a tad annoyed with myself, to be honest, as I had been on such a roll all week 😒 My weekend has instead been spent alternating between resting my leg with a soothing heating pad and gently walking around the house, coupled with taking plenty of paracetamols.  The leg is still pretty sore, and feels as if the back of my knee/top of calf/lower thigh are bruised.  Who knew that doing something as simple, and everyday, as leaning across a bed could cause such discomfort!

I have resigned myself to doing less than I had planned this week.  I do have a hair appointment later this morning so will be doing more walking today.  I am going to be sensible, though, and get the bus so that I am not walking all the way from our house down to the shops, and will also use my walking stick for a little added support.

As I said earlier, though, it is very annoying 😒 

Anyhoo, enough of my tales of woe!

I'm not sure if I mentioned that our Christmas decorations had been languishing in the store room, untouched, for quite some time?  I kept telling myself that I really must sort through them as we haven't really decorated the house for Christmas much at all since we moved here.  I finally got a "push" when the activities organiser (I can't remember her proper title!) at Hamnavoe House (the residential elderly care home here in Stromness) put out a call asking if folk had any decorations they could donate.  Adrian brought the crates in from the store room for me a couple of weeks back and I went through them.

I was pretty ruthless and managed to gather a fairly large crate of things to donate, plus a couple of larger items that wouldn't fit in said crate.  As we have family coming up this year for Christmas I will be making a concerted effort to decorate the house, and may well decide that some of the things I kept this time can actually go after all😉  

And finally, I thought you might like to see how the schlumbergera is doing.  This photo was taken a couple of weeks back and I'm really pleased that the promise of flowers it was showing then haven't disappointed ~ I'll try to remember to take an up-to-date photo to share in my next post 😊 

Christmas in October

image from Clipart Library

Yup, it's that time again when the house smells deliciously Christmassy and the kitchen is steamy for days 😄

I did a really big supermarket shop the week of the great fuchsia massacre, with the intention of setting-to and getting the Christmas puddings made the day after the girls had done their stuff out in the garden.  And, for once, I actually got my arse in gear and did what I'd planned to do 😉  I was also full of good intentions to share this year's big cooking exercise sooner but to be honest I felt a bit sort of tired and "flat" last week.  I think all the work in the garden is catching up with me a tad, so apologies for last week's radio silence.

Anyhoo, better late than never, so here's the recipe for the Larkin Christmas Pudding ~ along with a smattering of photos for good measure.  Over the years I have refined and tweaked this recipe so instead of just pointing you in the direction of a previous post as usual, I thought it was high time I actually rewrote it!  

I should also point out that I had more puddings to make this year, so I bought double the amount of ingredients.  However I still followed the normal recipe, simply making it twice, as I don't have any containers large enough to hold all those ingredients to make double the amount in one go!  I should think it would also be no mean feat to stir double the amount of everything together 😳

340g/12oz sultanas

340g/12oz raisins

170g/6oz cherries, halved or quartered

227g/8oz finely chopped mixed candied peel

227g/8oz plain flour

1 level teaspoon ground ginger

1 level teaspoon mixed spice

1 level teaspoon nutmeg ~ freshly grated if possible

454g/1lb soft brown sugar

227g/8oz breadcrumbs

284g/10oz shredded suet ~ beef or vegetable, whichever you prefer

6 eggs, beaten

142ml/5fl oz stout, such as Guinness

142ml/5fl oz brandy

grated rind and juice of 1 orange

142ml/5fl oz milk (approximately)

Grease whatever size of pudding basins you would like your finished Christmas puddings to be.  This recipe will make enough to fill four, one pint, pudding basins each one of which will give about six servings.

Put all the dried fruit into a very large bowl, along with the stout, brandy, and the rind/juice of the orange.  Leave to one side.

Smells so delicious 😋

Sift the flour and spices into another large bowl, then stir in the sugar, breadcrumbs, and suet.  In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the stout, brandy, and orange juice; add to the dried fruit, mixing in well.

Now's the time to work those biceps and start adding the dry ingredients to the wet, three or four spoonfuls at a time, stirring well after each addition.  When you get towards the end of the dry ingredients you will have to make a judgement call on how much milk to add.  I find that this varies from year-to-year, depending on how absorbent the dry ingredients happen to be.  The mixture should be a soft dropping consistency. 

