We had Frank, Lyndol, Peter, Carol, Raven & Iain over for Christmas dinner this year.  George & I prepared a pork roast and the others brought various side dishes.  As usual, everything was delicious.  After everyone had a chance to digest a little, we brought out the Plum Pudding George's mother had prepared and given to us when we were in Dublin in August.  (Frank and Lyndol bring the holly sprig from their tree every year.)  George heated up the brandy and poured it over the pudding while everyone ooh'd and aah'd over the flames.

We served the plum pudding with brandy butter and whipped cream.

George finished the Christmas Fruit Cake today.  The cake is so huge that the only thing large enough to hold it is the pizza stone which George covered in aluminum foil.  I told him that we would be getting a 10" pan for next year's cake as his mother's cakes always fit on our cake plate.

George rolled out his home-made marzipan and laid it over the cake.

He then spread the cooked hard icing over the cake.



It needs to sit for awhile for the icing to harden.  We'll be serving it on Christmas Day at our dinner party.

In the past, when George's mother Ethna has sent us a Christmas Cake, we've gone out to buy marzipan which George would then roll out and lay over the cake before frosting it with a cooked hard icing.  George decided this year to make marzipan from scratch.

He had to blanche the almonds (I helped him remove the skins), then ground the almonds, then cooked up the sugar syrup and finally mixed the ground almonds with the sugar syrup.

When it was all done, George stated that he will NEVER do that again.  The marzipan needs to sit in the fridge for a few days before he can put it on the cake.  Meanwhile George has been regularly pouring whiskey (some inexpensive stuff I picked up at the liquor store) over the cake to keep it moist.

I'm finished with knitting Fake Isle hats for now.  I've knitted 9 of them since May.  I got these done just in time to give to Robin and Kal Kaufman at games night on Thursday.  We won't be having another games night until after the new year.

I love the colours of Kal's hat, especially the greens right at the rib brim.  Robin's worked out pretty good with chocolate brown as the motif colour.  I'm going to continue knitting hats, but do different styles.

We usually get a tradition Irish Christmas Cake from George's mother every year.  I have never cared for fruit cake until I had my mother-in-law's.  This year Ethna didn't make any cakes so George decided to use her recipe, which he's had for years, and make his own.  He had to make several substitutions for dried fruit the recipe calls for but that isn't available in the US.  Here's a quick photo essay of the cake.

George soaked the fruit in the good whiskey as we didn't have any inexpensive stuff in the house.  George let it sit for several days so all the whiskey was absorbed into the fruit.


George was convince that his mother used a huge pan for this cake so I ended up getting a 12" round pan at a restaurant supply house. Following directions over the phone from his mother in Capetown, SA, George lined it with lots of parchment paper.


Mixing up the batter in the Kitchenaid.  George called his mother in Capetown because the recipe just said "add eggs".  She had forgotten to write down how many eggs in the recipe she gave him over 12 years ago.


Blending the fruit and batter in the biggest bowl in the house.


Filling the pan.  The cake has a milk mixture poured over it.


The cake got very high while baking and then cooled to this.  George was very proud of himself.  We both thought the cake smelled delicious.

George & I went to visit his friend Muhsin and his family yesterday evening.  Eda, the baby, is growing fast as is Janelle who is almost 5.  George had fun playing with Eda while I spent time playing hide-and-seek with Janelle.  Banu and Muhsin both look completely exhausted, but also very happy with their girls.

Janelle, Emma, George & Eda