Bring us Some Figgy Pudding

This is the time of year to start thinking about your Christmas Pudding. (What? You don't all make Christmas pudd? Shame on you.) I probably would've made mine this weekend, but we were away. We spent the weekend with the Music Man's family following the passing of his Uncle, whose funeral was yesterday.

The thing about Christmas pudd is that the longer it has to cure, the better it tastes. Some people make it already in September. I figure about two months is good enough. The other thing about it is that it is an all day job. So, I didn't make one last year with a newborn around, but I will do my best this year. We'll see...

Here is the recipe I use for my Christmas Pudding. I got it from a magazine when we lived in Scotland. My favourite thing about it was that in the magazine it called it a four step recipe. Ha ha. You'll see what I mean.

4 oz self raising flour
1 level tsp mixed spice
3 oz fresh white bread crumbs
1 oz flaked almonds
12 oz mixed dried fruit
1 tart dessert apple, peeled, cored and coarsely grated
2 large eggs
grated rind and juice from 1 lemon
1 Tbsp black treacle
6 oz light muscovado sugar
4 oz butter
2 Tbsp brandy or rum plus extra for flaming
salt

1.2 litre/2 pint pudding basin

1. Sift flour and spice with a pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl. Add bread crumbs, almonds, mixed fruit and apple. In a small bowl combine eggs, lemon rind and juice and treacle. Warm sugar and butter in a sauce pan until melted.

2. Add egg mixture and butter mixture to dry ingredients. Cover with a cloth and allow to stand 1 hour. Mix again. Butter pudding basin. Spoon in mixture and spread level. Cover with buttered baking parchment, pleated. Cover with pleated foil and secure with a string. make a string handle to help remove basin from pot.

3. Place pudding on a trivet or upturned saucer in a deep sauce pan. Add boiling water to come a third of the way up the basin. Cover with lid and bring to boil. Simmer gently for 6 hours topping up with water as needed.

4. Let the pudding cool completely. Remove coverings. Spoon over brandy or rum. Recover with fresh, unbuttered baking parchment. Seal well and store somewhere cool and dry. Before serving, let the pudding come to room temperature recover with buttered baking parchment and foil. Secure as before and steam for a further 2 hours. Remove covering and invert the pudding on serving dish. Warm brandy or rum in a metal ladle over a candle. When it is warm carefully tip the ladle to let the flame lick over the side. Pour flaming brandy/rum over the pudding.

See, it's easy. And only four steps! Here are some extra tips from my own experience.

*if you don't have self-raising flour - for one cup use 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp baking soda
*I don't know if you can get "mixed spice" as such in North America. I brought some with me from Scotland and it will be used up this year. I don't know the proportions, but it is a mix of cinnamon, coriander, caraway, nutmeg, cloves.
*Same with "mixed dried fruit". I use sultanas, currants, prunes, dates and a bit of candied peel.
*treacle = molasses
*I just use regular brown sugar.
*I make a double recipe. It is so soft that you can squish it back into the basin and serve it again at the next gathering looking like new.
*Oh yeah, a pudding basin is a deep bowl with a rim that you can tie a string around.
*The fridge is a good place to store it, if you can spare the space.
*Make sure you turn down the lights when you bring in the blue, flaming pudding!

This is a tradition that we started when we lived in Scotland. I look forward to the time when our kids can all help on pudding day.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The most important step is to make a wish as you stir the pudding!

Let's get the ball rolling

even further.

Again, because I can, I choose to tag two more people for my brand new Music Meme. Okay Pieces and Chaotic Joy, let's see what you have to say on the matter...

Because I Can

And thus marking the point of no return in my foray into Blogdom. I am starting a meme. (I don't know if there has been one like this going around. If there has, I have not seen it.)

Here we go.....

The MUSIC MEME!

What song is in your head?
Well, not at this exact moment, but for the last couple of weeks it has been "Between My Legs" by Rufus Wainwright, from Release The Stars.
"But when the rocket ships all fall
and the bridges they all buckle
and everybody's packing up their station wagons
There's a number you can call
like a breast that you can suckle
and we quietly will exit as it all is happening."

What is the newest album in your collection?
Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens. It arrived from Amazon yesterday.

What is the top album on your wish list?
Three Musical Fables by John Rutter. Including The Reluctant Dragon, Brother Heinrich's Christmas and The Wind in the Willows. This follows a discussion with another blogger about Michaelmas celebrations and things pertaining to the story of St. George and the Dragon.

