merry christmas

Merry Christmas, one and all. If you insert your name below and press submit, you’ll get a special festive message from myself and my imaginary Missus.

Rather fantastically, a couple of readers have sent me items from my Amazon wishlist, so thanks very much to them.

First mention goes to Alex in America, who wrote a very nice note and tells me to keep up the experimental cooking. Thanks Alex – I’ll be certain to carry on, and I’ll be trying to come up with something spectacular I can create with the Le Creuset Silicone Cook ‘n Bake 24cm Rectangular Loaf Mould you sent me. Thanks again, and a very Merry Xmas to you!

Next up is my old friend Keith, who sent a me copy of John Peel’s autobiography Margrave Of The Marshes. Thanks Keith, and the best of the season to you. You’re a gentleman, a scholar, and the most generous Scotsman I’ve ever met.

Finally, a very large Christmas thank-you goes out to Mike, who sent me a lovely copy of Shizuo Tsuji’s Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art after pulling my name from the digital hat in this year’s Secret Santa bonanza. I’m moving to the same area as Mike next year, so I’ll be inviting him round for some ‘Wind in the Pines’ Chicken Loaf with steam-simmered octopus when I do.

I’ll be spending the day with friends, eating vast amounts of food. I’m responsible for the deserts this year, and have created two rather special dishes for the occasion. First up we have a pear and chocolate pie from an ancient Piedmontese recipe. The pears were poached in red wine prior to cooking, and a scattering of crushed amaretto biscuits in the base of the pie gives the end result a fairly festive feel.

Alternatively, diners can choose the lemon saboyon tart with pine-nut and vanilla crust, which will come served with honeyed mascarpone cream.

Mmm, lovely. And once again, Merry Christmas!

7 Comments

  1. Merry Christmas and best wishes for happy new year!

    May the joy of Christmas be with you throughout the year?

    i am a universtiy student in China.Occasionally?i visit your blog. it is useful to study english and understand the foreigners for me.

    i want to thank you for your essays.

    good luck. my email address is marveljessica@gmail.com

    if you like,you can email to me. waiting for you^_^

  2. Merry Christmas my dear Fraser (please note you get a mention in my Christmas messages). The sight of Cherie Blair has almost (but not quite) put off of my 13th glass of champagne. I’m cooking a fuckoffhuge hunk of beef. I’ve just put it into the oven, alongside leeks, carrots, potatoes, onions, red peppers, parsnips and a lot of rosemary. I like it as rare as rare can be (“your dinner looks like a peroid”) so I’ll be taking it out in about one hour and then resting the beef and making the Yorkshire puddings and the stuffing balls. I do so like Christmas. A fair excuse to eat twice one’s own body weight in cholesterol and alcohol and not feel bad whichsoever.
    ~Milady
    xxx

  3. Cooked a fucking tonne of food, but am ill and thus have the appetite of a small feathered thing. Plus, what with relliew bringing cheese and mince pies etc with them I think we ended up with more food than we started with. Plus have hardly been able to drink anything. Ah well…

    Merry xmas Fraser old chap. Hope it’s been a good one for you. Those deserts look laaavely.

  4. Merrrrrrrrrry Christmas, FML. Fi xx

  5. Hey, Merry Xmas. I hope you stopped the metronidazole or whatever for long enough to have a few champagnes with your most excellent desserts there.

    P.S. I wish ‘marveljessica’ was waiting for me.

  6. Merry Christmas Fraser, enjoy the book. I trust 2006 will be kind to you, and I look forward to thrilling to your continued culinary escapades. Bonne chance, as they don’t say in Scotland…

  7. you are moving? where will we find you next year? out in the country? building a new house with cheerie-baby?