In the Bleak Midwinter / Christmas in England
Enduring the Darkest Days of the Year
As I write this, we have just turned the corner on the seasons, with the shortest day of the year having taken place last Saturday. Here in Suffolk, we are just a bit north of the Latitude in Vancouver, BC. At this time of year, the sun doesn't rise until about 8am and sets about 4pm - on cloudy days it can feel quite dark throughout the whole of the day. All of us leave the house in darkness and return in the dark as well. It is a good time for sitting on the sofa in our warm house and reading, watching television, playing games etc. I have noticed that I am cooking more soups, stews, roasts and pastas as the days grow darker and colder.
I have enjoyed watching the change of seasons and the differences in colour and light this year. After a grey and rainy summer, we have had a really lovely autumn. As I drive down the A12 to work every morning there is one point in the route where I crest a hill and have a gorgeous view across the valley of a very pastoral landscape - cultivated fields and pastures and woods, with old church towers scattered here and there. In the spring and early summer the view is golden, as much of the land is planted in rapeseed (canola) and when it blooms the landscape is filled with squares of bright yellow flowers separated by ancient hedgerows.
In the autumn the fields are brown where they have been turned over and gold where the stubble of wheat and barley remain after the harvest. The sky is often a lovely sharp, bright blue, all of this punctuated by the red and gold of the turning leaves.
As we have drifted into winter, the fields are covered in a silver frost and the trees and towers are wreathed in the early morning mists, transforming the landscape so that it appears soft and grey and dreamlike. As the rural areas of the country have, at least from a distance, changed little over the years, it is not hard to imagine that I am seeing the countryside as it has appeared for centuries, even has I hurtle though it on a modern motorway in a vehicle traveling at 70mph!
Christmas in England
You may not be aware that during the Cromwell years in England, the traditional feasts and merrymaking of Christmastime were outlawed. Once Oliver Cromwell was ousted and disposed of, an effort was made to reinstate some of the old customs, in part because it was felt that an annual period of feasting and celebration would pacify the working / peasant class and leave them less likely to revolt.
The other big influences on modern celebration of the holidays are the Victorian Christmas customs as celebrated by the royal family (who popularised the decorated Christmas tree) and as described by Charles Dickens as in A Christmas Carol.
What I have noticed most of all is that Christmas appears to be a time for eating lots of pig in many guises. As far as I can tell, the traditional turkey is merely a means of conveying more pork into the belly. As evidence, I offer the following:
The turkey is stuffed with ground pork, lightened with breadcrumbs and flavoured with any combination of chestnuts, dried fruit, herbs and spices. Alongside the turkey, a traditional side dish is chipolatas (skinny pork sausages) wrapped in bacon. Then stuffing balls, also wrapped in bacon, may be served. Appetizers may have included sausage rolls or miniature pork pies. I rest my case.
A British Christmas dinner is not complete without bread sauce - a sort of milky, nutmeggy sauce thickened with bread crumbs. One restaurant critic has likened it in appearance and texture to cat sick and I do not disagree. Also served are brussel sprouts, roasted parsnip, and roasted potatoes; these are parboiled and shaken up a bit to roughen up the flesh, then roasted in goose fat with herbs and spices until crispy outside and steaming and fluffy inside. That bit actually sounds quite good and I am making some tonight to serve with a beef and mushroom stew. Goose fat is sold in tins at the grocery store. The main course is followed by cheese (always including Stilton) and port.
Dessert consists of any or all of the following: more cheese, Christmas Pudding with hard sauce or brandy butter or brandy cream, Yule Log, Mince Pies, Christmas Cake (an iced fruit cake). I bought a couple of puddings this year - Christmas pudding because really, I felt we had to give it a go (although Mike and Sarah will probably not like it that much filled as it is with spice and dried fruit - though I will endeavor to set the brandy alight when I serve the pudding and that should be crowd pleaser), and a butterscotch and pecan pudding. I have also been hoovering my way through some packets of mince pies with brandy (in the pies, not separately, although now I think of it, a spot of brandy isn't a bad idea really!)
Because it is just the three of us, and because my refrigerator is merely dorm-size, and because a turkey will not actually fit in my small oven, we will not be having a traditional British Christmas dinner this year. Instead we will have lasagna with salad and garlic bread and THEN Christmas Pudding.
As for the rest of the week, we will be joining in the great British tradition of eating lots of rich foods and watching the holiday specials on the telly. I will enjoy my time away from the office and Sarah will enjoy whinging that she has nothing to do - this in spite of the loads of gifts received from her birthday and Christmas. We will also be going to the cinema a few times to see the new movies that we have not had the opportunity to see so far.
Finally, I am still trying to make arrangements for the three of us to go with friends to see a Pantomime - a uniquely British holiday tradition, usually involving some grown men dressed as women and vamping it up in a very loose version of Cinderella or Snow White or Aladdin etc. The British seem to find men in dresses hilarious and do not consider crossdressing in this context un-masculine or indicative of an alternative sexual preference. No doubt some academic sort has written about this in excruciating detail, so I won't natter on.
Anyway - our Christmas wishes to all of our friends and family - as we enjoy our fairly non-traditional day I hope that your holiday, however you celebrate it, is merry (and includes some tasty food and drink as well!).
