Goodbye 2012

                                  

2012 has been a good year for Brits what with the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee although Londoners got the best of it and the rest of us may just remember 2012 as the wettest year since records began. Meanwhile we are all waiting to welcome in the New Year.
The place to be is Scotland where the New Year celebrations are called Hogmanay and are much more important than Christmas. They have two days off to recover and probably hangovers to match as the welcome consists of numerous toasts of whisky.
New Year is the other time (with Guy Fawkes night) when the public can buy retail fireworks and a number of neighbours will be letting them off at midnight but fireworks are a recent addition to the New Year celebrations. In London the traditional place to go was Trafalger Square and crowds would gather and the more inebriated celebrate in the fountains. Many years ago they started turning the fountains off to prevent this  and controlling access to the square to prevent crushes and stampedes as Trafalger Square can only hold about 80.000 people. For the Millenium the authorities were concerned that many, many more people than usual would turn out so they put on a special fireworks show on the river to disperse the crowds. It could take 250,000 spectators safely and was such a success  that they have repeated it every year since.
The old tradition is of first-footing where the first person to visit the house, usually immediately after mid-night should be tall, dark and bring presents of salt and coal. Usually a member of the party, preferably not the householder was sent out at five minutes to mid-night to be let in at 30 seconds past. It is also traditional to sing "Auld Lang Syne" by the Scots poet Robbie Burns. The words are not really English but lowland Scots.
My favourite New Years were when we were living in Liverpool. It was the tradition there to leave your party and go out into the street to join hands in a circle to sing Auld Land Syne at midnight. The circle would be joined by other parties and stray motorists who hadn't got to their party in time. Midnight was marked by the sounding of horns by ships on the Mersey and after the singing you would kiss everybody in sight and wish them "Happy New Year".

                                             

                                           Auld Lang Syne

                                               Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
                                               And never brought to mind?
                                               Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
                                               And days o’ lang syne!

                                              Chorus:
                                              For auld lang syne, my dear
                                              For auld lang syne,
                                              We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet
                                              For auld lang syne!

Father Christmas

                                                              

Father Christmas (UK) and Santa Claus (USA) have different histories but are now  essentially agreed to be the same character.
He lives in Lapland (UK) or the North Pole (USA) where for most of the year he makes toys with the help of Elves. On Christmas night he flies round the world in his magic sleigh pulled by reindeer called Dasher, Dancer , Prancer, Vixen,Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen and, on foggy nights, assisted by Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer.In the course of the night he visits every child in the world bringing them gifts but only if they are asleep and if they have been good in the previous year.  His elves keep a list of all the naughty children so that he knows who to visit.

He used to wear a green coat like the elves but for the last century and a half he has worn red trousers and a red jacket trimmed with white fur and a red hat. He has snowy white hair and a long beard and moustache. He used to come down the chimney to children but now fewer houses have chimneys he has to be more imaginative. He puts smaller presents into stockings which children leave for him by the fireplace or at the end of their bed but larger presents (like bicycles) will be left wherever is convenient. As it is hard work delivering presents he likes it if the children leave a glass of sherry or brandy and a mince pie for him and a carrot or some sprouts for his reindeer. If Father christmas has visited these will always have been eaten and drunk when the children come downstairs in the morning.
In order that he knows the right present to take to each child he has lots of assistants who dress like him and go into shops and town centres in December to ask children what they want. Some of these also collect money for charity or to buy christmas presents for poor families. Alternatively children can write to him at Lapland or the North Pole and get a reply from him telling them to be good; or you can send you note to him up the chimney.

NORAD track the progress of his sleigh on Christmas Eve and a few lucky children with wealthy parents are able to visit him in Lapland before Christmas on special holiday flights. They can see the reindeer and ride in a sleigh themselves.
He has starred in many films and is the subject of numerous songs and poems. In particular http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19286

                                                                

                 A Merry Christmas to All and to All a Goodnight

Lights and Greenery

A further tradition from pagan times is of bringing evergreen plant into the house as decorations for Xmas. Also as the festival celebrated the return of the sun, lights and candles are are feature of the decorations.
Traditionally holly and mistletoe were used.



Holly


 There is a tradition that a lady must give a kiss when asked beneath mistletoe. This tradition is particularly popular with young men who ensure that bunches are placed above doorways.




