Tag Archives: mince pies

In which the day improves

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This is the promised Part II, in which the day improves. The morning wasn’t too good but the day improved as it went on. The group has baked mince tarts and iced the cake, so the party food is underway.  Our fully-qualified and licensed Santa Substitute has collected the suit and is going to practice tonight (he has already grown his beard at the sides ready for the Big Day). I can’t post a photo of Santa yet as it will spoil the surprise.

Christmas Cake – iced and ready to go
Mince tarts

I managed to get a few Fieldfare photos, but with only one skittish individual as a subject it proved difficult. The bird was intent on eating hawthorn berries and when it was in the tree it was either moving or partially obscured by branches. When it was on the ground it spent most of the time in various hunched positions eyeing up berries. I did get a shot of a Yellowhammer, but it was small and blurred. It’s only the second one I’ve seen this winter, which is a bit annoying when you think they were regular visitors to the allotment during the summer.

Fieldfare and hawthorn berries
Fieldfare in tree
Fieldfare

And finally, after worrying that the guinea fowl had been absent all morning, they finally appeared, waddled across the yard and started to eat all the food under the bird feeders. I suppose it saves waste, but I’m not sure the Chaffinches were happy. A word of warning to the guinea fowl though, if people consider you good to eat it might be a good idea not to eat too much in the run up to Christmas.

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Guinea fowl on the prowl

Mince Pie masterclass

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It was Bread Group today, and with fifteen people plus instructors it was a bit of a crush in the kitchen. Who’d have thought it a couple of years ago? In those days we had to persuade friends and drag farm staff in to make numbers up.

The day that stands out most in my memory was the day the farmer persuaded one of his friends to send two daughters along. They seemed a little over-dressed when they arrived, but when I saw they were wearing acrylic nails (or what looked like acrylic nails) my heart sank.

I spent the whole session counting their nails as their hands emerged from mixing and kneading. They ended the day with ten each, and I relaxed.

Today, however, was a different sort of session – experienced bakers and keen beginners, with not a false nail in sight.

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Not only was it a session for the serious, but we were using a top-secret mince pie pastry from a shadowy German-trained specialist. These are, to use a Nottingham analogy, the Brough Superior of mince pies and they will be available at our Winterfest event on 5th December – I may have mentioned it once or twice before.

In general the day went as you would expect from shutting a large group of bakers into a poorly-ventilated room with four ovens and the fumes that rose from various home-made mincemeats. If you get one of the pies made from one of  “those” recipes you might want to consider not driving for a while. The level of joviality was high and there was much actual jollity in the room (though I managed to fight it off when I felt it creeping up on me). All in all, it was the first day of Christmas spirit I’ve experienced this year and a very enjoyable day. They even gave me a mince pie even though I was just there to take photos.

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There was a slight edge to the atmosphere, based on the fact that if you put down your bun tin for too long someone might purloin it (I speak from bitter experience of a session long ago – the scars are still with me), but this didn’t stop the production of large number of high quality mince pies, which are now shrink-wrapped and frozen in expectation of the big day.

I think it’s appropriate here, though I’m not one to get all touchy-feely about things, to say thanks to the Bread Group for their support, as some of them will be coming to help us out on the 5th. They always come to help with Open Farm Sunday too, and are very much the driving force when we need volunteers for event.

Apart from that there’s nothing….oh, you’d like the recipe?

Many people would, but sadly only the select few members of the Bread group are privy to that information.

Maybe next year…