Of eggnog, hotshot, dropshot and beerenburg. Oh, and a snowman...

I had heard about eggnog for years, every time I watched a Christmas film as a matter of fact. But even while living in England, I had never had it. So, I thought I would make some. While living in England I got myself a book which describes nearly all foods made in the British Isles. And some others as well. Elephant for example will not be a meat I will use anytime soon! But eggnog was in there as well.

The simple eggnog called for egg-yolks, sugar, milk and rum or brandy. So, I got myself the ingredients and set to work. First I had to beat one egg-yolk with one table spoon of sugar. I had to heat up one cup of milk (I used a mug) and add to the mixture. And as a finishing touch I added a nice dash of rum. I waited for it to cool down a smidge (I didn't want to burn my mouth) and enjoyed my new-found drink! Mmmmmm.... I made some more the next day, since my parents and my sister were due to arrive. And they liked it as well, so this might be a drink for keeps!

After my parents left, my sister and I got to the hotshot. A cinnamon liqueur which doesn't really do much to you, especially with the tiny shot glasses I use. But then you get up and (try to) walk around! Hm, it did more than we thought. Dropshot is a similar drink, but has a very distinct liquorice flavour (we call liquorice 'drop' in the Netherlands). We only drank them at night though, no point in getting wasted at noon! Beerenburg (a Dutch Schnaps, made with a lot of different herbs and spices) however is a different matter, because it tastes great in a good hot chocolate. We didn't go overboard though, stuck to only one!

Oh, and the snowman? It's made of Belleek (Northern Irish china manufacturer and one of my favourites) and was a gift from my sister (who lives in Northern Ireland). My sister has returned home again, but not before rigging my computer to the region 1 setting for dvd's. The first Christmas films from across the pond are on their way and hopefully they will play properly! I loved having you stay and so did the monsters, even Sophie didn't mind you one little bit.

See you in Paris!

Merry Christmas

Twelve days of Christmas
A variation on a theme

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
A partridge in a pear tree.
Well, here’s what I thought of that gift,
My true love’s mind must have been adrift.
The pear tree wasn’t even so bad,
It certainly didn’t drive me mad.
The culprit was indeed the bird,
My love for them was immediately cured.

I was amazed by its attitude,
Caviar was its only chosen food!
Now, if my true love had only thought,
The tree and bird wouldn’t have been bought.
Instead he could have gotten me a negligee,
Which I happily would have worn all Christmas Day!
Promising a lot of fun and afternoon delight,
Lasting well into the night!

When my true love arrived on day two,
He gave me a basket: “That’s for you!”
He said, pointing at two turtle doves.
“Those two are a sign of real true love”.
Now, what thoughts had entered his head?
My love for birds was already dead!
Turtle doves did not change a single thing,
Especially if they behaved like queen and king!

All day long I heard roocoos,
And then they found my Jimmy Choos!
They must have thought it was a winter’s fest,
A great place for them to build their nest!
With all of their royal zeal,
They picked and pecked at the poor high heels.
I cried, but then my dear,
Promised a better gift: “Don’t fear!”

However, day three did not get any better.
Three French hens and not even on a platter!
That I wouldn’t have minded much,
My true love was definitely out of touch.
All day long the hens went ooh-la-la.
All I could think of was foie gras!
Perhaps some drumsticks, nice and hot!
But live hens? Definitely not…

A partridge, the doves and now the hens.
My true love didn’t have any common sense!
Birds in any form or shape?
I just wanted to escape.
Roasted hens with onions, my mouth did water,
But that would have meant I had to slaughter!
I wasn’t really up for that.
Perhaps I needed to get a cat…

On the next day came four calling birds.
They made a racket like you’ve never heard.
What was he thinking when he thought,
More fowl is what I sought?
The house was filling to the brim,
The living room started looking grim
Poo everywhere and it stank!
And I had my own true love to thank.

I don’t know who they called all day,
Rosalind? Jennifer? Maggie May?
My true love thought it was a hoot,
I just wanted to give them the boot.
Unfortunately the boots were filled with grubs,
And the heels of my Choos were now just stubs.
All I wanted to do was holler and wail,
And end this sorry sorry tale!

And then finally some gold rings!
That sure was a fantastic thing...
But again he made me look like a tool.
The five were made for a certified fool.
Not really gold, oh no!
Cheap imitation, the jeweler told me so!
However, it’s the thought that counts,
Or so my true love found.

