Monday 24 December 2012

On the off chance....,

....that anyone is still reading Blogs at this ridiculous hour on Christmas Eve when, by rights, you should be grumpily peeling sprouts and wrapping the last of the gifts you bought your other half 6 months ago but forgot about and just found at the back of the wardrobe.  Now all that's left is a patchwork of High Street Musical and Bob the Builder wrapping paper so tough tits, Shah.

As ever, I am struggling with Christmas.  When the distant past only ever produced massive emphasis on the religious aspects and little of material cheer (childhood) and the more recent past the shitty presents that the Shah thought hilarious, can you blame me? 

Anyway, I am trying my hardest.  Far too disorganised to buy a Yule Log when they were available in the shops, daughter and I resorted to making one earlier this evening.  We had a choice of Mary Berry or Lorraine Pascal.  We went with Lorraine - I'm a big fan.  Unfortunately, I am not a big baker and our first effort turned out like a rubber biscuit with a texture that meant it took hours to masticate (steady...) a mouthful.  When it came out of the oven, it looked like this:-
A bit on the biscuity side...
"Never mind," i said to disappointed daughter.  "It'll be fine when we roll it."

Ahem...
So in the bin with Lorraine's effort (and I followed the bleedin' instructions to the letter) and we started again with good old Mary's recipe.  This version is looking more promising:-
This is it cooling.

Then it got iced.
And the final result...
By this time, I had lost the will to live with it all, so the credit should go to daughter's artistic efforts with a fork, roughing up the icing and sprinkling the "snow".

Happy Christmas to everyone who has taken the time to stop by and read my humble bloggette.  Thank you all - see you in 2013!

CQ x

16 comments:

  1. I'd post a pic of my yule log, which is sitting in the log basket beside the fire - but you can't put pictures in comments, or at least I can't.

    Happy Christmas, and please keep on blogging!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Tim! I hope you have a great Christmas and New Year!

      Delete
  2. Whatever am i doing sitting here with only minutes to go before Santa arrives?! But you always make me smile so thank you - have a great Christmas & the log looks yummy x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will report back on the proof of the pudding, Jay. Meanwhile, I hope Santa brings you everything you wish for!

      Delete
  3. Happy Christmas to you. Love your efforts - far superior to mine! Hope it's. A great year and we manage to get together aggain X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anya - I bet you've had a brilliant time with little ones in the house! Hope to see you again soon x

      Delete
  4. It's chocolate! And there will have been sherry already. What's not to like! Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Too right Macy - tons of chocolate and plenty of booze. Happy hic-mas!

      Delete
  5. The log is smashing and the kitchen looks gorgeous ... Happy Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thankyou Libby - Happy Christmas to you too x

      Delete
  6. Did you stuff it with something (pair of old socks, cuddly toy, brandy cream - more brandy than cream - last year's crap present from the Shah)?

    It looks a great effort for Xmas Eve - I'm very impressed!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it got stuffed - with yet more chocolate ( the Shah's old socks don't bear thinking about), so now it's about 500 calories a mouthful. Yum yum!

      Delete
  7. Chocolate logs taste great whatever their texture - and it looks good to me! (Though I shall take note that Lorraine's didn't work - Eldest used a Nigella recipe.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hope Nigella turned out well HF - report back and I might try that one out next year!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Can't help laughing at your first attempt at the Yule log! And I do hope your readers click on the shitty presents link for a very funny blog post. I thought my own husband was cack at present buying but your man takes the biscuit (or is it a stiff log?)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you Trish - the fist attempt was truly dire bit it did get better. As for presents, it's probably best not to mention the term 'stiff log' anywhere near the Shah!

    ReplyDelete

Oh go on - say something for God's sake...