Divide the mixture between your well greased pudding basins.  This year I made one large pudding, along with a couple of smaller ones, from both batches of the recipe.  I used faff about with a doubled-up sheet of greaseproof paper, pleated in the centre, to cover the puddings.  A couple of years ago I had a brainwave and used cake tin liners instead ~ I know, genius, right 😏  Depending on what I have to hand, I then hold said liner/greaseproof paper in place with either string or an elastic band.  You use whichever method suits you best 😊

I also used to either use a pudding basin net or make a string handle to lift the puddings in and out of the steamer.  Now I just don my trusty rubber washing up gloves as I find it easier.  Just make sure to take care when removing the pudding as the basin will be very hot, and there will also be a lot of steam.

The old aluminium saucepan belonged to my paternal Grandma and it only ever gets used for steaming puddings.  I've had the steamer for donkey's years; the poor thing is a tad battered as it has been dropped a number of times over the years on the quarry tiled floor of our old kitchen!

So, bring the pan of water to the boil and place the pudding, in the steamer, on top; turn the water down to a low simmer.  Depending on the size of basin used, the puddings will take 5 to 7 hours to steam.  I steam my one pint puddings for 6 hours each, and the larger ones for the full 7.  To keep an eye on things, I set my timer for one hour at a time so that I remember to go and check on the water level in the saucepan.  Keep it topped up as necessary with boiling water from the kettle.

At the end of the steaming period, take the pudding from the steamer (remember to take care!) and discard the cake liner/greaseproof paper.  Cover with a clean tea-towel and leave on one side to cool.  When the pudding is totally cold remove it from the basin, wrap in a double sheet of greaseproof paper or baking parchment, then wrap again tightly in cooking foil.

The puddings should be stored in a cool place, or they could even be frozen if you'd prefer.  You'll have to remember to defrost them thoroughly before reheating.  With all the sugar and alcohol in them they should keep well in a cool place, though.  We have one at Christmas, obviously, but it's also a family tradition to have another at Easter.

When you are ready to eat your Christmas puddings, they can either be gently steamed for about 1 1/2 hours or reheated in the microwave ~ we take the latter route as it's simpler when there's so much other cooking going on.  I really can't tell you how long to reheat the pudding in the microwave as it's very much a trial-and-error process depending on your own particular machine.  I heat the pudding on full power for five minutes, then in short burst of a minute or so until it is thoroughly hot all the way through.

Serve your pudding with whatever your family likes best: rum/brandy butter, cream, a white (brandy or rum, perhaps) sauce, custard, ice-cream, etc.  We like to have ours with either cream or a white sauce flavoured with brandy.  I make the sauce very simply, like packet-mix custard ~ just substitute cornflour in place of the custard powder and add brandy to taste!

You can tweak this recipe to your heart's content with the proportions and varieties of dried fruit, so long as the total amount remains about the same.  You could also have a little less fruit and add nuts instead.  You can use rum instead of brandy if you would prefer ~ I use brandy as I'm really not keen on rum.  Make the recipe your own by using the fruit (and nuts) that you and your family like to eat.

Enjoy 😊 

Merry Christmas!

 

Who needs a Plan B.....

.....not me, after all 😏 I had managed to persuade myself that I really wouldn't finish the "Orkney seascape" blanket in time for Christmas, so I went ahead and bought something for the recipient.  Of course, no sooner had I done so than I actually completed said blanket 😒  Oh well, the purchase has gone into my gift stash ~ yup, I have one of those too LOL    

The problem was that I was convinced I wouldn't have enough of the Cascade 220 yarn and would have to come up with a creative solution to make it the length in the pattern.  As it turned out, though, I did have enough to finish the body of the blanket but not to add a border ~ I always like to add a border to my blankets as I feel it adds the finishing touch.  I thought about ordering some more of the Cascade 220 but decided to have a rootle about in my stash first to see if I had anything suitable in there.  As luck would have it, I had some Stylecraft Special Aran in a shade called Denim which went very nicely with the other blues, so that's what I used for the border and why I managed to finish the blanket in good time before Christmas!