Mistletoe

But the main symbol in which evergreens and lights blend is the Christmas tree. Large ones are in every town centre bedecked with lights and every home will have at least one usually decorated with lights, tinsel, and shiny glass baubles. Artificial trees are useful for people lik me who are allergic to the scent of pine or spruce and we have one in silver tinsel. I could not get any holly this year; seasonal foliage is gradually declining in favour of forced plants and flowers from the horticultural industry.
Our living room is now at its best with fairy lights, the Xmas tree, flowers and present waiting to be opened on Xmas day.

The Christmas Nativity Story

The Nativity Story as it is currently told relies on two gospels and a lot of medieval tradition. As christianity has no prohibition on religous images (except in some of the most extreme protestant denominations) the story is told in pictures from churches all over the Christian world. This week is the last week of the school term before the Holidays so it wil also be told as a play acted by primary school children in almost every school in the country and many churches. Model representation are also very popular often carved in wood and used both inside and outside.

Mary was a young woman espoused (married but not yet claimed to live with him and consumate tne marriage) to an older man , Joseph. The angel Gabriel appeared to her and told her she was to give birth to the Son of God. She questioned how she could give birth whilst still a vigin but conceived on hearing the Angels word. When Joseph heard of her condition he intended to repudiate the marriage but an Angel appeared to him and explained the nature of the child.
The couple lived in Nazareth where Joseph worked as a carpenter but towards the end of Mary's pregnacy had to travel to Bethlehem for a census. When they got to Bethlehem the inns were full and they were turned away until one innkeeper took pity on themand offered a place in his stable. Mary was confined in the stable and laid the baby Jesus to sleep in a manger as a crib with an ox and ass watching.
Some shepberds were watching their flocks in the country near Bethlelem when an angel appeared to them and told them that the #Son of God had been born and they went to the stable to worship him and gave him a lamb  as an offering.

                         

Meanwhile in the East some wise men saw a new star a decided to follow it because it signified the birth of a King. The star moved before them and guided them first to Jerusalem where the saw King Herod the then ruler of the Jews and asked him where the new King was born. Herod asked them to tell him of the new kig whom he regarded as a userper. The star then guided them to Bethlehem were they too worshiped Jesus bringing him gifts of Gold(signifyinh he was a king), Frankincense, (signifying he was god) and Myrrh(presaging his death at the crucifixion). In many representations the 3 wise men are themselves 3 Kings representing kingdoms in Europe, Asia and Africa and are called Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior respectively. The Magi decided not to tell Herod about Jesus and went home a different way.
Joseph had a dream telling him King hHerod wanted to kill Jesus and the family went to Egypt and lived there for 2 years before returning to Nazareth. Meanwhile Herod killed every male child in the Kingdom under 2.



The Massacre of the Innocents is usually left out of the school plays but the rest of it is acted out with the children each playing a part whether a main speaking part or standing in the background being an angel or an ox, ass or camel. When sweetheart was young I used to dread the letter home saying your child has been  chosen to play..... and must have a costume by...because sewing was never my strong point; although I did get my revenge in her last year at primary school when I had to provide a palestinian villager costume and sent 2 different rectangles of material and a length of rope with instructions on how to tie a sari and a habib. Nowadays supermarkets have racks of angel, sheep and donkey outfits for small children in early December.

The changing face of Britain

They published the 2011 census results yesterday whcich showed how we have changed since 2001. Although 80% of us describe ourselves as "white British" 20% describe themselves as some other ethnicity which is a 25% increase in the decade. 4.7million people now sat they were born in another country. London which is a truly cosmoplitan city now has less than half the population describing themselves as "white British".
Most striking is the decline in religous belief, with 25% of the population saying they have no religious belief. 60% say they are christian but this will include many people who are not actively practising their faith by eg going to church. Of the other 15% the next most numerous religion is Islam with showings for Hindus, Buddists, Jews and small numbers of any religion  on the planet.
There are fewer home-owners than in 2001 and 15% of households now rent. Every area in the country except London now has more cars than households.Wales stands out for its inhabitants thinking they have poor health. 