The rings turned my fingers fluorescent green
Even in the dark they could be seen!
I wanted it off, it was quite urgent,
But it couldn’t be done, not even with strong detergent!
Finally after over an hour,
I found the answer: use something sour!
So, now my fingers smell like limes.
I was hoping for better times!

More fowl arrived on day six,
Throwing more mayhem into the mix.
When the geese arrived at my frontdoor,
I nearly fell to the floor!
The only thing stopping me was the poo,
The place looked like an unclean zoo.
The geese were nasty: they hissed,
They tried to bite me and barely missed.

I managed to lock them in the bathroom,
Using a very heavy witch’s broom.
Eggs soon started to fill the place,
It seemed as if they had a race.
The tub, the sink, the windowsill,
They didn’t even use any skill!
The floor was covered with debris
I would need more than pot pourri!

On day seven came the swans
They pecked right through my long johns
The curtains had already gone
Eaten by a stupid swan
The water they left all through the house
Drowned even my poor pet mouse!
Everywhere they went it was wet,
I just wanted to go to bed!

But my bed now looked like a huge big nest
It looked like they were on a quest
To completely wreck my lovely home
I wanted to move to Rome!
But I really really had to stay
If only for a few more days.
So said my dear true love
But I had had enough!

Then finally on day eight
No birds arrived and it was great
Instead eight maids walked in with stools
Those were their proper milking tools
Milking stools for huge big cows
Eight of them, roaming around my house!
Everywhere I looked was hay and straw
My true love had a massive flaw!

The house resembled a zoo by now
All those birds and now the cows
But even worse was yet to come
It mightn’t be a surprise to some…
My true love started flirting with a maid
He acted like he was in twelfth grade
A little pubescent boy in heat
I nearly kicked him out in the street

I should have done, oh yes, I know
Because next day came another blow
More ladies arrived with dancing shoes
And I rapidly turned to the booze
They jumped and jeteed and they tapped
They swirled and twirled and I nearly snapped
I was ready to scream and shoo them all out
But apparently it’s not ladylike to shout

My manners were however disappearing fast
I don’t know how I had to last
Another three days of this mayhem
I wanted rid of all of them.
Poison, drowning, slaughterhouse
Kill every single awful louse.
Then send all those women packing
They drove me mad with all their yacking!

And then finally on day ten,
There arrived some gorgeous men.
But alas, they leaped those lords,
Nearly cracking the floor boards.
One of them actually fell through to the cellar
At least something I found stellar
Another one jumped too high and hit the ceiling
It must have been a nasty feeling!

By now it was my true love who was jealous
Of all those jumping and leaping fellas
Because hey let’s face it, now I was flirting
Even to me it was disconcerting.
But they looked good in their leotards
Then my love gave them his regards,
Shoving them into the garden shed,
Where they got stuck between the bike and the sled.

Day eleven saw the pipers
And they were über hyper!
While pushing the maids out of their way,
They just continued to play.
Eggs got broken, milk was spilt,
Even my flowers started to wilt,
Due to the noise the pipers made.
It looked as if they were ready to invade!

The house by now was a warzone
With my true love on its throne.
Pipers, dancers and all those critters
Doing away with all the Christmas glitter!
My poor nerves were slowly being shot,
Happy with my true love I was not.
He then promised me I could choose myself,
What I wanted on day twelve!

But did he listen, did he ever!?
He was on this great endeavour.
Twelve drummers arrived in all their glory,
Definitely making this a horror story.
The drummers were all very large,
The largest one was actually called sarge.
The sounds and the overbearing stench,
Was turning me into a mumbling wench.

The pear tree was rooting in the hall,
Where the dancers were organizing a masked ball.
The birds were not happy with each other,
Picking and pecking away, oh brother!
Feathers were flying everywhere,
And I can tell you, I’d had my share,
Of all those gifts my true love gave.
Just a few more hours to be brave!

Well, guess what! On day thirteen,
My true love was nowhere to be seen.
Because by the end of day twelve,
I, yes, I myself,
Threw a fit as never seen before,
And I kicked my true love and his gifts straight out the door!
Out they went, onto the street,
That feeling felt so incredibly sweet!

Of course there still was the mess to clean,
And I can tell you, it was an awful scene!
But it was fine, it really was,
Even if my true love was the cause.
He never listened, he didn’t care
He acted as if I wasn’t even there
So what did I want for Christmas? What did I miss?
Only an “I love you” and a little kiss!

