Adventures of the Benign: Christmas Edition.

I've just had a really depressing thought. This time next year, we will no longer be celebrating Christmas 2012. On the bright side, For a week we get to celebrate family, festivities and probably overindulge.

Stay tuned for my favourite undulgent Christmas Slice - Chocolate, Orange, Coconut...

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

And, I haven't killed my plant yet - it's merrily flowering!

It doesn't feel like Christmas to me, until we've put up the Tree & turned the lights on.

Calm admist the Christmas Crazy...

 

I need your help. What on earth do you think the above are in relation to 'Christmas Moulds'? Gingerbread men?

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Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I love the green and red glitter explosion that is Christmas. There is just something in me that loves it - maybe it's a lack of a Y chromosome?

As a Kiwi on the other side of the globe, Christmas was really different. Instead of going up to a Bach at the beach (a small holiday hut/house) or putting up a Marque/Tent in the backyard, it's cold, gets dark really early and we've had quite a few White Christmasses.

It's really lovely, to have a cold Christmas; egg nog, chestnuts, roast dinner & scurrying out of the cold.

Christmas Trees via the Train, gotta love life in the UK!

Over the years I've amassed a few Kiwi ornaments that we nestle amongst their English and European counterparts, we have picked up over the years.

Christmas tree ornamentation is rooted in a German tradition; the evergreen tree represents eternal life as it stays green all year. Candles or lights are now placed to represent "that Christ is the light of the world". We place a star on top to remember the star in the east, or an angel to represent our guardian angel, or the angel that appeared to the shepherds.

 

 

 

Hubby and I have started a tradition of picking up an ornament every year, so we will end up with a Tree full of memories.

 

 

What are your Christmas Decorating Traditions? Popcorn Strings, find the Pickle (a German tradition), home baking?

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Adventures of the Benign

This week has been lovely, random but full of Christmas Cheer. I hope you have a lovely Friday!

Balance:

Are you enjoying the Festive season?

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Foodie-in-training: Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes are an enigma. The texture of a potato, with a starchy sugar-laced taste and a rather ugly exterior. If I were to be pushed to pick a favourite vegetable (in a life or death situation you understand), it would the humble, ugly Sweet Potato. Butternut Squash would be a close second.


I love how adatable they are, basically if you can do it to a potato (Roast, Bake, Steam, Boil, Mash, Soup -) you can do it with a Sweet Potato, quicker. Apparently it also works as a substitute for potatoes making vodka! The only downside is they don't hold their form quite as well so you can't really make a Sweet Potato Salad out of them.

Aren't they sexy?

Sweet Potatoes, or Kumara as they are known in New Zealand are a staple way we eat. Roasted, mashed or traditionally hangied (steamed & smoked over a glowing ember fire in the ground) or in soups.

 

 

 

Americans also like eating them at Thanksgiving with their Turkeys and sweet - this Sweet Potato Casserole sounds like a bit of me. A lot like a bit of me actually!

 

To my surprise, they have a fairly good nutritional profile: The orange-flesh sweet potatoes are exceedingly rich in beta-carotene (Vitamin A). The purple-flesh varieties are outstanding sources of anthocyanins, especially peonidins and cyanidins. Both types of sweet potatoes are rich in unique phytonutrients, including polysaccharide-related molecules called batatins and batatosides. Sweet potatoes also include storage proteins called sporamins that have unique antioxidant properties. Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene). They are also a very good source of vitamin C and manganese. In addition, sweet potatoes are a good source of copper, dietary fiber, niacin, vitamin B5, and potassium.

Bonus: Recent research has shown that a minimum of 3-5 grams of fat per meal significantly increases our uptake of beta-carotene from sweet potatoes. Butter with my Sweet Potato Mash? Yes please, it's good for you.

I am really enjoying the Foodie-in-training business, it's certainly increasing my knowlege, and not just about new stuff.

I think I need to haul my butt into the kitchen...

Do you like Sweet Potatoes? Have you any recipes you love?

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The Porterhouse, a Silver Lining

Yesterday was a hard day. England played a smashing game against our sub-par All Blacks, who seemed to have lost their spark.

The only silver lining to the day was discovering a new pub in the heart of London - in actual fact near the considered 'centre of London' - random fact, all distances measured to/from London are started at Charing Cross (sorry, small London geek out there).

(Please excuse the grainy pics, it was a dark winters day and I only had my phone to hand)

  

It's called The Porterhouse, and I swear it's been poured straight from the pages of Steampunk. Such a fascintating winding pub, full of nooks and crannies and ledges. Split over 12 levels, they also make their own beer in Dublin.

The walls are decorated with bottles of beer from all over the world and the whole set up is quite amazing. Go early though, as it does get rammed at night, showing it's popularity. It's about the usual central London pricing, depending on what you're drinking.

Alls I know, it was cozy, got very very busy & was full of very happy England Rugby fans, and some very subdued New Zealand fans.

 

Well done England, well played.

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The 32nd Annual Christmas Pudding Race

What better way to start the silly season than watching a Christmas Pudding Race, held for Cancer Research in Covent Garden?

The relay/obstacle race track included a balloon Limbo, giant Jigsaw, letters to Santa, a blow-up slide, hanging baubles on the tree, a snowy Chicane and a balloon Limbo that needed to be popped by the Ivy on their Pudding. All whilst balancing a precarious plate of pudding on a tray.

 

Last years winners with their mascot and, er, the queen...

 

My personal vote for the best dressed goes to... Christmas Dinner, complete with actual Brussel Sprouts on her Brussel Sprout costume!

 

 

Santa and his Reindeer Crew look cute,

 

...but below their velour exteriors really mean business!

 

 

The racetrack was very able demonstrated by two of the 'unsigned' X-Factor boys & a tenor from La Boheme (So sorry, I didn't catch any of their names, but they were very good singing later).

 

 

Ever seen a Turkey, Batman and a group of rowdy Elves do a Zumba warm-up to "Hot hot hot"? There is nothing in the world quite like it.

 

 

Aaaaaaaand they're off!

 

  

Absoloute hats off to the contestants - it was absoloutely freezing, and a large group of them came up on the first train from Nottingham. Absoloute Kudos guys! Well worth all of the effort for the amazing fundraising.

Next year, I'm there, hopefully with a team if I can convince my friends & workmates. It's for SUCH a good cause - such a good cause, it got me doing a 5k earlier this year. This year I only learned about the pudding race 2 days before the actual race, much to my chagrin.

Please donate if you can, they are saving lives, and it's a cause dear to many peoples hearts, including mine.

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The Little Stranger

This psychological drama was a slow-burning page turner.

I read this on the recommendation of a fellow blogger - Kit at What a Peach! and I am SO glad I did.

It's subtle, delicious and mesmerising. Set just after WW2 in agricultural England, there is something not quite right about the Ayres family mansion. The author keeps you guessing all the way through, and I don't want to give away any spoilers.

The Little Stranger: Sarah Waters

The characters are good, if ever so slightly one-sided but the house almost becomes a character in it's own right, affecting those around it in so many ways. The lead character Dr Faraday is a local man whose mother worked many years ago in the house as a Nanny. (As I write these words, a strange smell of smoke arises in our home - no wait, that's the neighbours fireplace - never mind).

I have to use anothers words to sum this up - Tatiana from Goodreads; "Curious and deliciously ambiguous [in an] enigmatic way". Utterly perfect description.

(Please note any links to Amazon are through my Amazon Associates account, which means I make a little money (less than 5%) from any purchases made after clicking through these links. This helps support my book addiction, so if you are interested in buying the book, please click through the above Book & author link)

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