Carbs and alcohol

in one neat little package.

Fresh out of the oven, I have just tested 2 of them, with lashings of cream, just to make sure they are OK. They met with my approval.

I make my own mincemeat - recipe varies every time I make it but the principles of it (because someone asked me) are:

250g Raisins
250g Sultanas
250g Currants
150 sliced almonds
1 teaspoon of cinnamon (powder)
1 teaspoon of nutmeg (powder)
25-50 grams crystallised ginger
Booze (in unspecified quantities)

I basically blast the sliced almonds in the blender until they turn into small bits. I then add all of the other ingredients, sometimes with a little soft dark brown sugar and about 3 fl oz of booze (this year was port and whisky) and blast it in the blender to the consistency that I like (not too many lumpy bits).

Alternatively, you could be less aggressive and stir the mixture up with a spoon. I like aggressive.

You could throw other things in e.g. cherries, figs, dates, candied peel, walnuts etc.

I then put the mix into a couple of kilner jars and then feed the mix with more alcohol every couple of days, as the fruit soaks it up rapidly. When I am ready to make a batch of pies, I add a little bit more alcohol just to loosen the mincemeat up a little. Or that's my story and I am sticking to it.

When the pies are made, I glaze them with an egg wash, then mix really fine castor sugar (about 2 tablespoons) in a bowl with ground cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg (about 1/2 teaspoon of each) - this mix gets sprinkled/dusted over the tops before they go into the oven to cook for 20 minutes at 180/200 degrees c (depends on how good your oven is - mine is rubbish!). They come out all golden brown and well glazed, and the whole kitchen smells of Christmas.

Last full day tomorrow, after another epic day of coursework with a different group of students. Some bridge burning eventually resulted in some bridge building and I hope a sense from one person that I actually do have some faith in them, rather than what they believed was my lack of belief. I get frustrated with youngsters sometimes, but there have been very very few in the past 17 years who I have completely lost all hope with/for. It hurts sometimes when they believe you to be less than you actually are - the intrinsic selfishness of youth, egocentric behaviour - it's to be expected, but it doesn't make it any less painful to take when as an adult you are treated unfairly. However, all was well in the end and I even got a smile when the outcome at the end of the day proved to the person in question that they too should have some faith in themselves. That balances out the tension...just difficult to wait for that moment when patience is wearing thin and standing up is very difficult!