We arrived safely in London on Saturday and have spent the past several days wandering about and eating and pubbing. Last night we had our ‘Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese’ fix. We met up with another couple and enjoyed a smashing meal and hand-pulled ales. The pate’ and cheese plate (yes, it included Cheshire Cheese) was as delicious as I had remembered, and the lamb shanks were beautifully done. I followed up my meal with a lovely bread and butter pudding surrounded by a warm custard. My husband had the spotted dick, also surrounded by the warm custard, and we each enjoyed a glass of port to finish off the meal.

Lunch earlier was spent at a cafe’ we found near the hotel…my husband had the Croque Monsieur while I ordered the shephard’s pie (made with lamb). Not bad, but also not fantastic enough to return…

Dinner on Sunday was quite memorable. Eight of us met up at the Harwood Arms. I’ll admit, it was quite the trek to the other side of town (a decent 30 minutes) but well worth the journey. It is a charming pub with delicious food. The special was a loin of venison served with fried potatoes (not really french fry style, more whole peeled new potatoes) and a brussels sprouts/cauliflauer medley. This was perhaps the best venison I have ever eaten. It was beautifully done to a warm center, sliced and topped with small mushrooms. We had the poached salmon with horseradish sauce and minced apple to start off the meal, and they brought out a bread basket with a very tasty bread which I believe had oats in it, but I forgot to ask. Waiting for the cab outside the restaurant after the meal we spotted two red foxes wandering the local neighborhood – quite close in fact! It seemed a bit odd to see them meandering about the city streets, certainly not something one would expect to see in London…And the cab took awhile to pick us up, so we ended up back in the pub for another quick pint of a hand drawn ale (okay, the guys had the pint, I watched!)

It is finally feeling and looking a lot like Christmas. This morning I awoke to the wonderful vision of snowflakes falling outside my window…IN TEXAS!!! No, it didn’t stick, but I did manage to take a couple of pictures of the snow which had settled on the roof and shrubs. And then – POOF!! – it was gone, just like that! Oh, well! I was at least able to make the first fire of the season in our fireplace tonight…it crackles at my feet as I type. And I have a tradition of drinking a Manhattan with the first fire of the season, so I did that instead of roasting chestnuts on the open fire. One, I did not have chestnuts. Two, I did have bourbon and vermouth…

Last night I made 2 of my 3 batches of fruitcakes…tonight I will bake the final batch. Each recipe yields 12 small fruitcakes. I will let them dry out for a couple of days, and then I will ‘marinate’ them with a sugar syrup/bourbon/Grand Marnier mixture. It will take a good 3 weeks for them to ‘cure’ and then those babies are ready to eat!

I am a bit ahead of schedule this year with my decorating and Christmas shopping due to our upcoming London trip. This has been one of the busiest seasons I remember, but I have most of my tasks out of the way and can (hopefully)thoroughly enjoy London and the rest of the holiday season. I’ll have to remember to do this again next year…

Well, not exactly yet, but hopefully by tomorrow’s end the house will be well on its way to its holiday transformation. Christmas brings a new set of food festivities in our household. Fruitcakes start off the season in early December. They need to be made 3-4 weeks prior to handing out so they have time to ‘cure’. My fruitcakes have a white cake base, which varies from the traditional dark cake base you might normally envision. I also do not use any glaceed fruit. Instead, I opt for a mix of high-quality dried fruits which I reconstitute in a sugar syrup (with lemon and orange juices added). Along with the fruit mixture, pecans, walnuts and almonds are folded into the batter just before baking. They are baked in mini loaf pans, then wrapped in cheesecloth to dry out for 2-3 days. Finally, I soak them in the sugar syrup mixture I used for the fruit, with a bit of Maker’s Mark bourbon and Grand Marnier added to prolong the shelf life. 😉 These babies are not passed around from year-to-year nor are they used as doorstops…and they pair extremely well with a ruby port. MmmMmmm!

Christmas caroling is another tradition in our neighborhood. A group of us gather sometime about a week before Christmas and wander the neighborhood gracing all with our lovely voices (I tried unsuccessfully to type that with a straight face!)…I bring a big batch of homemade eggnog for the adults – I even have a special pewter bowl and ladle for this occassion…and trust me, after a little eggnog we sound terrific! ***Please note: it is imperitive that all parties partake in the eggnog in order to appreciate how ‘terrific’ we all sound….

I am traveling to London in December with my husband and am especially looking forward to seeing the city during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. On our last visit there we dined at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese where we ate the best meal we had while in London. I hope we find a free night to relive the experience. Other than that I have not planned out any food adventures yet, but I am sure I will make the best of our travels.

The tally is in: 8 completed pies (2 each of apple, cherry, pecan and pumpkin); 1 half-finished chocolate pie; 1 banana cream pie yet to make; bite-sized meringues (lemon and cranberry) to assemble last minute. We also smoked a turkey breast, along with some scallops, habanero peppers and pecans. We had to do two rounds of pecans because the first batch somehow got burned…I now have a grocery run tomorrow for pecans to finish off my sweet potato dish for dinner. Not bad for a day’s work, eh?

Last night I did not feel like going to the grocery store, and I also did not have a whole lot going on in my fridge/pantry…I gave the last of the leftovers to my son, then took inventory of what I did have to make a complete and healthy meal. This is what I came up with: whole wheat penne pasta, frozen broccoli, raisins (organic), lemons, walnuts. So I cooked my penne pasta, then added the broccoli (which I had cooked while waiting for the pasta), raisins (which I added to the broccoli during the final seconds of cooking to plump), olive oil, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, walnuts (which I roasted on top of the stove, adding balsamic vinegar and salt at the end), and a grating of parmesan cheese to finish. If I do say so myself, the results were outstanding. I had 3/4 of a bottle of wine left in the fridge from the previous night’s meal, so I poured myself a glass and feasted away on my new creation. It was quick, easy, healthy and inexpensive. Love that!!!