Xmas: blink and you miss it

Xmas has been and gone. It's the 29th already, and I'm back in the office alternately learning about risk and progressing with various projects.

A brief review of the past few days:

Xmas eve was spent, as it usually is in my life, finalising everything and making sure things will run smoothly for the following couple of days. My main task for the day was to prepare some biga in readiness for our dinner party on Boxing day. Fortunately as we'd done most of our preparation already, aside from the biga which took about an hour, it was a quiet affair which ended with a delicious Indian meal.

Xmas day started with a squeal from Rae as she saw Santa had visited her in the middle of the night, depositing a hefty load of gifts at the foot of her bed. A mixture of chocolates, craft things and plush toiletries greeted her. It seems Santa made some good choices.

With it just being the two of us, the shoulder of lamb went into the oven, breakfast was had and presents were opened. Rarely inspired when it comes to choosing presents for others, it seems I did quite a good job this year, and there was a lot of smiles from Her direction. Phew.

My main gift was actually received a couple of weeks previously: a wormery. It's been set up in the garage since December 17, and I do a bi-daily escapee hunt and will start feeding them properly in the coming week or so (I'll post some pictures when they're uploaded.) Ultimately the goal is to have them compost most of our waste and then use the fertiliser on the garden; it'll be many months before we're at that stage though.

One of my other gifts was a Mont Blanc fountain pen, of the type I haven't used since high school. Writing with it for the first time was sensuous; the nib glides across the paper better than any writing implement I've used before! With work being the place I do most of my (on paper) writing, it'll be taken there and used daily. I'm very excited about that!

Bringing my Blu-ray collection up to date, I also got Nature's Great Events, one of the BBC's latest presentations. As I adore all their series of this nature (pun intended), it sits proudly with the others in that collection. It's the kind of show we put on in the evening and watch while snuggled down, drinking hot Ribena. With winter en-route, it's the perfect seasonal gift.

And speaking of winter, having had my feet shivering as the Vivo barefoot shoes I have are fabric (and anti-insulating), Rae got me some awesome hiking boots. Waterproof, with a Vibram sole, they're toasty and suspect they'll be on my feet most of the winter. I also suspect there's also a subtle hint there that she's hoping to go on another hiking holiday; we'll see.

As is traditional on Xmas days, while dinner was in the oven, we went for a walk around High Elms country park. The two mile route we chose was somehow cut short by a wrong turn, so only took 45 minutes or so. Still, we know where we went wrong and will be doing better next time. Dinner itself was delicious. Slow-roasted shoulder of lamb, roasted winter vegetables, pigs in blankets and the most amazing roast potatoes. Yum yum yum! By the end of the meal we were both stuffed to the brim, and waddled over to the sofa for the Doctor Who Xmas Special.

And then we crashed into bed, far too early for our age.

Continuing with the biga I made on Friday, Boxing day started with me baking from 11am and working throughout the day preparing the starter for our evening meal. By 7pm when the guests, Dan and Ebru, arrived, I'd almost finished.

First up, Ciabatta. I experimented with two bigas, one with 225g flour and 5.4g yeast, and another with 75g flour and 0.4g yeast (about 25% the former, in flour to yeast ratio). The former needed between 1 hour and two days' raising, and the latter 6 hours to three days. The taste test proved the slow riser is worth the effort by far!.

Next was the Focaccia layered with fresh herbs. Technically the most difficult to make – over seven hours in time, and with eight stages – it was also the most rewarding. Full flavoured and went with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar perfectly! It'll be an addition to my regular baking list for sure.

Lastly we opted for the Mantovana olive oil rounded bun. Also a slow riser, and taking the longest to bake – 45 minutes as opposed to 25 for the others – the seeds gave it a definitely unique texture and taste. While not to my personal taste, the others enjoyed it.

The main too, was scrumptious. Pork fillet on rhubarb, with roast potatoes and vegetable parcels with chocolate soufflé to finish. I may have had a second soufflé, possibly :)

It was an Xmas I'll remember and cherish for years to come.

Up next: New year!

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