Nearly!

We're nearly there. Christmas is (at the time of me writing this) just over 10 hours away. I've got this afternoon to get my home completely ready for my sister and my parents who will visit me on Boxing Day (December 26th for all you people who don't celebrate Second Christmas Day as we call it in the Netherlands). My sister actually phoned me the other day to ask whether she was welcome to come and stay, after my father had already said she was coming.

The reason she asked was that I celebrate Christmas in a funny way according to some. Every two to three years I go visit my parents and celebrate with them and any siblings (I've got two and one in-law) present. But I tend to prefer staying at home. I watch Christmas shows, Christmas films, eat food I like at a time I like it, dressed in whatever I like. And I like that. I am not sad, after all, if I wanted to I could celebrate it with my friends or family. I just don't want to.

Anyway, my sister will be dropped off by my parents on Boxing Day. She will stay two nights before heading home (Northern Ireland) again. I'm looking forward to it, because I haven't seen her for a while. So, a bit of last minute cleaning is in order and then I will sit down and watch yet another 'new' Christmas film!

If you want to know what I've been up to in 2009, please check out this link which will take you back to a post I did last Tuesday. And I urge everyone to come back tomorrow for a very special adaptation of a very well-known Christmas Carol. Otherwise: Happy Christmas everyone and I hope you get to celebrate it the way you want to!

W is for...

Wuppie in a Winter Wonderland

I did have another post planned, but seeing how the weather has brought us so much snow lately added to the fact that I haven't posted any feline photos lately, I thought it might be a good time to combine the two.

Of the four monsters calling mi casa loro casa, Wuppie is the only one who doesn't really mind all that wintery stuff. I threw several snowballs at him today and even that didn't bother him too much. He is a dummy really, but a sweet one...

For more W-words from around the world, please check out ABC Wednesday and join in the fun!

PS: Please do come back on Christmas Day, I've got a Christmas poem waiting for you. It will only take a minute!

Looking back

When Christmas is nearing and the New Year is looming right behind it, people tend to look back on the year that has just gone by. For me, the year has been pretty good. No more debt, a job, a home (albeit rented), friends and family, good health. But I still wanted to have a little look back on the year myself, after all, there might be things I have forgotten! Clicking on the months will take you back to the post I wrote then...

January: A crashed computer; a dental scare and ice! I wrote in January's post about not remembering having a proper snowy winter since 1979! Well, the year isn't over yet and guess what: snow... We've had it for five days now and they are expecting a bit more to come yet. It's just funny how the snow started falling right at the time the Copenhagen summit started on global warming! As if to prove them wrong...

February: Snow; London in spring; a fishy dinner with my parents and a weighty matter! February saw me change the quite boring name of my blog (the life of Mara) to Weighty Matters. The name was referring to Wuppie, but since then he is a bit less weighty. I've put all the monsters on a bit of a diet: I only feed them once a day now. In the morning I put the food in their bowls and by evening the food is all gone. And they then have to wait until the next morning!

March: Sophie has cancer; a funeral; pre-posting and feeling down in the dumps. In March I had a spell of feeling very sorry for myself. Missing a significant other in my life was massive! I still haven't found one, would still like one, but I am not too bothered about it right now. Rather alone and content than with someone and unhappy! And the remote is still very firmly in my hand only...

April: Football (or soccer); London; more London and stupidity with a bike. I wrote about my bike in April. A typical Dutch mode of transport (and yes, I do know there are a lot of bikes in China as well) and my only way of transport apart from the coach I drive for a living. Whenever I tell people I don't own a car I just get an incredulous look from them? You're a driver and you don't own a car???? No, I don't! And most of the time I don't miss it either.

May: London with my family; laundry; the Provence; thunderstorms; excuse my French and gypsies. I went to the Provence in France in May and I encountered an old gypsy woman. I got cheated out of my money and got a palm reading about my future! So, what has come true about her predictions? I haven't met the love of my life and the numbers 3, 4 and 12 go by every month unnoticed. Good thing I didn't put much trust in it to start with...

June: Tube strike in London; Airforce Days; Army Days; no inspiration; starting to look old and conversations with my boss.  My boss is the man who hired me. He's a sweet man and very funny. He will show the walks from the 'Ministry of Funny Walks', he will bring the comics from the paper or he will put on a funny Scottish wig! He's the one I turn to if I have a problem (but personal and work) and I would be sad to see him leave the company.