I'm very pleased with how it's turned out and hope that the recipient will like it, too.  I've made a start on the next chevron blanket project but I can take my time with this one.  I'm really enjoying using all those gorgeous art deco-ish colours and will share photos of my progress in due course 😊

 

Soon be on their way...

As you may recall, Beverly and I made this year's Christmas puddings a couple of weeks back.  With the planned strikes by Royal Mail over the next few weeks, I thought it best to send the puds for family and friends down south a little earlier than I would have done otherwise.

Here's the first two, ready to wing their way to my sister and parents 😊  Unsurprisingly, I didn't have cardboard boxes of the right size in my stash so I've cut down the ones I did have to make them a tad smaller LOL

I came across a lovely pattern on Lucy's blog for a sweet little crocheted snowflake, so I thought I'd make some for this year's puddings.  Lucy said that she made hers using a pure wool double knit yarn and four different size hooks.  I used a 4.5mm hook and yarn from my stash (of course!), James C Brett Baby Shimmer, which I've had for a very long time; I last used it when I made some Christmas pudding baubles a couple of years ago, for the "cream" topping.

When I came to crochet the second snowflake, I made a little mistake in round three by omitting the last chain 2 in each of the worked sections ooopsies!  Thankfully it didn't affect the appearance of the finished snowflake 😉  I finished mine off with a hanging loop, simply made with a length of 12 chain stitches attached to the tip of one of the icicle points.   

I confess that I was too lazy to block my snowflakes but I think they still look very pretty 😊

Hot 'n' steamy!

The kitchen, that is, not me personally 😏

Beverly and I made this year's Christmas puddings last week.  It's always nice to spend time with her making the puddings ~ plus, of course, it saves my poor 'ole arms as she kindly "volunteers" to flex her 30-years younger muscles doing the heavyweight mixing 😉 We had to use two mixing bowls this time around, as my "giant economy size" bowl sadly bit the dust after developing a crack right across the base.  Still, I can't really complain too much as I bought it in a charity shop and did get a fair amount of use out of it 😄

 The photo above shows the first pudding after it's seven hour ~ I know, right 😮~ steaming.  I must confess that I'm a teensy bit concerned that I may not have added quite enough milk to the mix this year, so it's fingers crossed that the puds aren't too dry!

If you would like to try out the Larkin family Christmas pudding recipe, here's a link to the post from 2020 ~ enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas

xxxxx

 

Only 361 days until Christmas.....

So how was your Christmas?  We had a quiet day with our friend Phil ~ and Bonnie, of course!  Adrian made a yummy lasagne which we had with some salad and garlic/crusty bread, followed by Tesco's Tarte au Citron.  At teatime we snacked on cheese and crackers, along with some stollen and panettone.  It was nice to just sit and blether for a few hours.

We didn't have a white Christmas but it did snow the day before: 

 

Merry Christmas!

I know that Christmas this year will not be "normal" for many of us, but nevertheless I'm sending you my love and good wishes for as merry a Christmas as possible

xxx

Well, that's Christmas dinner done!

We had our Christmas dinner last Friday as Beverly won't be here on the day.  She is working Christmas Eve and Boxing Day and, of course, there is no public transport on Christmas Day.  As Adrian's birthday is on the 18th we decided that would be a good day to have our Christmas dinner instead.  

So here's Adrian and I about to tuck into our very tasty (even if I do say so myself 😉) dinner ~ it wasn't until Beverly sent me the photo that it dawned on me that we didn't get a photo of her, too!  And there is Bonnie, over near Adrian, being a very good girl but hoping for a piece of the action ~ well, a piece of turkey at any rate 😄  She watched intently whilst we ate but didn't pester us for anything at the table; her reward was a tasty slice of turkey in the kitchen later.