Love,
Margo
As I write this, we have just turned the corner on the seasons, with the shortest day of the year having taken place last Saturday. Here in Suffolk, we are just a bit north of the Latitude in Vancouver, BC. At this time of year, the sun doesn't rise until about 8am and sets about 4pm - on cloudy days it can feel quite dark throughout the whole of the day. All of us leave the house in darkness and return in the dark as well. It is a good time for sitting on the sofa in our warm house and reading, watching television, playing games etc. I have noticed that I am cooking more soups, stews, roasts and pastas as the days grow darker and colder.
I have enjoyed watching the change of seasons and the differences in colour and light this year. After a grey and rainy summer, we have had a really lovely autumn. As I drive down the A12 to work every morning there is one point in the route where I crest a hill and have a gorgeous view across the valley of a very pastoral landscape - cultivated fields and pastures and woods, with old church towers scattered here and there. In the spring and early summer the view is golden, as much of the land is planted in rapeseed (canola) and when it blooms the landscape is filled with squares of bright yellow flowers separated by ancient hedgerows.
In the autumn the fields are brown where they have been turned over and gold where the stubble of wheat and barley remain after the harvest. The sky is often a lovely sharp, bright blue, all of this punctuated by the red and gold of the turning leaves.
As we have drifted into winter, the fields are covered in a silver frost and the trees and towers are wreathed in the early morning mists, transforming the landscape so that it appears soft and grey and dreamlike. As the rural areas of the country have, at least from a distance, changed little over the years, it is not hard to imagine that I am seeing the countryside as it has appeared for centuries, even has I hurtle though it on a modern motorway in a vehicle traveling at 70mph!
Christmas in England
You may not be aware that during the Cromwell years in England, the traditional feasts and merrymaking of Christmastime were outlawed. Once Oliver Cromwell was ousted and disposed of, an effort was made to reinstate some of the old customs, in part because it was felt that an annual period of feasting and celebration would pacify the working / peasant class and leave them less likely to revolt.
The other big influences on modern celebration of the holidays are the Victorian Christmas customs as celebrated by the royal family (who popularised the decorated Christmas tree) and as described by Charles Dickens as in A Christmas Carol.
What I have noticed most of all is that Christmas appears to be a time for eating lots of pig in many guises. As far as I can tell, the traditional turkey is merely a means of conveying more pork into the belly. As evidence, I offer the following:
The turkey is stuffed with ground pork, lightened with breadcrumbs and flavoured with any combination of chestnuts, dried fruit, herbs and spices. Alongside the turkey, a traditional side dish is chipolatas (skinny pork sausages) wrapped in bacon. Then stuffing balls, also wrapped in bacon, may be served. Appetizers may have included sausage rolls or miniature pork pies. I rest my case.
A British Christmas dinner is not complete without bread sauce - a sort of milky, nutmeggy sauce thickened with bread crumbs. One restaurant critic has likened it in appearance and texture to cat sick and I do not disagree. Also served are brussel sprouts, roasted parsnip, and roasted potatoes; these are parboiled and shaken up a bit to roughen up the flesh, then roasted in goose fat with herbs and spices until crispy outside and steaming and fluffy inside. That bit actually sounds quite good and I am making some tonight to serve with a beef and mushroom stew. Goose fat is sold in tins at the grocery store. The main course is followed by cheese (always including Stilton) and port.
Dessert consists of any or all of the following: more cheese, Christmas Pudding with hard sauce or brandy butter or brandy cream, Yule Log, Mince Pies, Christmas Cake (an iced fruit cake). I bought a couple of puddings this year - Christmas pudding because really, I felt we had to give it a go (although Mike and Sarah will probably not like it that much filled as it is with spice and dried fruit - though I will endeavor to set the brandy alight when I serve the pudding and that should be crowd pleaser), and a butterscotch and pecan pudding. I have also been hoovering my way through some packets of mince pies with brandy (in the pies, not separately, although now I think of it, a spot of brandy isn't a bad idea really!)
Because it is just the three of us, and because my refrigerator is merely dorm-size, and because a turkey will not actually fit in my small oven, we will not be having a traditional British Christmas dinner this year. Instead we will have lasagna with salad and garlic bread and THEN Christmas Pudding.
As for the rest of the week, we will be joining in the great British tradition of eating lots of rich foods and watching the holiday specials on the telly. I will enjoy my time away from the office and Sarah will enjoy whinging that she has nothing to do - this in spite of the loads of gifts received from her birthday and Christmas. We will also be going to the cinema a few times to see the new movies that we have not had the opportunity to see so far.
Finally, I am still trying to make arrangements for the three of us to go with friends to see a Pantomime - a uniquely British holiday tradition, usually involving some grown men dressed as women and vamping it up in a very loose version of Cinderella or Snow White or Aladdin etc. The British seem to find men in dresses hilarious and do not consider crossdressing in this context un-masculine or indicative of an alternative sexual preference. No doubt some academic sort has written about this in excruciating detail, so I won't natter on.
Anyway - our Christmas wishes to all of our friends and family - as we enjoy our fairly non-traditional day I hope that your holiday, however you celebrate it, is merry (and includes some tasty food and drink as well!).
Love,
Margo
posted by Margo Nelson at 3:13 am
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