12/12 & The Queen's Christmas Cake

Today is the 12th day of the 12th month - only 12 more days til Christmas Eve!

Have had some mulled wine and Christmas music and getting very excited about a snowy white winter wonderland and family in the Great White North. I also made (well steamed) a Christmas pudding for the first time. It was a gift from the Queen, yes Liz and I are mates. I did attend a lunch with her once but that was a few years ago and I was one of another 100 people but let's just pretend it was her and I chatting about life over a cuppa tea and some biscuits.

Anyhow, before I digress any further, Queen Lizzie gave these puds out to each of her staff as a Christmas gift in 2007.  And one of her lovely employees gave it to me!

I steamed it for 1.5 hrs yesterday and served it up on a plate with lots of spoons, which to everyone's dismay is not how you serve it.  It is supposed to be served with custard or ice cream but there was none of that at our place, just mulled wine and minced pies. I had a spoonful of the Queen's pudding and one was not amused as there are so many raisins and fruity bits!!   Dried fruit and brandy is not a good combo for me, our Christmas dessert is usually Tiramisu.

Well the pudding has been saved for the Brits to eat 'properly' with their custard and ice cream. Let the countdown begin to Momma Dolce's tiramisu xx

GO Chelsea
I was lucky enough to win tickets to a Chelsea game a week or two ago, seats were in the executive suite which included pre game drinks and dinner, half time drinks and dessert and more food and wine at the end of the game. Not a bad way to see the game indeed, although I may have overindulged a little on the brownies, cookies and mince pies at the end!

I wasn't too impressed with the actual dinner, I ordered a curry which wasn't too tasty, but the desserts and wine were superb. There were some Chelsea players around for pre-game people watching and some interesting characters seated at our table who made the night entertaining.

It was my first football game in the UK and was quite an experience, I think it was a Premiership game? It was similar to the games that I went to in TO for the Toronto FC, but 100x more raucous, rowdy and fun. You can feel the passion of the fans here much more. Fans from opposing teams are seperated and made to use seperate gates; with lots of riot police, police on foot and police on horses you can feel the excitement and tension in the air, I never knew we had that many police in the city?! Quite an experience and a great game that went to penalty kicks. We even sat a few rows behind the glitzy and glam German footballer, Michael Ballack - he's quite the pretty boy.

Our wine was a 2004 Rioja from Spain called Dinastia Vivanco. The wine ages for 16 months in French and American oak barrels and then spends another 6 months in the cellar. I recommend trying it as it was fab, you can also visit the Vivanco family's website to find out more.

Dragon for blood The day after the Ikea boxes-tripsy-acrobatics I came home from work (with my bandaged knee) to find this exotic dragon fruit in my room. Also known as pitahaya, huǒ lóng guǒ, 火龍果/火龙果 lIt it was a nice surprise - and I love pink and new foods especially exotic ones that look like they will be sweet to eat! Interesting fact...not only is the fruit lovely to look at, the pitahaya blooms only at night; with large white fragrant flowers, typical of cactus, that are often called Moonflower or Queen of the Night.

I haven't cut it open or peeled it yes as I don't know if it is ripe or what to do with it so will consult Mrs. Lau and ask her what to do with it. The note was lovely and surprises are always fun! Thanks BH.

Today I am home from work putting finishing touches on the cookbook proposal and am going to be printing and sending it out 1st week of December! Hmm...or should I wait until the new year as publishers may spill their holiday champagne and soil it with Christmas cake and mince pie crumbs?! It is that time of year.... only 24 days, 12 hours, 56 minutes, 53 seconds to go!