Of Course, There’s Always A Story

Of course, there’s always a story with me. Especially at this festive time of year.

As we say goodbye to 2025, I’d like to dedicate this post to you. Thank you for all your support this year. For reading my posts and for reading and sharing Never, Never, Hardly Ever – A Mother/ Daughter Story of Antiques and Antics. It means the world to me. Thank you.

Of Course, There’s Always A Story

As some of you know, I’m in charge of making the Christmas pudding. What’s that? Think Christmas cake but steamed. It’s a dessert consisting of raisins, sultanas, mixed candied peel, currants, orange peel, butter, eggs, flour, lashings of brandy, orange juice, a dollop of jam, some maple syrup and, in my case,  sanitized dimes. ***Yes, dimes***  Butter a small pudding bowl, place a circle of parchment in the bottom and hurl in the mixed ingredients. Dimes and all. Now, get a large pot. Put a cloth on the bottom, pour in some boiling water. Plop some parchment paper on top of the pudding bowl, tie a string tightly around the parchment and place in this pot.

So, yesterday, I made the pudding. Everything went fairly smoothly. Mind you, I didn’t have quite enough brandy (which the youngsters will appreciate), the apricot jam date had expired so I substituted with strawberry, and I might have used too big an orange which means too much juice … however, I’ve found over the past 45 years that Christmas pudding is quite forgiving.

Of Course, There’s Always A Story

Yes, Virginia, I’m aware I’ve used the same headline multiple times.

Still with me? Thank you.

So, yesterday. A wee problem arose when I went to secure the layer of parchment on top of the mixture in the bowl. The string wouldn’t tighten. My son usually provides his finger to hold down the string during the tying process. But he arrives later today – I hope he arrives later today – there’s a windstorm in the forecast and his ferry might be cancelled, so fingers crossed.

When the string continued to refuse to tighten, I had a brilliant idea. An elastic band. Excellent. It worked like a hot damn.

Boom. Bowl in water, more boiling water added, and lid on.

Now all you need do is gently simmer this lot for the next six hours. Add water as needed.

Then, just before dishing up, dim the lights, pour rum brandy or any high octane booze into a spoon. Heat spoon until liquid catches fire and pour fire over pudding. Failing that, carefully pour booze directly on pudding and light. You might want a fire blanket handy, in that case.

Of Course, There’s Always A Story

I was doing the dishes when I heard a pop. Not a loud pop like a cork from a wine bottle, but a subtle pop like when your knee cracks when you tie your shoe. That kind of pop.

Curious, I lifted the lid of the of the pot. Oh my word. Houston, we have a problem. The elastic band (it was blue and I immediately thought of Bridget Jones and her blue string soup) had snapped, taking with it not only the string (yes, I’d left the sad puppy on) but also a good deal of the parchment. Just TypiKel. Absolutely classic. Of course, the bowl is third degree burns level hot. But needs must. I layered up the oven mitts, reached in and retrieved the pot. Can you say, “soupy mess?”

I waited impatiently for the pudding bowl to cool down to handling temperature. It took a bit but I finally was able to begin slapping on a new piece of parchment and spent the next few minutes fiddling with the string. Blessings. I finally got the damn thing attached securely.

I ramped up the heat and brought her to a boil. Indulge me here, please, and have a gander.

Impressive, no?

So, six hours later … may I present …

And, because I’m feeling a bit cheeky (and rushing this post as I have to leave for gym class in less than 30 minutes – please excuse any typos. I’ll fix ’em when I get back) I’ll subtly drop this one in.

Pssst … there’s still time to order a copy of NNHE from Amazon. Or pick up a copy from Vancouver Island’s Ivy’s Bookshop, Bolen Books,  South Shore Gallery, and Comox’s Blue Heron Books.

So, what does a Christmas pudding look like when dressed? Here’s a photo from last year:

And at the table:

If you are lucky to tuck into a Christmas pudding this year, mind the dimes.

And seriously, please know I’m grateful for you and thank you for following along with me on this writing journey. You’re the best.

Wishing you the very best wishes for the season and for 2026.