Commercial Christmas

The commercial Christmas is in full swing. It starts early, There were some Christmas goods in the shops before we came to Morocco in September. At that time the Christmas TV adverts were for furniture. Buy a new bed or table for your guests and we will deliver in time for Christmas. When we went back at the end of October the main supermarkets were clearing their shelves of Halloween goods and replacing them with Christmas merchandise. Decorations, cards and tins of chocolates and biscuits at that time. We went to London and Covent Garden market already had its decorations and tree up.
The adverts have gone through bicycles and large expensive toys, party clothes and deals on decorations and are now settling down to a last gasp of perfume, food and alchohol. By Christmas Eve the shelves will be empty and the shops more or less deserted save for some few desperate looking men who have left their present buying too late and are scanning the near empty perfume shelves for something for their mother or girlfriend with their mobile phone to their ear whilst they describe to some other friendly woman, presumably a sister, what is left, and accept her instructions as to the most suitable purchase. 
Meanwhile pity the poor shop assistants. The shops play special Christmas songs to get customers in the mood to  purchase. They tend to be very annoying. The american ones tend to be very sentimental and the british ones have more edge. They are all designed to get you singing when you are drunk. They had started playing them when we were home in October and the poor shop assistants have to listen 8 hours a day for 3 months.
Here are links to some of the popular songs
 http://xmasfun.com/Lyrics.asp?ID=165
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r89CjMZDQpQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzczoqLBWAY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOe18JcatZo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCjrcjFGQCA&feature=watch-vrec
http://xmasfun.com/Lyrics.asp?ID=38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQpP9Ippfps

Annoying are't they? But every child will know the words to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells and probably lots of the others.

Advent

                           

We are now in Advent which is part of the religous Christmas preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ. It started last Sunday and continues for the next 3 Sundays before Christmas. The religous preparations include the telling of the Christmas Story so that it is understood by converts or children;readings from the Old Testament fortelling the coming of the Messiah with whom Christ is identified; and preparing for the second coming. Christians believe that Christmas celebrates the first coming of Christ as God made man but that at the end of time he will come again; the dead will rise ( which is why some Christians insist on whole body burial) and that he will Judge both the living and dead, condemnig the unworthy to eternal torture in Hell and allowing the worthy into Heaven. Depending on the particular branch of Christianity and the age of the audience the emphasis of the sermons changes.
A german custom was to give children an Advent Calender with a window which could be opened each day in December revealing a picture illustrating part of the Christmas story. The idea has been imported into the UK and sis very popular but nowadays the windows reveal a chocolate imprinted with a shape associated with the secular Christmas or a toy.

                                     

Other traditions imported from Scandinavian countries involve the making of an Advent wreath with a candle lit for each Sunday or lighting  candles.

Two Christmases

    

People from non-christian countries tend to see Christmas as a christian festival but it is more complicated than that.
Of course it is a christian religous festival celebrating the birth of God made man. However stories of the birth are contained in only 2 of the 4 biblical gospels describing the life of Jesus Christ and they differ on the aspects of the story they tell.
When the Romans stopped persecuting christians and adopted christianity as the religion of the empire (some hundreds of years after the time the events were supposed to have happened) they grafted the celebrations on to a pre-existing pagan festival to celebrate the winter solstice.  Northern countries had always held a big mid-winter festival ,to celebrate the days lengthening, and because there is not much work you can do in short ,cold days and you want to stay inside , round the fire, and have a feast to cheer you up.
So many practices associated with local pagan festivals were adapted to celebrate Christmas and given new christian "meanings". Also with the growth of free market capitalism and cities christmas became a major marketing event and various new "traditions" grew in the 20C associated with this.
Britain is an increasingly secular country. Whilst many people may keep the religous traditions and look for the "real christmas"  within the other christmas  razzamatazz, many people just keep the merrymaking traditions without complicating them with any religous belief.
There will be lots of children who know nothing of the christian christmas story of the  birth of Christ, but except in extremely religous non-christian families there will not be a child under 7 who does not believe in Father Christmas. 

Stir up a Pudding

                                   

Today is "Stir up Sunday". That is the day when Xmas puddings were traditionally made. The name comes partly from that and partly because the Church of England prescribes prayers for each Sunday of the year and the one for the 5th Sunday before Xmas begins

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously reward

It was the tradition that every member of the house took a turn at stirring the pudding so it had to be done on a Sunday when there was no work or school. Small coins or tokens (today it would be a 5pence coin) would be added to the pudding. It would then need cooking for 8 hours today and to be heated for a further 2 hours on Xmas day when it would be eaten with cream or custard or brandy sauce.