July: Ireland; holiday; day out with my parents; sauna and the vet. Every July sees me going to the vet with four cats. Three baskets laden with feline furries and trying to find a mode of conveyance to get there! The results of the visit were that Wuppie was overweight, Mathilda had an eye-infection, Linette was in good health and even Sophie was doing fine! Well, it may not be a lot, but Wuppie has lost weight. And Mathilda's eye-infection cleared up as well. Linette is still in good health and Sophie hasn't shown any signs of the cancer returning either.

August: Heatwave in Italy; playing the tourist and great reads. I can read nearly everywhere and if a book is funny I will laugh out loud and when a book is sad I will cry. And it doesn't matter where I am at the time, be it home, bus or busy trainstation. Some people will look at me when I am reading and wonder about what is happening, some people can even get annoyed because they want to know what's so funny! I've tried to stop reading the sadder books in public though: it gives me puffy eyes!

September: Potatoes; autumn; awards and emigration. People who have been reading my blog for a while know I want to emigrate to Canada. It means gathering information about where and when to go and saving up money. It also means deciding when to tell the people around you and dealing with any questions. Like: are you still here? When are you going? Where are you going? Are you sure? Why? Why? Why?

October: Mara; eggs; bad mood; food; zombies and dreams. 'I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, just like the one I've never known...' But that dream doesn't look like it's going to happen this year: the snow is melting again! There's still about 8 centimeters left, but at the rate it's melting, I might be better off to keep dreaming of French firemen...

November: Give-away; rain; photos and smiles. A smile of encouragement, a smile of joy or a smile for a little joke. Smile people! It doesn't cost anyting, but the return is fantastic!

December: Pigs; snow; not quite London; reviews and presents. I love presents. And not having celebrated my birthday and not celebrating Christmas with presents means I don't get presents. But for some reason this year, presents (both expected and unexpected) were plentiful! Films, ornaments, cd's, cards and a chocolate letter. I've been spoiled!

This was my year. Hopefully next year will be as good. Trips abroad, new friends (both in blogland and in real life, perhaps even crossing over!), old friends. I'll keep you posted...

London

Nearly there, only three kilometers (two miles) to go...

Saturday, two in the morning: my alarm clock goes off and I have to get up to go to work. Just over an hour later I leave for the first pick-up. The temperature is well below zero and when I'm driving, the snow is coming down again. Fortunately I manage to keep ahead of the snow. The people at the second pick-up are late, so at the third pick-up the people are freezing, since they have been waiting for over twenty minutes by then!

The fourth pick-up is fine again and at the fifth pick-up (and my first big rest) nobody shows up. At the end of my rest they still aren't there and with permission from the company we leave. Belgium is fine. The streets are clear and clean and the traffic is light. The news however has some problems in store. Since five o'clock we've been hearing about the Channel Tunnel. Apparently four High Speed passenger trains got stuck in the tunnel below the Channel (ie the sea) for hours and hours with between 1300 and 2000 (numbers varied during the hours) passengers on board. Because of the difference between the outside and the inside temperature, the trains got technical problems.

The view of snow-covered Calais which we enjoyed for nearly three hours...

Now, the company was notified by one of my colleagues at a quarter past five. They then called the train company who said the trains would keep running. So, we kept on driving. We got through Belgium and we hit France. The roads weren't as clean as in Belgium, but still managable. And then, about ten kilometers before the Tunnel, traffic slowed down. And it slowed down even more until it stopped completely. The only thing moving were the French cars who knew they had to get out of that traffic asap. I stuck it out, hoping against the odds that somehow we would make it.

Lorries and cars as far as the eye could see

Then, a phonecall from a colleague. Traffic wasn't budging one inch at the terminal and the ferries weren't going either due to the port of Dover being closed. Besides that, the police in England were advising people not to come to England due to the awful wintery weather. My colleague said that the company would decide by two in the afternoon whether to return or not (this was at 12.30pm). Just before two I had moved another kilometer and got another phonecall: turn around, we're going home! It took some effort to get off the motorway, but in the end (thanks to a Portugese lorry driver) I managed to get off and turn around.