What is the most recent live music event you have attended?
My High School's concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Choir Program.

What is the top live music event on your wish list?
I would love to see Over The Rhine on their Trumpet Child tour. Unfortunately the closest they will be to us, as far as I can tell, is Minneapolis. And while before Monkey there would have been a small chance of us driving 6 1/2 hours for a concert, there is no chance of that now.

What are the top three albums currently in rotation at your house?
1. Release the Stars - Rufus Wainwright
2. The Trumpet Child - Over the Rhine (I have been meaning to post a review of this album. But now it is almost two months old.)
3. The Corner Grocery Store - Raffi (on cassette from the thrift store. Score.)


Okay! That was fun.
I will tag the following...

Karen from Needs New Batteries. I am new to her blog and will be interested in her answers.
Juris Mommy. I don't actually know that much about her, so here we go.
Bren J. from Stranger in a Stranger Land and
Brenda from The Ones With the Baby. They are virtual twins, so lets see if any of their answers are the same.

(you guys can feel free to tag as few or as many people as you like. Have fun!)

I got my Baking badge!

I have to show off a bit now that I have recovered from Monkey's birthday parties. (Yes, two parties. Friday with his "friends" [my friends and their kids] and Saturday with our families. He had all his grandparents, great-grandparents and one uncle at his party. It was great.)

My "best bit" from his party was bringing in the cake. I was so proud of it. I got the pattern from this great book.



My mom made cakes out of this book when we were kids. In particular I remember the Angel and the Baseball Glove. So, because Monkey loves dogs I chose to make "Woofy Dog." I think he turned out pretty good, don't you?

I made a standard chocolate cake recipe from my trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. The dark spots are chocolate covered coconut. The lines are black licorice. The whole cake is covered in butter icing and coconut, so he looks furry. Thanks to Music Man for helping to decorate it. It was the best cake ever.


Now we are recovering from parties, realizing we now have a one-year-old and eagerly anticipating Monkey's first steps (which seem to be only days away.)

One Year Ago Today (and tomorrow...)

It was a Thursday evening, shortly after 9. I was in my pajamas and on my way to bed, nine months pregnant and very tired. The Music Man was watching tv, likely baseball playoffs. I sat down with him for a couple of minutes until I felt a very strong urge to go to the bathroom. I sat on the toilet for a minute but nothing happened and the feeling passed. I sat back down in front of the tv. In a couple of minutes the urge hit again. This happened a couple of times before I realized that perhaps it was something other than the bizarre urge to poo. By the time we realized that I might be in labour it was feeling more like the way I expected contractions to feel, except not this strong and not this fast. By the end of the first half hour they were coming about every four minutes.

The Music Man phoned our doula and the hospital and they both said to wait a bit longer but if the contractions continued at that rate to go in right away. I was frantically busy doing the things that I was planning to do during the hours of labour at home. "It's your first baby," everyone said, "your labour will be long." I needed to pack food for the hospital (everything else was packed already.) I needed to shave my legs (in retrospect this was not a need, and I will skip this step next time if I have to.) There I was,in the tub, trying to shave my legs between contractions that were coming every three or four minutes. The Music Man chose some clothes for me to wear when I got out of the tub, and as soon as we could we were out the door.

By this time it was nearly 11 o'clock. It was very dark and very windy. The 15 minute drive to the hospital seemed very long and I had about five contractions on the way. When we got there we parked in the 15 minute loading zone and went inside to register. I was standing at the front desk trying to sign forms while having contractions. They asked me if I wanted a wheelchair, but I wanted to walk to the maternity ward. When we got upstairs we checked in at maternity. The first nurse we talked to asked when my labour had started. "Around 9:30, " I said. "This evening? And this is your first baby?" she asked, with a look that said, "What are you doing here? Go home, you've hours to go yet." They put me in an LDR room and told me to put on a gown, which I did with Music Man's help. Another nurse came in to strap the monitor to my belly. She was the nurse who had given us our tour of the ward during our prenatal classes. (I think her name was Corine)

After 1/2 hour Corine confirmed that my contractions were coming fast and strong. Another nurse came in to do a vaginal exam. She told us that I was 8 cm dilated but that it was a bum coming first. Corine checked and confirmed a breech presentation. Now we were facing a c-section. This was a possibility I wasn't entirely prepared for. We had a birth plan and a doula. We were prepared for birth and doing everything in our power to prevent any unnecessary interventions. According to my last appointment the baby was head down and ready to go. My doctor and the on-call obstetrician came in. My doctor confirmed breech, but the other doctor (a man) said, "No, that's a face." No one else agreed with him, but even if that had been the case they would've suggested a c-section. My doctor began to explain the procedure to me, stopping every minute or so to let me have a contraction. I was getting impatient and felt like saying "I can still listen while I'm having a contraction. Get on with it." Looking back, I am pretty sure that I was in transition at that time.