For any of you who want to try here is a link to a recipe
http://britishfood.about.com/od/christmas/r/xmaspud.htm
The brandy is optional and can be omitted.

The suet used in the pudding is nowadays usually vegetarian but originally was beef suet which is the fat which surrounds the kidneys.

Perfectly good puddings can now be bought in any supermarket and can be heated on Xmas Day by 5mins in a microwave. You may guess whether most people buy readymade or cook from scratch.

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is a wholly american festival and is not thought of at all in Britain. For a long time I'd no idea when it was but it is always on the 4th Thursday in November and in the USA it is the big family festival for which everybody returns home, like Christmas in Europe and Eid in Islamic countries.
It is to remember when the religous dissidents who left Plymouth in the Mayflower in 1620 to set up a farming colony in New England, (this was not the first colony but the most prestigous), sat down to celebrate their first year's harvest. They had been shown what to grow by local native americans and the feast traditionally consists of food native to America.
The meal is usually a variation on
Roast Turkey with Sage and Onion Stuffing and Cranberry Sauce
Mashed Potatoes
String Beans (Haricot Vert in french or French Beans in Britain)
Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Sweetcorn
followed by Pumpkin Pie.

PUMPKIN PIE

One recipe of shortcrust pastry  (see pies November 18th)
Use a recipe with added sugar and an egg

450 g/1lb prepared weight pumpkin flesh, cut into 1in/2.5 cm chunks (these days with home freezers this may be the flesh removed at Halloween to make lanterns)
3 large eggs
3 oz/75g soft dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground ginger
200ml milk

Pre-heat the oven to 180C
Grease a pie dish, rollout the pastry to line it and blind bake for 15mins with a tinfoil lining weighted with beans or chickpeas to keep the shape.

Meanwhile steam or bake the pumpkin to cook
Then blend the cooked pumpkin with the other ingredients and pour into the pastry shell and smooth level.
Bake for aprox 20mins until the pie is set but very slightly wobbly in the centre.

                                               

Serve with cream or ice-cream.

Pies

The big difference between british kitchens and mediterranean kitchens is that all british kitchens have an oven. I told afriend that my house in Morocco had no oven and she was shocked and said she would not be able to cook anything. I have since bought an oven  and the quality of our meals has improved enormously, partly because anything that needs slow cooking like a tajine ,a british cook does best in an oven.

So our "cuisine" consists largely of baked, roasted and casseroled dishes accompanied by boiled or fried vegetables. Of these the most various and a favourite is pies, being a baked pastry case with a savoury or sweet filling.

There are lots of different sorts of pastries for different pies



Raised chicken pie with hot water crust pastry




Steak and kidney pie with puff pastry

but the most useful is

SHORTCRUST PASTRY

The basic recipe is

200g plain flour
100g butter or other hard fat
1/4 teaspoon salt

Depending on the filling you may want to add any or all of the following

For a savoury pie

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
Shake of cayenne pepper
100g grated cheese
2 eggyolks


For a sweet pie

100g further butter
150g sugar
100g ground almonds
2 egg yolks
teaspoon lemion zest


In a large bowls add the dry ingredients to the fat and rub together with the tips of your fingers until it is a homogenous slightly crumby mixture.

Now stir in the other ingredients and mix to a very stiff paste.
Flour a board a rolling pin and rollout to desired thickness.
If the mixture is very rich and tends to break chill in the fridge for 30mins before rolling.

The simplest thing to make with this recipe is jam tarts. Just cut out the rolled out pastry into circles and place in shallow greased bun tins. Fill each with  jam and cook for 10 -15 mins at 160C-170C

Jam tatrs are often the first thing we teach children to cook but the jam filling is very hot and can burn when it comes out of the oven so they should be supervised until the tarts are cooled.