I know that Christmas 2020 is going to be very different for so many of us but I guess we just have to make the best of things that we can.  Regardless of the Covid situation it would have been just Adrian and I (for the first time in the 38-odd years we've been together!) this year due to Beverly's shift patterns.  Because of all the restrictions, though, our friend Phil (Bonnie's "Dad") can't now travel south as he'd originally planned so we've asked him to join us 😊

Rather than having another traditional Christmas dinner, Adrian is making his yummy lasagne instead 😋  I don't think I've ever not had turkey and all the trimmings on Christmas Day in all of my 59 years!  We're still having crackers, though, with the hats that don't fit (I don't know if it's that I've got a big head or just lots of hair LOL) and the jokes that are so corny 😉  

Refining the Christmas puds

The Christmas pud baubles, that is 😄

I was fairly happy with my original attempt but thought that I could perhaps improve on it a little.  The crochet is done in two halves to cover the ball and for my first attempt I made the lower half using leftover brown Scheepjes Colour Crafter yarn. The top section was crocheted with a rather pretty white yarn that has a silky thread running through it, which I think is James C Brett Baby Shimmer.  This time I made two halves in the brown to cover the entire polystyrene ball, then made another half in the white yarn to go over the top.  I think this arrangement looks much better.

As I mentioned previously I did struggle somewhat with the leaves and holly berries.  For bauble number two I persevered with the original leaf pattern but still found it a tad difficult to be honest.  I came across a pattern for crocheted buttons and used that for the berries this time.  I was able to shape the berries with a few stitches through the base ~ I was quite pleased with how these turned out.

Bauble number three was refined a little more, although the pudding base and cream topping was done the same as for pudding number two.  The leaf pattern uses slip stitches but this time I used double-crochet instead and I'm really pleased with how they have turned out.  As for the berries, well the original pattern again used slip stitches in a magic ring; this time I used double-crochet in a four-chain circle and shaped them a little with a couple of stitches across the base.  I also sewed the leaves and berries closer together on the "cream" than I did on the second pudding.

I'm really rather surprised at how well this last pudding has turned out.  It goes to show that sometimes you just have to be brave and try out your own tweaks 😉

Are you feeling Christmassy yet??

 

Personally, I find I'm feeling less and less "Christmassy" every year.  Perhaps it's because the kids are grown up ~ hard to believe that the gruesome-twosome will be 30 at the end of January!  For the last couple of years the "adults" in the family have pared back on Christmas gift-giving.  It gets harder and harder to think of things to buy for each other, although it does seem easier to find birthday gifts for some reason ~ mind you, my sister and I have even stopped sending each other birthday gifts too.

So my Christmas gift shopping is considerably pared back, with only having to seek out things for the kids, my parents and our two nieces.  The latter will be getting John Lewis vouchers (their preference ~ I asked my sister-in-law!) which isn't very original, I know, but they are both grown up and would I'm sure much prefer to choose something for themselves.  I've ordered hampers of Orkney goodies for Sam and my parents from Jollys of Orkney which will be sent to them direct from Jollys later this month, which makes life so much easier!  I've also ordered Adrian's birthday and Christmas gifts ~ always easy to know what to get for him as he has a list 😄

We are having our Christmas dinner on his birthday this year (18th December) as Beverly is working Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, so she won't be here on Christmas Day as there is, of course, no public transport.  It will be the first Christmas in the 39 years we have been together that it will be just the two of us!  Still, let's face it, Christmas isn't going to be "normal" for most folk this year.   

Sam has also had a delivery of Orkney beer from The Orkney Brewery to help lubricate December a little 😉  He would normally spend Christmas Day with my parents and my sister but has decided to stay home this year in view of my Mum's various health conditions.  I don't think he will be too bothered, to be honest, as he does tend to find Christmas a tad annoying 😄 

Beverly, on the other hand, may be almost 30 years old but she is showing no sign yet of being too grown-up for Christmas-every-day!  The bags in the photo above contain the 24 little gifts I gathered together this year, and I spent an afternoon turning them into..... 

this!  It takes a surprisingly long time to wrap 24 gifts and sitting at the dining table on a hard wooden chair made my poor posterior rather numb because, of course, I didn't think to sit on a cushion 😕  I was able to pack them very neatly into one, larger, shopping bag which Adrian took round to Beverly's when he went into Kirkwall on Monday ~ so she had the "pleasure" of attaching them all to the hanger.  She said that she found it surprisingly difficult not to hang them in an orderly manner ~ she most definitely hasn't inherited my "randomness" genes 😂  

It's that time again!

