update: we bought a 28 lb turkey and then found out that our roast pan would not hold the bird; we now have a Tin foil roaster that will hold the offending bird ;-) however Paul, has offered to do a bird for Christmas; ok, well, scratch one job LOL
Mark has offered to help with the funding of the Christmas treats, ie the cakes and cookies; so now we have it split 3 ways we are in a better position to do the baking;
I have come up with 6 cookies for Christmas that 4 that are traditional around here, and 2 that aren't; Ginger Bread, Short Bread, Unbaked Chocolate Cookies, Mint Chocolate Chip / mixed peel cookies (aka Heroine Cookies), and the two that aren't, Almond Cookies, and Peanut Butter Cookies; if anyone wants other's we will discuss it;
The plan is to do one batch each and set out a platter with 12 cookies from each batch; see how long 72 cookies last around here; the idea to start the cooking around the 12th of the month, or 12 days before Christmas Eve; with an average of 50 cookies per batch that's 300 cookies ;-)
2 weeks ago I boiled the Ginger for the Ginger Beer, and today I took the liquid and reboiled it, 11.5 L, and added 5 cups of sugar; I bottled 2 gallons, or 9 L and the remainder (about 1.5 and .75 {2.25})I put in a 1 gallon jug, and topped it off with apple juice, about 2 l; this latter is an experiment; I put air locks on 2 and a cap that will pop under pressure on the other, and will leave them for 3 weeks; Thomas says they will ferment on their own;
we were given 20 lbs of potatoes yesterday, after buying 10 lbs the day before, and have 5 lbs left from a previous bag; so I have proposed making a batch of potato flour, for latkas ;-) there was a time when Thomas made them every Christmas, so we will try to restart this tradition; will try to get some pictures of the process;
I have found a web site for Mrs Beeton's Housekeeping Management and Cookery book c. 1865, www.mrsbeeton.com and found that the recipes, while old and often with obscure ingredients, are not all that difficult to follow; a recipe for Mincemeat caught my eye, and I am eager to have a try at it, with some adjustments to modern eating habits, ie discard the 1 1/2 lbs of lean beef, and 3 lbs of suet ;) and substitute something a little more politically correct for our time;
OK this is the first actual Christmas Tree that I have had since 2005; so it is a mile stone for me; to get I had to re arrange my room, after I had done some work on raising the bed about 1 foot higher to get "stuff" under it; the results are below, before I decorated the tree; feel more like I have a room to live in rather than a room to crash; there is an arm chair to the right in the picture below that is just out of the picture. which is actually useful now and quite comfortable; so Christmas and Thanksgiving have arrived together this year ;-) as always, click on the picture to enlarge;
That's about as much as I can think of; will update more later; Cheers,
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