the highlights

1 The pudd

2 The guests & friends

3 The Steam Train Ride II (You can find STR I here)

4 The Santa

5 The present of the year 2011

6 The walks

7 The style

storm

While lashing rain and stormy wind outside we bake mince pies. They are on our Christmas menu list for the last three years (for the previous three I rather disapproved). Now Polish food gets more and more forgotten. Would you call it assimilation of neglection? Well, things just change in time...

wreath competition

Most of them on our street:

...and the winner is: no 13 of course!

barfi

To treat my friends and students I made these delicious Indian sweets. No one complained or praised. Hmm, matter of taste I suppose.

Pista Barfi

100g pistachios
2 tsp butter
100g caster sugar
300ml double cream
250g milk powder
1 tsp cardamom seeds crushed (pods removed)

Put pistachios on dry pan and toss for 2 min, crush them slightly when cool.
Melt butter add sugar and stir continuously for 3 minutes. Add cream and simmer for further 3 minutes, then add milk powder with cardamom seeds and nuts. Mix until mixture thickens. Turn the mixture out on sheet of greaseproof paper and shape into square. Refrigerate for 3 hours then cut with a knife dipped in hot water to avoid sticking. Store in the fridge as they have tendency to melt. Enjoy with a cuppa.

puzzle

Spot:
4 Christmas trees (of which 3 are in pots)
1 Santa
2 snowmen
2 spiky stars and 1 red star
LOADS of presents

treat of the week

Clotted cream. Cornish cream. Call it as you wish.
I never knew such a thing existed. Thick, 60% fat, silky and meltingly delicious. Just look at those spikes, no other thing can replace it. Uh, better not check that weight after all this festivities are gone... And imagine they even put it in their tea, no wonder why some English are traditionally built.
Here with mince pies:

santa

Pretty fake, otherwise good fun.

nativity play

Olaf's smashing performance made us all scream for more. Started thinking of a facebook page for him. Even the back row and Christmas tree costume wouldn't spoil the fun. A real talent.

This is where he suddenly disappears - mid-performance.

And this is when he tells his sis off.

home improvements III

Schlumbergera (Christmas Cactus, loved by my grandfather) and poinsettia in my family are a Christmas must-have. I am really tempted to visit local Chinese herbal shop where they have about 10 different species of that cactus in they display window and ask for clippings. Still a bit shy about that. 

graze box

We love to graze. First box arrived on Saturday morning - just the right time for a snack.

home improvements II

Big WOW to our landlords!

home improvements

Oh glory, oh glory hallelujah! 

snow

We are ready for the snow, will it come or will it not?

Christmas Market in Bath

We like to shop, oh yes we do, but Bath Christmas Market was pure madness. You have to elbow your way to overpriced stalls of overpriced-but-not-very-special products (with the exception of this). So we'd rather went for nearby free, quality art experience in Victoria Art Gallery, where lollies are banned but crowds are rare. Time well spent.

Our favourites: also here and here and here.

treat of the week

Since my debit card is blocked and there is no chance to get it back within the next week, I dropped shopping and started reading. As a depressed person, I need some comfort in my life (usually shopping sorts things out for me). A good easy read is all I needed. So I randomly bought this funny little book at the second hand stall. And that is how the addiction started. The author has already written about 60 books. But hey, listen, quantity here equals quality. Rather rare, isn't it? This is a brilliant, smart, heart warming criminal Botswana series. You couldn't possibly resist it! I read them wrapped up in blankets whenever I get a brake from kids and chaos. Such a treat.
What else can I say, well even Florian loves it...

the light

The light in Bath, better then anywhere else. November walks without the kids hanging at your leg.

occupy Bath

Queens Square on Sunday morning.
That is what it is all about:

treat of the week

What could be better then a pint of ale, a good read, smell of dinner being cooked (nut roast with all the trimmings!) and a bit of sunshine - all in mid November.
...and that silence!

bad day

How bad it has to be that you come to a stranger and tell him never to have kids... Oh yes, it has to be pretty awful.
This state of mind happened to me over the weekend at least three times:
First when my kids didn't enjoy Ravel quintet concert in St. George's Music Hall.
Second when they screamed they lungs off in a Starbucks over an orange and cranberry muffin and a cup of babyccino.
Third when they ran like monkeys in the Natural History Museum.

Trying to do something for your kids is not always the right thing to do. Why don't you do something for yourself for a change? - asked me Florian. Yes sure, but what I want for myself is peace and quiet, which makes me do something for my kids so that I can have that peace and quiet!
My mother-in-law, on the other hand, says that in the old days no one ever put so much effort and time into organising time for their kids. They just kind of grew up around everyday activities. They had fewer toys, no DVDs, no playgroups, no playgrounds, no story times or what not. Right I love the idea! But maybe they had extended families around? How can I make my kids entertain each other for a day while I hoover (oh yes I would make a use of that), clean the windows, declutter cupboards and wardrobes, do some ironing and cook a proper meal (we haven't had one for weeks). I just can't imagine them entertaining themselves around the house for 8 hours.
Non appreciation, tantrums and a waste of my energy, that is what I get now from my kids for all my efforts and it just brakes my back.
Bitter, that is how I feel.

whoa!

You will not believe me! I was just about to write how crappy day I had had but then I googled a name of my new china set and guess what? That is a fucking Rosenthal! And it is worth a LOT of money! And I just got a 5 more pieces of which three are exquisite! That made my fucking day much less miserable!
And I got more of it here!
HAHAHA! I paid a fiver for it BUAHAHA!

christmas pudding

I used my Irish friend recipe (substituting only brandy with sherry) for our first ever Christmas pudding. It was steamed for five hours, now all wrapped up and in a pantry waiting for the big day. Edible hopefully. We are not big fans of fruitcakes...

occupy Bristol

Just one blurry shot from the car window... College Green. I am proud Bristol is occupied!

unorthodox christmas

We are planning unorthodox Christmas this year. We want to do it the other way.
No cooking!
None of the twelve dishes!
No Christmas Eve!
No presents on the 24th but 25th in the morning!

So what we are going to do is an English Christmas:
Pudding is steaming the 4th hour now!
Pub dinner on the 25th!
Santa train ride on the 24th followed by dinner with friends!
Carol singing on the 24th!
Stockings on the mantelpiece - how shocking, it is a gas fireplace!
A carol singing event in St Pauls church in Clifton!

What is my granny going to say?!

apple pressing

While some of us are bed bound the rest is having good time. My family went on the apple pressing day to Willsbridge Mill.
They saw apples being shredded, then juiced.

They helped along the way.

They learned names of local apples, they listened to a storyteller and danced till they drop.

 They brought me some juice home in a plastic bottle to sample. Pure nectar.