I made the Christmas puddings yesterday ~ sadly, though, no "Mummy's little helper" this year.  Still, I had Radio 3 for company so it wasn't all bad 😉  So here is my annual post for the Larkin Christmas pudding recipe:

12 oz/340g sultanas

12 oz/340g raisins

6 oz/170g glace cherries, halved or quartered

8 oz/227g finely chopped mixed candied peel

8 oz/227g plain flour

1 level teaspoon ground ginger

1 level teaspoon mixed spice

1 level teaspoon nutmeg ~ freshly grated if possible

1 lb/454g soft brown sugar

8 oz/227g breadcrumbs

10 oz/284g shredded suet ~ beef or vegetable, whichever you prefer

6 eggs

5 fl oz/142ml barley wine or stout

5 fl/142ml oz brandy

grated rind and juice of 1 orange

1/2 pint/284ml milk (approximately)

This recipe makes enough mixture to generously fill four 1 pint (5ooml) pudding basins, each one of which will give about six servings; I usually use three 1 pint basins and one 1 1/2 pint (900ml). Grease whatever size of pudding basins you would like your finished Christmas puddings to be. 

Sift the flour and spices into a very large mixing bowl, stir in the sugar, breadcrumbs and suet, then add the dried fruit and grated orange rind.

Beat the eggs and add to them the barley wine/stout, brandy and orange juice.  Stir this into the dry ingredients and mix well, adding enough milk to give the mixture a soft dropping consistency if necessary. 

Put the mixture into your well greased pudding basins.  Cover each one with a doubled-up sheet of lightly greased greaseproof paper or baking parchment, making a pleat in the centre to allow for expansion whilst the pudding is steaming.  Hold the paper in place with string or an elastic band.  This year though, as you can see, I had a brainwave and thought it would be much easier to use baking parchment cake tin liners ~ I know, genius right 😄

  I use a pudding basin net to make life easier when lifting the basins in and out of the steamer, but if you haven't got one simply use string to make a handle.  Whatever you use, do be very careful when taking the puddings out of the steamer as they will be very hot!

Bring a pan of water to the boil and place the pudding, in a steamer, on top; turn the water down to a low simmer. The puddings will take 6-7 hours to steam, depending on the size of basin you use.  I steam the one pint puddings for 6 hours each, and the larger pudding for 7 hours.  I usually set my timer for one-hour-at-a-time so that I remember to watch the level of water in the pan, keeping it topped it up as necessary with boiling water from the kettle. 

This old saucepan belonged to my Grandma and I only ever use it for steaming puddings ~ each time I use it, though, I am reminded of her 😊 I've had the steamer forever; it's a tad battered these days as it was dropped on the quarry tiled kitchen floor of our old house a number of times over the years!

At the end of the steaming period, take the pudding from the steamer and remove the greaseproof paper. Leave it in the bowl, cover with a clean tea-towel and leave on one side to cool. 

When the pudding is totally cold, remove it from the basin and wrap in a fresh double sheet of greaseproof paper and then wrap tightly in cooking foil. Store the puddings in a cool, dry place.

I try to make my puddings towards the end of October/beginning of November and it's a family tradition to save one to have one at Easter.  They should keep well, with all that sugar and alcohol in them!  On occasion, though, I've been somewhat less organised and haven't made them until close-on Christmas Day ~ they still taste delicious 😋 

 When it's time to eat your yummy Christmas pud, you can either gently steam it for about 1 1/2 hours or reheat in the microwave.  I'm afraid I can't really tell you how long to heat the pudding in the microwave; it's very much a trial-and-error process as each machine seems to heat differently!  I just tend to heat ours on full in 3-4 minute bursts until it is good and hot all the way through.

 Serve your pudding with whatever your family likes best: rum or brandy butter/sauce, custard, cream, ice cream, etc.  My husband likes to have cream with his but I prefer a brandy sauce which I make very simply like custard ~ just substitute cornflour for the custard powder and add brandy to taste!

I really hope you enjoy this recipe.  You can tweak it as you wish on the proportions and varieties of dried fruit, just keep the total amount about the same.  You could have a little less fruit and add nuts.  You could also use rum instead of brandy ~ I use brandy as I'm not that keen on rum.  Make the recipe your own by using the fruit (and nuts, if you wish) that you and your family like to eat 😊