Police

There is no national police force in the UK. Instead there are local forces for each region which cooperate to run the Serious and Organised Crime unit and also the anti-terrorism unit which is headed up by the Metropolitan Police which covers the greater London area.
Police officers are not routinely armed although those guarding Royals and senior politicians and police at airports carry guns. The average policeman you meet in the street will be unarmed.
Until now the democratic control over the police has been through Local Authority nominees. The Local Authority members are elected and as each police area covers several local authority areas (our local North Wales Police covers 6 local authority areas) each authority nominates a member to a committee which supervises policing in the area.
The present government decided to replace this system with directly elected Police Commissioners, an american idea, so yesterday England and Wales voted for 41 new police commissioners.
The elections have been contraversial. The government wanted to have elections on the cheap. For Parlimentary elections candidates have to pay a deposit of £500 which is forfeit if they get less than 10% of the vote and candidates can send one leaflet outlining their policy free to every address in the constituency. For police commissioners the deposit is £5000 and there are no free leaflets just a website. The criticsm is that it makes it very hard for anyone other than someone supported by one of the main political parties to stand. As police commissioners are well paid this leads to accusations of "jobs for the boys" and bringing politics into policing.
The elections yesterday had the lowest turnout of any national election; the average turn out appears to be about 15%. There are also a high proportion of "spoiled" voting slips. It would seem the public are not as keen on commissioners as politicians.

The BBC

Today is 90 years to the day since the BBC's first Broadcast. Unlike most broadcasters who get their money from adverts or subscriptions the BBC is financed through a tax payable each year by anyone who uses a television. For that they broadcast 4 television channels and numerous radio channels, some national, some available only on digital radio, and some local to a particular city or region. They also run the World Service which is funded by the British Government.
They fiercely guard their independence from government interrference in their broadcast content and operate on a mission to "inform, educate and entertain".
At 17.33GMT the BBC is broadcasting an audiocollage by Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz fame on all its channels to celebrate the 90 years. 

Remembrance Day

The Great War of 1914-18 between the european imperial powers, or World War I, changed life in Britain  for ever. Very many young men died and because of the army's policy of having "Chum's Brigades" in which men from the same village fought and died together some villages lost all their young men of fighting age in one battle. Every village has its memorial to the  dead and in many it is difficult to believe that a village so small could have so many young men.
The Armistice was signed at 11.00am on November 11th 1918; the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Afterwards the war dead were remembered by a minute's silence  at that time and in ceremonies and prayers on the Sunday nearest. A charity was also started to help the widows and orphans and those disabled by their wounds. Because the bombed no man's land between the trenches had thrown up fields of poppies on the battlefield  reminiscent of the blood of the fallen, the poppy was taken as an emblem of remembrance and artificial poppies were sold to be worn to raise money for the charity.
The scope has since been extended to include remembrance of the dead in all subsequent wars.
This year November 11th is a Sunday so  there is only one Remembrance Day. There is a ceremony at every War Memorial in the country and a large event in London at the Cenotaph (the main memorial in the Mall) where wreaths of poppies are laid by the Queen , representatives of the armed services and leading politicians.

Remembrance ceromony at the Cenotaph



Wreaths at War Memorial after Local Rembrance Ceremony

The Great War caused such a great and pointless loss of life that many people involved in the fighting were appalled. It inspired a group of poets who wrote about the horror of war later known as the "War Poets". The most famous poem was Dulce and Decorum Est written by Wilfred Owen. He was killed a week before the end of the War and his parents got the news of his death on November 11th as the church bells were ringing to celebrate the end of the War.


                                                          Dulce et Decorum Est

    Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
    Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
    Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
    And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
    Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
    But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
    Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
    Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.   
    Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
    Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
    But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
    And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
    Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
    As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.     
    In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
    He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.    
    If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
    Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
    And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
    His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
    If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
    Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
    Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
    Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, –
    My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
    To children ardent for some desperate glory,
    The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
    Pro patria mori.


  The last lines are in Latin and mean  "It is a sweet and proper thing to die for one's country".    

Wilfred Owen



Bonfire night

When I was a child each family or each street had its own bonfire party. Small boys would make a Guy out of old clothes stuffed with paper and take it from house to house asking for "a penny  for the Guy". They would use the money to buy fireworks which could be bought at all the local shops. Naughty boys would light them and put them through people's letter boxes and this caused a number of house fires each year. Their fathers and older boys would collect wood to make bonfires and they would all be lit and the fireworks let off after dark on the 5th November. There was special party food. Sausages, jacket potatoes, a ginger and treacle cake called "Parkin" and Toffee Apples.
Every year a number of children would be blinded or burned by accidents with fireworks and bonfires and some fires would get out of control and burn houses. It was a very busy night for the Fire Brigade.
Now the sale of fireworks is greatly restricted and most people do not hold their own bonfire party. Most people now go to big organised bonfire events with fireworks displays far bigger than  any individual family can afford. Many are run to benefit charities and organised by local sports clubs. Our local one is at the local Sports Centre but is organised by the Fire Brigade who prefer to run a big display rather than run round putting out lots of small ones.
We still eat sausages and jacket potatoes and toffee apples though; local charities take stalls and sell them.

