More ribbon embroidery! 

Someone was finding it a bit much!  

Dessert which was heavenly. Danish chocolate gateaux with Cornish clotted cream. Um, yummy!  

Monkfish in lobster sauce with roast potatoes, parsnips, cauliflower and sprouts. I don't know what Christmas would be without the ubiquitous sprout!  

Concentrating on the food! 

One of the starters - Terrine of Vegetables 

Festive headgear competing with the decorations.  

Party time!

Today was the Christmas lunch at work. We went to the Norway Inn which is an old inn on the river Kennel at Perranarworthal. It dates back to the days when timber was brought up the river before it silted up. The inn is quite old and has timbered beams, thick walls and low ceilings. The food is fantastic! I've taken some pictures. I forgot to take a picture of the actual pub but this is an archive photo I found. Doesn't do it justice! A fun time was had by all and I really feel quite stuffed this evening.

I knew it! I was right!

I knew I'd be tired and exhausted after doing the shopping, hence the photos beforehand, just in case I was SO exhausted that I couldn't even turn the computer on at all! I was right! I have bought enough food to feed the forty thousand and boy are we going to eat well over Christmas. But then I was shopping for about ten days worth of food. I am not intending to do the full outing of turkey, stuffings etc etc. We are going to have a chicken, leek and cheese pie which is about as non traditional as one can get. I will do bread sauce, roast potatoes, sprouts with bacon plus other veggies and gravy. And we will have one of the Christmas puddings with cream and/or Creme Anglaise which is much nicer than the ubiquitous custard. Plus a trifle and mince pies. So I don't think we will starve. And on Boxing Day we are going for the big family meal at my sister's which will be very traditional with turkey and all the trimmings. I'm looking forward to that bit as it won't be my responsibility to do all the organising. So now because I am a lazy toad we are going to have a late dinner of Chinese stuff. So easy just to heat it up in the oven, but oh so nice too! A real treat! So bon appetite to me! And I seem to be finished bar the shouting so I can now relax! Tomorrow is our works Christmas lunch. I shall take loads of photos! This is what everyone is afraid of! Ho! ho! ho!

A beautiful rainbow. The climate is so mild in this part of Cornwall that we are able to grow palm trees. These are Draceana's.  

Another SSL picture for Capturing the Light. This is an oil burner taken in the dark. I love the shapes. 

Spring is coming!  

For Saadet. Silk Ribbon Chrysanthemums. I worked these on a round robin block but I forget whose it was.  

My Christmas cushion 

Friends!

I have had a very busy day sewing trying to finish the bags I'm making as presents. I'm nearly there! But while I was working on them I started thinking about friends and how we find our friends. I have a very good friend in Sue and I see her often. Also I have other friends that I see from time to time and we always have a good time. These are often students from classes or that I have met at various workshops. But also I have made so many friends since I started using the net about ten years ago and joined some of the Yahoo lists. Some of these friends I've met in my travels and others are still unknown to me in person but still very dear friends, some of whom I'm been corresponding with for nearly ten years. What is wonderful is that we all have the same basic interest in textiles which means we never run out of things to talk about. The kindness of these internet friends surpasses all. On my first teaching trip to the States two of these friends at opposite sides of America put me up and made my stay so memorable. They had no idea as to what I'd be like. I could have been the guest from hell! Perhaps I was and they haven't liked to tell me! Grin! They have become my dearest friends since then and I'm waiting for them to come to the UK so I can return the favours. And each time I have been in the States I have met so many people who until then had only been names with no faces. And now they too have become friends; even though we may not email or correspond that often it is always delightful to be in contact with them. Through the web I have got to know people from as far away as Australia and Japan and also all over Europe. Plus the nicest thing is actually meeting new people from England. The piece of crazy patchwork that I am going to post above is a block that I made and then two of my friends in Canada - one I've met several times, one I've never met - embroidered it for me in a mini round robin. The theme was Winter and I have made it into a cushion which I bring out each December. Actually it is an ideal size for having in the car to put behind my neck. Really comfortable. I took it with me to Scotland in the summer. The fact that two people would put so much effort into a piece of work for someone they didn't really know that well really touched me. And since I've started writing this blog I find that I am 'meeting' more people. A whole new world of friends is opening up. It is like ripples in a pond just spreading wider and wider. So I am going to cherish my friends as they are very important to me and one of my resolutions for 2006 will be to keep in touch and not let friendships wither and die for lack of effort. So thank you for being my friends! I'll try to be worthy of your friendship!

Puddings steaming on the stove.  

Burnt offering!

So this morning I gave the pudding mixture a final stir and put it into four bowls. One large, one medium and two small ones to give away. So far so good. I then gathered up all the saucepans and steamers I had and borrowed from my Mum. I could only steam three at a time so one of the puddings will be steamed tomorrow. Of the three one of the saucepans was larger than the steamer which left a gap round the edges but I thought this would be alright and having got the water on a good simmer I went off to my work room to sew! An hour or two went by ( I reckoned that the water would need topping up in three hours ) and I wasn't worried about the puddings but I began to smell this strange smell. The smell got worse and suddenly it dawned on me that it was burnt plastic I was smelling so I rushed headlong downstairs. Everything seemed normal in the kitchen and on the stove but the smell was stronger. On checking the odd saucepan that was too big for the steamer I found that it had boiled dry and that there were some odd red spots on the bottom of it. I turned off the gas and lifted the steamer off very carefully as it was red hot. Took off the lid, lifted out the plastic bowl containing the pudding and lo and behold the bottom got left behind with a layer of pudding that had baked into the melted plastic. That was the source of the red drops! What to do? Ever seen a headless chicken rushing about madly? That was me! Of course the plastic hardened as soon as it was off the heat so now I had a steamer with a mess of pudding and plastic on the base which was not going to come off in a month of Sundays as it was. (See picture below- see even in these trying times I am thinking of you and taking pictures; what more could you want!) So I had a bright idea! OK so this could be a misnomer! I held the steamer over the gas until the plastic started to melt again and then scraped it off with a spoon. This took most of it off but left a smear of red so I heated it up again and put Vim on it and stupidly used my washing up brush to get the rest of it off. Well it did but I now have a very shrivelled and burnt brush. Again plastic on heat! Has my brain died? Don't answer that! Now what to do with the pudding. Fortunately it had been steaming long enough that it was firm so I was able to tip it out and put it into another small bowl. Rushed down to my mother's and borrowed yet another saucepan which fitted the steamer and it is now continuing to cook. The only worrying thought is.......will it taste of burnt plastic? And it was a small one to give away. Dare I do it! It looks very nice but......

Note: The puddings cooked OK. Such relief! They smell delicious and as they had greaseproof paper wrapping the top they didn't suffer from the catastrophe other than to have lost a minute sliver from their bottoms. The pan has scrubbed up well but I have jettisoned the pots. After all what use is a bottomless pot! Sandy the red was the melted plastic from the bottom of the pot.

Disaster!  

The complete mixture ready to sit overnight and be put into bowls tomorrow and steamed for eight hours. The house will be like a Turkish bath with all the steam! lol And anyone who comes to visit before it goes into the bowls will have to have a stir and wish. I used to put silver sixpences wrapped in greasepaper into it but it is hard to find them nowadays and those I've got I want to keep!  

The dry mix of fruit, breadcrumbs,spices, suet and flour before the addition of the eggs and the booze!