During all of my contractions The Music Man was amazing. He held my hand and sang me "Summertime" which was the song he sang to my belly before bed when I was pregnant. He got me through and I was able to breathe through my contractions, even when I was barely getting a break between them. I am confident that if I had been able to deliver vaginally we would have made it through labour with no medication.

They took me to the OR while the Music Man got his gown and mask on. The anesthesiologist was wonderful. He put me at ease as he prepared to give me the epidural. (He was the best doctor I dealt with through the whole thing.) The on-call obs. was the surgeon who performed the section. The Music Man was beside me holding my hand through the whole thing. I think he even watched a little bit. When they had the baby out they announced "It's a boy" and held him up for me to see. At which point I cried. (oh, and the women made "I told you so" faces at the surgeon when they saw that the baby was, in fact, breech.) Only they didn't hold him high enough, so the Music Man reached out to hold the curtain down for me to see. They started shouting "contamination" and threw an new sheet over where he had touched. It was hilarious, but I was able to see the baby. The Music Man went with the baby to the table to get weighed and wrapped up. They even left an extra bit of cord on for him to cut. When the baby was wrapped up the Music Man brought him over to me and I kissed his head. One of the nurses went to get a camera and took a picture of the three of us (which they printed and brought to us the next day.) Then the Music Man and the baby left and I had to get sewn back up. That seemed to take FOREVER.

When they were done they took me to recovery where the Music Man and Baby were waiting for me. Our doula was there too. She had moved all our stuff over from the LDR room and had gone to our car (still parked in the 15 min loading zone) to get our camera. She took pictures as we put the baby to my breast and he nursed for the first time.

Needless to say, it wasn't the birth that we had planned. In fact, our birth plan stayed in the car with our bags until after he was born. From the first contraction to his birth was just a little over four hours. It was a wonderful experience none the less. I am so thankful to The Music Man for his constant support and love. He sang me through, and I couldn't have done it without him.

Monkey
Born 1:37 am
Friday the 13th of October, 2006

I love you.

My Thanksgiving Post aka A feast for Your Eyes

(a picture of me counts as a feast right? right?)

In anticipation of Monkey's upcoming first birthday, I have been thinking a lot about what I was doing last year at this time. Last year on Thanksgiving weekend I was highly pregnant and eating lots of turkey and pie.

To me Thanksgiving has never felt like a particularly festive holiday. Day off, eat turkey. But not festive, so much. Until last year. It might have had something to do with pregnancy hormones, I don't know. My mom came to our house in the middle of the week to help me with some last minute pre-baby house cleaning. Then my dad and brother came out on the Saturday and we attended our local "Pumpkin Festival". Giant pumpkin weigh-offs, craft sale, exhibit hall (think "State Fair", ladies competing for best jams, baking, pickles. Much fun.) I even wore an orange maternity t-shirt with a jack-o-lantern face on it. Yup. My own wee pumpkin at the Pumpkin fest.

On Sunday, the Music Man's folks and a dear family friend joined us and we hosted an eight person Thanksgiving Dinner. It was wonderful. Warm, cozy, family, turkey. Festive.

This year, Thanksgiving will look a bit different. We will be traveling to my parents house with our almost-one-year-old. It will be crazy, and fun. There will be turkey and family. And hopefully the festive feeling of last year will carry over to this year, and years to come.

(Think about all the comments you get on an ordinary day as a pregnant lady. Now imagine wearing a jack-o-lantern shirt to the Pumpkin Fest when you are nine months pregnant. Needless to say, it took some convincing to get me to wear the shirt in the first place...)

Happy Thanksgiving!

WBW - Canadian Edition

We Canadians like to be different (Thanksgiving in November? No. October for us, thanks.) In that spirit someone somewhere in Canada decided that we should celebrate World Breastfeeding Week in October instead of August. So....

Happy World Breastfeeding Week - Canadian Edition.
October 1 - 7, 2007