A Life, Lived

Travel Tuesdays - Christmas in Florence

We had a short stopover in Florence the year we spent December in Italy. While the visit was short the memories were full!

Oh Christmas Tree

This is how it started . . .

This is how it ended . . .

One more thing checked off of the Christmas 'to-do' list.

2020 Gave to Me . . .

This seems about right  . . .

Travel Tuesdays - Christmas in Bologna

Here are some festive shots from the year we spent Christmas in Italy.

Travel Tuesday - Christmas at the Distillery

Toronto's Distillery District is normally home to a large Christmas Market at this time of year. COVID has put a stop to that but there are still some Christmas decorations, although not as much bling as there would have been had the market been running. Last week I stopping in before heading to the office to wander about.

Dark Christmas Cake

Old English Fruitcake. Dark and moist with plenty of spices and packed with plenty of currants, nuts, and sweet glacé fruit. It’s been a Christmas tradition in my family for decades.

Even though Christmas is still more than a month away this is the time to make your Christmas Cake. After baking it you want to soak it in rum, wrap in cheesecloth, followed by foil, and store in a cool, dark place until you eat it on Christmas Day.

My mom has a recipe that she has been using for more than 50 years. We used to make the cakes together but with work being so busy I've fallen out of the tradition for the past few years. This year, with the COVID challenges everywhere, it seemed to be time to return to tradition.

Sort of.

I did not use mom's recipe. Yup, I'm likely on the list of children destined for hell as a result but it was time for a change.

This recipe made about half the cakes that mom's recipe makes. While we like Christmas Cake not everyone does and I'll be damned if one of my Christmas Cakes will become that white elephant gift at the gift exchange that no one wants.

I liked that this recipe soaked the fruit in rum overnight. Boozy fruit is good.

This recipe also uses molasses to darken the cakes - mom's recipe uses grape juice.

I think change will be good.

I followed the recipe as printed with a couple of exceptions - I doubled all three of the spices. 1/4 teaspoon seemed like a tiny amount. I used half a teaspoon and the batter tasted amazing and the cakes had a lovely scent when I pulled them out of the oven. The recipe calls for one large cake which you later cut into smaller cakes. You cans see from the pic below that I used small pans to bake the cakes in - as a result I cut the coking time a bit as well.

Other than that I followed along perfectly.

I'll let you know around December 24th how they tasted.

Dark Christmas Cake

• • 2 cups dried currants
  • 2 cups candied mixed peel
  • 1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped candied pineapple
  • 1 1/2 cup red glacé cherries , halved
  • 1 1/2 cup seeded Muscat raisins or lexia raisins
  • 1 cup amber or dark rum or brandy
  • 2 cups alI-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon each ground allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg
  • pinch salt
  • 3/4 cups butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup strawberry jam
  • 2 tablespoons fancy molasses
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cup chopped walnut halves

In large bowl, combine currants, mixed peel, pineapple, cherries, raisins and 3/4 cup of the rum; cover and let stand for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

In bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; toss 1/2 cup into currant mixture. In separate bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar, jam and molasses until fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Stir in remaining flour mixture in 1 addition just until combined. Stir in currant mixture and walnuts. Scrape into 13- x 9-inch (3.5 L) double-thickness parchment paper–lined cake pan, smoothing top. 

Set shallow pan on bottom rack of 300°F oven; pour in enough water to come halfway up sides. Bake cake on centre rack for 1 hour. Lay foil loosely over cake; bake until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean but a little sticky, 45 to 60 minutes. Let cool completely in pan.

Remove cake from pan; peel off parchment paper. Soak double-thickness 16-inch square of cheesecloth in remaining rum; wrap around cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and overwrap in foil. Refrigerate for 1 month. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 3 months.) Cut crosswise into 6 bars.

PSA for Parents

Now that Halloween has been cancelled parents will be turning their minds towards Christmas.

I saw this and thought it might assist with some of those complex 'Elf on the Shelf' dilemmas.

Travel Tuesdays - COVID19 Edition

One of the popular social media activities right now is for people to post pics of places that have made them happy. You know the pics, the ones you look at and you get that feeling of calm and happiness inside. I've decided to do that for this week's edition of Travel Tuesdays.

This is the 12th edition from my self isolation.

This collection is from the year we spent the month of December in Italy.

Travel Tuesdays - COVID19 Edition

One of the popular social media activities right now is for people to post pics of places that have made them happy. You know the pics, the ones you look at and you get that feeling of calm and happiness inside. I've decided to do that for this week's edition of Travel Tuesdays.

This is the 9th edition from my self isolation.

Travel Tuesdays - Rome

Continuing with my December theme of Christmases we've enjoyed on the road . . . here are some shots from the year we were in Rome for Christmas.