Merry Christmas everyone

Have a great time to everyone and to all the traditional festive fun round the world. A winter haiku can be read here.

Schnee

All unique

covering the land

but who will miss me

from the rest

when I melt away?

Poem and Photo by Ian

Recipe 2: Cheese, Onion and Potato Layer Pie - my veggie Christmas Pie :)

Here is a simple (very rough) guide to the pie that I like to make instead of having turkey for Christmas.  (Also featured in a few Preston Poets Christmas buffets.. see photo at bottom)

Ingredients:

Try to get local where possible and also the varieties you prefer. Quantities depend on how big a pie you are doing. My pies end up bulging with stuff , you may prefer nicely shaped pies :)

Halved Peeled Potatoes - I don't think I have ever counted how many I put in. Is a guess whilst cleaning and peeling. A guess whilst writing this is 7  medium potatoes, the pie is mostly potato.
Chopped/ Diced Onions - 2 maybe 3 and I prefer red.
Grated Cheese - What ever variety / varieties that take your fancy! This will be grated so you can use the rest of the block up with your favourite crackers and wine or something later.
Plain Flour
Egg Yolk/Milk for pastry
Butter


Instructions:

1. Put the peeled and halved potatoes into boiling water with a pinch of salt. Cook until soft but not collapsing. I cook for 10/15 mins then have a poke. Drain and leave to cool.
2. Fry some onions in a pan with a knob of butter. Fry to soften and make sweet tasting flavour. Maybe slightly brown but not crisp. Leave to cool.
3. Make some short crust pastry. Enough for a base and  a lid . Delia's guide to shortcrust pastry is here if you need any help.
4. Grease your pie dish and place the pastry in. Make sure it is flat against the dish and there are no bubbles. We want all the space for the filling :)
5. We are going to make different layers of the ingredients. First use some of the potato and slice up into smaller pieces so you can layer the base of the pie.
6. Next layer some of the onion over the top.
7. Grate (or use your pre grated :)) cheese over the top of this.
8. Continue with the layers starting from Potato until you run out of ingredients (either in the pie or through tasting :)).
9. Seal your lid on. Maybe a little egg yolk or milk to help seal it.
10. Put the pie in the an oven until pastry cooked and nice golden brown. Oven around 180c and again the guide of cook for 10/15 mins and check. As everything inside has been cooked that needs to be cooked then we are just waiting for the colour!

• Any pastry left over can be used for mince pies, jam tarts... just make smaller pastry shapes and fill with (Christmas sweet) mincemeat or jam.

Enjoy with some salad / veg or some chilli jam. Lovely warm or cold.

Enjoy :)

Let me know what you think.

Sorry wasn't quick enough to take a photo of my last pie:

An Alternative Merry Christmas

Picture by Mari-Lee

It is December again and the time to try and think up some unique new presents for everyone(if not already sorted)! If you are stuck like me then maybe here are some alternative ideas for presents.. or weekends away... or maybe something for next year. Also if you want to avoid those horrendously long queues and crazy people who use any means (and I mean any) to get the last sale item then maybe these are for you.

Of course there are plenty of online shops out there, but there are also plenty of charity shops with plenty of ideas. There are both national and international charities , so you can support the charities in your country or one of the big names whilst getting someone something special.  They sell anything from candles to cuddly toys to diaries and sweets.

Here are some alternative ideas from some randomly picked charities:

WWF - Adopt an animal. Maybe adopt a penguin (with cuddly toy) with the WWF or ein Eisbär adoption (mit DVD) with  Swiss WWF for example.

Amnesty - Maybe buy an Alpaca hat from Amnesty UK to help development in Peru or maybe Echarpe à chevrons en pashmina from Amensty France.

Oxfam - Buy a goat!!! (Well ok it is for someone who needs a goat) with Oxfam UK or Varkentje with Oxfam Nederland.



Of course if you are still stuck with ideas then maybe combine your shopping with a lovely (and maybe romantic?) trip away to a Christmas Market and explore a new place too. There are plenty to choose from  in Europe (and beyond). Here is an article from last year's Telegraph about 10 markets... including Tallinn's Christmas Market (possibly the place of the first Christmas Tree).


Or if you just want to escape from it all... what about volunteering over the Christmas period? Such as at Belvoir Castle with BTCV. Then in the new year if you still want to adventure and help out then there are plenty of countries you can go to including the Estonian trip with BTCV or with ELF.

But all in all I hope you find what you need and enjoy this time of year!