Here is a recipe for toffee apples.

8 medium sized crisp apples
8 lollipop sticks
400g sugar
100ml water
100ml golden syrup
25ml wine vinegar
red food colouring

Prepare the apples by immersing them in boiling water for 30seconds and then wiping them down with kitchen paper. (This reduces any wax coating on the skin so that the toffee will stick better). Stick a lollipop stick in each.
Heat the sugar ,water, syrup and vinegar in a small deep pan to cracking point.
(This is 140C if you have a sugar thermometer. If not heat to a rolling boil. Test by adding a drop of the mixture to cold water. If it sets immediately to a hard toffee it is ready. If the  toffee is soft and can be squeezed keep heating.)
Remove from heat, stir in colouring and wait until the bubbles have burst.
Dip the apples in and coat with toffee.Work quickly.
If the toffee gets too cool and sticky so that it will not coat, reheat but do not let it boil again.
Put the apples on baking parchment or foil and leave to set for about 20 mins.

Eat within two days.

Remember Remember.....

While America adopted the european successor to Samhain as Halloween Britain developed a celebration all of its own.
James I of England and VI of Scotland came to the throne of England in 1601 and was the first king of both countries. He was very anti-Catholic and also interested in Witches; burning a number of alleged witches during his reign and writing a book on how to identify them.
There were a number of plots to oust him and replace him with a Catholic King.
Every year the king would go to Parliament to open it in the autumn. The Queen still does this today. All the leading Nobles and politicians would be present.
In 1605 a plot was discovered to blow up the Houses of Parliament , killing the King and most of the  Lords in the hope of putting a Catholic on the British throne.  One of the conspirators warned a relative not to attend. He told the army and a search found barrels of gunpowder in a cellar under the building and arrested a man tending it, Guy Fawkes, who was soon executed.
This happened on November the 5th and when in subsequent years bonfires were seen they were said to be in thanksgiving of the King being saved and nothing to do with witches.
So every year we British celebrate the 5th of November with Bonfires and fireworks and burn an effigy or "Guy" made from stuffed old clothes and a mask and often we call it "Guy Fawkes Night".
Children are taught the rhyme

"Remember Remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot."

Guy Fawkes

All the "Gunpowder Plot" conspirators

A Cake for Christmas

These days most people buy all the christmas treats ready made in the supermarket but my grandmother used to make everything and now with just two months to go to 25th December is when she would be making her Christmas Cake.
I give the recipe for her cake below in an alcohol free version but she would use alcohol in the cooking. To make the alcoholic version soak the dried fruit in brandy or rum (I prefer brandy) at least overnight or for several days before using. The fruit will swell and absorb the brandy. When the cake is baked and cooled make small holes in the bottom and top with a fork and sprinkle a tablespoon of brandy or so  over until it is absorbed. Repeat this process weekly.
This makes a very moist cake and the alcohol acts as a preservative. The same recipe is traditionally used for wedding cakes which are presented in tiers and it was the custom to keep one tier to use as the Christening cake for the  first child which would be at least a year later.
When my daughter was small I made a cake each year. A small amount would be eaten and it would be put into an airtight container and forgotten about. One year I found I had the remains of four cakes all of which were perfectly edible but decided it was silly to make another and I haven't made one since.

The rich fruit cake recipe.

For a 20cm round tin or 18cm square tin. Makes 20-30 portions.

225g  plain flour
5ml     mixed spice
2.5ml  cinnamon
2.5ml grated nut meg
5ml    cocoa powder
175g butter
175g soft brown sugar
25ml treacle (or substitute syrup or honey if unavailable)
5ml   grated lemon zest
5ml   grated orange zest
5      eggs
500g mixed dried fruits (raisins, sultanas, currants)
50g  grated apple
100g candied peel
100g ground almonds
50g blanched almonds
50g chopped dates
50g glace cherries
25ml milk

Sift dry ingredients together
Toss fruit in a little flour (this stops them sinking when added to the cake  and baking)
In a LARGE bowl cream together butter, sugar, treacle and orange and lemon zest
Beat in eggs one at a time adding  a tablespoon of dry ingedients with each
Stir in fruit
Fold in remaining dry ingredients with milk
Transfer to tin and smooth top with a knife
Bake at 150C for 4-41/2 hours until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean
Leave in tin for 15 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

When cooled wrap in tin foil and put in an airtight container until required adding brandy as described if making the alcoholic version


About 2-3 weeks before finished cake is required make the almond paste  and add to cake.

