(no subject)

I just received a Google Alert for one of my books. Why is everything slightly hilarious in Latin?

ETA: It's today. Everything's just a bit amusing. For instance, there is a discussion on the PurpleZone (HarperVoyager fan area) on the best way of cooking vampire.

Jewish Christmas Pudding

My late grandmother's recipe, in her own words. By request. Let your eyes glaze and glide gently over this entry if you've seen the recipe before or if it offends your sensitivities.

Christmas Pudding (Medium Rich)

1 lb suet
¾ lb fine breadcrumbs
¾ lb brown sugar
¼ lb flour
1 lb sultanas
1 lb currants
¼ lb mixed peel
½ teaspoon mixed spice
a good pinch salt
1 lemon
4 eggs
½ pt beer or milk
½ gill brandy

Prepare all the ingredients. Sieve flour & mix with crumbs & finely chopped suet. Add fruit & chopped peel & grated rind of lemon & sugar. Mix in the beaten eggs, beer or milk. Stir well. Cover a clean & put away until next day. Add the brandy, turn into greased basins & cover with the greased paper & pudding cloths. Boil for 8 to 10 hrs. Remove the paper & cloths, let puddings cool & recover with fresh paper & dry cloths. Store in a cook, dry place. Boil for a further 2 hrs before serving.


Rum Cream for Plum Pudding
Whip cream and when nearly whipped add rum very slowly until sufficiently flavoured.

PS Please save your protests (last time I blogged this recipe I got into lots of trouble for suet, milk and for daring to suggest they belong in the same recipe). It's not kosher. It wasn't kosher when she wrote it down fifty years ago. The English side of the family probably mixed meat and milk before it came to Australia in the 1850s and only stopped (in patches) when more frum spouses made protest. My mother was one of those who never made this pudding, since she kept to the food laws far more rigorously than her mother-in-law. This is part of the gaudy tapestry that is Jewish food.

PPS If my 4 year-old neighbour feels he must knock on my door one more time in the next minute, I could be tempted to do something drastic. Four knocks ago, his mother said, tiredly "It's only us" but didn't drag him away. Two knocks ago it was "Alastair, no!" One more knock and I'm officially tired of answering the door (yet I must, in case it's something important). Cold water, perhaps?

(no subject)

Canberra people: is anyone free on Saturday night? There's a double Flynn feature at the NFSA and I dearly want to go and would rather not go alone. It's Lilacs in the Spring and Montana and starts at 7 pm. Tickets are $10 full price. We can have tea and coffee at my place afterwards, if you want.

We might need to phone ahead or book ahead - I'd need to check up on that. It's an old fashioned cinema, with red plush seats and wooden floor for the centre aisle, so we'd being seeing the movies in the same sort of cinema they were shown in when they were first released. I've always wanted to roll Jaffas down that aisle!

Note: There are shorts or something beforehand and ticket-buying, so it's really a 6.30 pm start. No advance booking needed.

(no subject)

I don't mean to write posts every other minute, but a link to the December Australian Spec Fic Blog Carnival hit my inbox and I thought you might like to see it.