I had thought that today might be a little quieter than of late and so I decided to bite the bullet and make the two chocolate logs. This annual nerve racking business is bad enough when I am making only one cake,today I had two to do. It was far too early to fortify myself with a stiff drink and so I made do with some strong coffee,gritted my teeth and off I went.
Both cakes passed through the sabayon stage without incident and both cooked perfectly. Then came the turning out and the rolling in sugared greased proof paper, both were soon safely rolled and cooling nicely but by now I was a total wreck!
Having made enough butter cream icing to Ice a thousand cup cakes and finding myself covered in powdered icing sugar I decided to go out for a change of air, to blow away the sugar and to deliver the last few Christmas cards to friends. On my way around the village I met a very good friend working on her allotment and asked her round for hot chocolate when she had finished. This done I delivered the cards and returned to the fray much refreshed.
Almost as soon as I arrived home a fried called and I was able to give her the bottle of lemon vodka which I had made especially for her. She has been very kind to us and often helps us to get the rubbish bags to the front of the house, a kindness which we appreciate very much .
Decorating the chocolate logs I in one way the easiest part of the job but oh boy is it messy?
Soon both I and the kitchen were besmirched with the blasted stuff and I knew that I should be cleaning it up long after the cakes were finished, and just as I had finished my friend arrived and it was hot chocolate all round topped with pink and white marsh mallows. We laughter d and talked and my son who is now a fully fledged member of our conservation group displayed the new blog site he has set up for our organisation ,complete with twitter.
Our friend was putting on er boots when there was a tapping on the window , one of our neighbours from further down the lane. I had not seen her for some time as she has been out of the country and I was pleased to see haw well and happy she looked as she has been unwell for some time. She is both young and pretty and is a very talented artist, I have watched her grow from a shy little girl into a lovely and gifted young woman.
While she sampled a little of our home made raspberry vodka I packed the usual hamper of goodies , jams, chutneys and so on , this has become a tradition as she and her family spend Christmas with relatives in the north of England. She had brought for us a wonderful gift. A large bottle of olive oil from pressed from olives grown by their family in Italy. It is wonderful stuff and it is impossible to purchase oil of such fine quality.
She also gave to me a small painting which she had done recently. It as been about a year since I saw any of her work, this latest painting showed how she had grown as an artist and it made me very happy. She used to be unsure of herself, a problem common in artists, but as my own training was originally in Fine Arts I could see in the beginning that she had a rare talent. It is wonderful now to see how accomplished she has become,yet hers is a talent that will continue to grow and one day that young lady will make her mark upon the world in no uncertain terms I am sure.
After she left we realised that we were all starving and that we were very late with our evening meal so I began to griddle some panchetta and eggs and to grill the oat cakes and fry the tomatoes. Half way through this another neighbour arrived to pick up some mail tat had been left with us and also to collect the other chocolate log so recently completed. I turned down the heat and asked him it he would like to stay and eat with us which he often does. This time though he had a meal waiting at home ans so having accepted a breakfast invitation he set of with his cake and his parcels in to to dark drizzly night.
We sat down to our meal with a sigh of relief and for a while we were so busy eating that no one spoke, and then we all began to talk at once which made us laugh.
This bout of baking completes my Christmas cake making and I shall give the kitchen a thorough scrub tomorrow in readiness for the cooking of the turkey and the other Christmas meats.
I think now that a bath would be a good idea and then with luck an early night. The house has been a happy place today full of friendship and laughter, light and warmth, almost as if the spirit of Christmas had arrived as a guest too, I know that I shall remember today always and fondly as one of the nicest days ever. In fact this whole week has been a joy, something to shine out in the memory for always.
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