ok lizzie...you win

I have been forced, very kindly of course, by my cousin Lizzie to tell about the recent happenings within our family, down here in Hobart, Tassie.

Now this is going to be a long read but Lizzie said, to tell it like it is so here goes.

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It is that time of the year when we all start preparing for our Christmas traditions, and ours just happens to be getting together with Barbie and Noel to make the puddings.
We have been using the same recipe for about 15 years. It came from a very dear lady friend.Veronica, or as her husband used to call her 'Girlie' Her husband, Darkie worked for Kevin, my hubby, driving cabs for many years. We tasted one of Girlies puddings and we were won over. The first time I made them, Girlie loaned me her mothers huge porcelain dish, as I didn't have one large enough in which to soak the fruit overnight. So the tradition started there. Sadly, Girlie passed away this year but she has left us a wonderful legacy.
Usually we start the first few days in December by gathering together our many ingredients. 

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This year was a little different, as Kevin had to go to NSW for a rally of some kind so all the pudding mix was gathered by Barbara and Noel, then delivered to our house at Acton to be prepared for the dousing in alcohol. (This is usually left up to Kevin. The original recipe says 1 cup of brandy, but as we now have increased the mixture by FOUR times, it should have 4 cups...........So Kev goes to the drinks cupboard and gets out all the bottles with a bit left in them, as well as the brandy required and in it all goes. Over the next few hours he walks by, stirs and checks and then I hear bottles tinkling and in goes some more!)
Now back to the story. 
As Kevin was not in the state this year, Barb, Noel and I prepared the fruit mix and put it in a now 30 litre container with a lid, for soaking overnight. I found a full bottle of brandy and mixed this in with the fruit and put the lid on. The next day I stirred the mix and thought of Kev and looked in the drinks cupboard again to see if there was anything else I could use, and found another full bottle of brandy so in that went too!
Making the puddings has to be postponed for a day or two, so when Monday came, Noel and Barbie came over and started the fire (we need a large copper to hold all the puddings) and put the water on to boil over a gas ring. The fruit smelled delicious and was nice and plump due to the brandy so time to go ahead with the mixing of the other ingredients. Poor Noel. What a workout for him. It took him about an hour.
Anyway we wrapped the puddings up and then proceeded to scrape out the leftover mix and tasted it. OH YUM. We thought of dear Sharon at this time as she loved licking out the container. She hated cooked pud but loved it raw.
I put mine on to cook and Barb and Noel took theirs home to cook as there wasn't enough room in my copper. We made 13 this year. Two large and the rest normal size. There are 6 in this photo and my Christmas angel is watching over them.

So its all done for another year. Next week, the decorations will be placed around the home and before we know it, another Christmas will come and go.


The lovely bloom is off my hippeastrum.

It had 4 flowers in all but sadly, when I was removing deceased blooms, I broke the whole stem off. Flowers and all. I was so sad but I have these lovely reminders.