A White Christmas

With Christmas only a matter of weeks away now, you might want to start thinking about what you're going to feed all your guests this year. Well, why not make all their Christmases white with this simple recipe for a delicious festive treat from down under?

White Christmas

250g vegetable shortening
1 cup rice crispies
1 cup shredded coconut
¾ cup icing sugar
1 cup powdered milk
¾ cup toasted almond kernels
30g mixed peel
30g preserved ginger
30g glace apricots
30g glace pineapple
30g sultanas
50g glace cherries

Place the coconut, icing sugar, powered milk, mixed fruit, nuts, cherries (all chopped coarsely), and the rice crispies into a bowl and mix well.

Warm the vegetable shortening gently until melted and then pour over the ingredients. Mix well and place in a airtight container and set in the fridge.

Serve sliced into fingers.

Enjoy!


You'll find more recipes like this in What is Myrrh Anyway? and Christmas Miscellany - both available now!

Have yourself a very Dickens Christmas!

The Dickens Christmas Market is open now at Rochester Castle and runs until 15th December 2013. It will take place in the Castle grounds during the Dickensian Christmas Festival to create what may well be one of the largest 'authentic' German Style Christmas market in the UK. It will feature German-style Christmas chalets, a giant Christmas tree, bandstand, and carousel. The castle walls will be illuminated and the entire market will be decorated in festive tradition to ensure that visitors experience a truly spectacular Christmas atmosphere.

Charles Dickens is famous of course for practically creating the Christmas we know today in his festive classic A Christmas Carol, published on 17 December 1843, and which he completed in only six weeks! But A Christmas Carol wasn’t the only festive-themed story that Dickens penned. His other Christmas Books include The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846) and The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain (1848).

Pinch, punch, first of the month

Pinch, punch, first of the month - and no returns!

Yes, it's 1 December and day one of The Chrismologist's Advent calendar.

December was the tenth month of the Roman calendar (decem meaning ten). The Anglo-Saxons referred to it as both Winter Monath and Yule Monath, but after many of them were converted to Christianity it became known as Heligh Monath or 'holy month'.

1 December itself, is the feast day of Saint Eligius, the patron saint of goldsmiths and other metalworkers (including blacksmiths), who died on this day AD 660.

The following legends are often linked to Saint Dunstan, another smithying saint, but have also been applied to Saint Eligius.

The Saint, formerly a blacksmith was working at his forge when the Devil paid him a visit, disguised as a beautiful woman, with a view to leading him astray. However the Saint spotted the cloven hooves beneath the dress, and grabbed the devil's nose with his red hot pincers! Thus foiling Satan's evil intentions.

According to another legend, Satan returned again as a weary traveller in need of a horseshoe. The Saint saw through the disguise once again and beat the Devil until he pleaded for mercy, and swore never to enter any house with a horseshoe above the door.

So now you know.

Never mind Christmas in July. How about Christmas in August?

What are you doing on this sunny summer's afternoon? Relaxing in the garden? Enjoying a cold pint in your local's beer garden? Putting up your Christmas tree almost four months early?

You may laugh, but that's exactly what's happening in Kingston-upon-Thames today (28 August!). And here's the proof...

"Happy Christmas!" from Cadbury

The US owners of Cadbury have been criticised for scrapping the annual Christmas gift boxes they used to send to thousands of retired staff, in order to cut costs. Mondelez International, which has taken over the brand, has written to retired workers telling them the festive offerings are being axed to help plug a £320m pensions deficit. Cadbury previously sent out 14,000 parcels each Christmas, containing chocolate and sweets for former staff. It is thought to be saving about £210,000 annually by abandoning the tradition.

However, in April it was revealed that Irene Rosenfeld, the Mondelez chief executive behind the takeover of Cadbury, had been awarded a 31.5% pay rise increasing her pay package from £14.4m to £18.9m.

To read more about this story, click this link.

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