Almond Paste

225g  ground almonds
225g  icing sugar
225g  caster sugar
yolks of 2 eggs
5ml lemon juice
2.5ml vanilla essence
2.5ml almond essence

Sift icing sugar into a bowl
Add other ingredients and mix to a stiff paste
Turn out onto a board or table covered with icing sugar and knead with fingertips until it is smooth, crackfree and pliable

To add to the cake divide into 2.  Work on the surface covered with icing sugar.
Roll out one half to fit the top of the cake.
Brush the  almond paste with a little sieved apricot jam (to sieve it heat the jam a little and it will brush better then  too)
Place the cake upside down  on the almond paste. Trim the edges and then carefully turn right way up
Roll out second half of almond paste and repeat process. For a square cake divide into 4 and repeat for each side; for a round cake it is easiest to do it by dividing into 2

Cover with tin foil and return to airtight container.

WAIT AT LEAST A WEEK BEFORE ADDING ROYAL ICING

Royal Icing

White of 2 eggs
450g icing sugar
2.5ml lemon juice
2-3 drops glycerine


Beat egg whites until foamy
Gradually beat in the other ingredients (the glycerine prevents the icing becoming too hard to cut)
Continue beating until the icing is snowy white  and firm enough to stand in points when the spoon is taken out of the bowl
If it is too stiff add more egg white or lemon juice , if too soft add icing sugar

Put in an airtight bowl and leave for a day.

Spoon a little Royal Icing over the cake and spread with a pallette knife bursting any air bubbles.
Draw a warm steel rule at an angle over the icing to make a flat surface
Leave for a day
Repeat the process for the sides of the cake
If you want a smooth cake to decorate add 2 or 3 more thin coats at 24 hour intervals.


My grandmother could never be bothered keep adding layers for a flat finish so she would add one deep layer on the top with peaks. She would put a ribbon round the sides rather than ice them.She had bought ceramic decorations but you could make marzipan decorations or use holly.
Her approach was a lot less work and I am sure by now you understand why most people now buy ready made and decorated cakes.

Halloween

Here are pictures of some of the "trick or treat" callers tonight.
The commercial machine moves ruthlessly on though. Yesterday the supermarket was clearing out its Halloween merchandise and replacing it with Christmas decorations and cards.

Halloween preparations.

Halloween (the 31st October) is the night when witches are supposed to ride and hold their covens. This is because the next day is the Christian Feast of All Saints Day when the saints visit the earth and witches are banished.  Actually Halloween derives from the pre-christian festival of Samhain celebrated by bonfires and feasting when the cattle and pigs which could not be fed over the winter were slaughtered and the meat either roasted and eaten  or preserved as sausages and hams for the winter.
When I was young in the 1960s Halloween was a minor celebration for children. You may have a small party, make lamps out of turnips and tell ghost strories. As it coinicided with the apple season you may also play games bobbing for apples floating in buckets of water which you had to eat holding your hands behind you.
Halloween was always much bigger in America. After the success of the "Halloween" franchise of horror films in the 1970s and 80s shops started promoting it here and now it is a big commercial event.
American style Halloween features not apples but pumpkins which are made into lanterns. It also involves "Trick or Treating" where children go house to house challenging for a trick or treat. A trick should invole pulling a rude face but naughty children choose to egg your car or windows or pull up garden plants so in fact everyone gives a treat, usually some form of chocolate or sweet so the children collect bags full of goodies to eat. The children often dress up as witches or ghouls so they enjoy the whole process. Increasingly the shops use Halloween as an excuse to sell more and more; manufactured costumes and specially decorated cakes and sweets to say nothing of pumpkins which you could not buy at all 50 years ago.
When I went to the supermarket last week they had 3 aisles dedicated to Halloween merchandise mostly fancy dress.
The Teenagers and young adults have got in on the act and there are lots of costumes for them too which they wear either to parties at their homes or, more often, to themed events at nightclubs. Most of these actually took place last weekend although "trick or treating" is confined to the actual night.