Now, remember I started driving at just past three in the morning. And according to European driving rules, this means my working day cannot be longer than twelve hours. By the time I had turned around two o'clock had been and gone, so I was nearly at my limit. However, I was a lucky bunny: I had a colleague on board. And he was willing to drive back. So, we switched places and he drove home. I finally got home at a quarter past nine and got into bed only fifteen minutes later.

Hello London!

A few of my favourite films

Cry asked all her readers about what Christmas film is their favourite. And it got me thinking: do I have a favourite? And which one would it be? But I quickly realised, picking one out of so many was going to be way too difficult. So, I decided to give you a list of 'must see' (in my opinion that is) Christmas films. I will make a top three and the rest will all be on number four.

1. A Muppet Family Christmas. Fozzie takes the whole gang home to his mother for Christmas. All the Muppets, including the ones from Sesame Street show up, Doc and his dog are there and even the Fraggles are present! The coming together of the whole 'family', the songs and the fantastic Muppets make this film a certain must-have and must-see for Christmas Eve I think. It might only be about thirty minutes, but it just radiates love.

2. White Christmas. If it hadn't been for the Muppets, this would have been the number one of course, because it's such a fantastic story. I especially love the line 'When what's left of you gets around to what's left to be gotten, what's left to be gotten won't be worth getting, whatever it is you've got left'. Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby are hilarious in the number 'Sisters', originally sung by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. The train ride is great and of course the classic White Christmas at the end finishes the film to a T!

3. Bad Santa. A bit of an anti-Christmas film which certainly isn't for the faint-hearted, since a lot of swearing goes on. But I think it's really funny and in the end, Billy-Bob Thornton does the right thing for the little boy. I realised yesterday that two of the stars (John Ritter and Bernie Mac) have passed away in recent years, but here they have fantastic roles!

4. Elf; The Polar Express; If you Believe; Eight Crazy Days (not really a Christmas, but a Hannukah film); Prancer Returns (I love John Corbett); The Muppet Christmas Carol; I'll be seeing you (with Ginger Rogers); The Ref; I want a Dog for Christmas Charlie Brown; How the Grinch stole Christmas (the cartoon one from the sixties); Mixed Nuts; Love Actually; The Holiday; All I want for Christmas; Grounded.

There's several I've forgotten right now, but it's hard to pick the best ones.

Of course there are also some that are just too awful to watch. The worst one I ever watched (and I actually own it as well) has to be: Santa Claus conquers the Martians. The story is ridiculous, the acting is bad, the sets are awful, the clothes and make-up are terrible and overall it's a gruel to watch. That said, it does make it really funny somehow.

White

I woke up this morning to a white world. It looked absolutely lovely, but it made cycling to work a bit harder. The salters (or gritters) and sweepers hadn't passed yet and if they had, they had done their job before the first snowflake had come down. So I had to be careful not to fall off my bike. I managed though and when I arrived at work, I found that some sweet colleague had put my coach indoors.

When we arrived at our starting point (after needing nearly an hour for a half hour trip), the big question coming from the teachers was: "Should we go to Cologne?" Four coaches were waiting for nearly two hundred pupils to go to a Yule-tide market in Cologne, Germany. The reason the teachers asked us was the weather and the traffic conditions. All that snow meant there was over 650 km (400 miles) of traffic jams. The longest one being 60 km (40 miles)! We didn't have to take that route, but all the routes were choc-a-bloc full! By the time we would be able to get to Cologne, the children would have about three hours to do their assignments, before we would try to return to the Netherlands. In the end we didn't go!

Right now there's about 20 cm (8 inches) of snow. I guess. It could be more. Fortunately the road back home was a bit easier because of the gritters and/or the sweepers. Getting home early also meant I finally was able to decorate my tree. I had put the tree up two days ago, but it was a bit wobbly. Then, last night I steadied and put the lights in. Which didn't work! So, I had to get new lights today as well and decorate.

The only thing left to do now is writing and sending my Christmas cards...

V is for...

Victualler

There are a few words I love. Actually, serendipity, quicquidlibet and victualler. I first heard the word victuals in one of the great movies of the fifties, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The first wife to arrive is expected to make good 'vittles' (food). But the word seemed to be extinct. I never heard or saw it. And then...

I saw it. In Birr in Ireland. A real honest working victualler! Of course I took a photo, but I still didn't really know what a victualler was. I figured it would be like a grocer, but when I looked it up, no mention was made of a grocer, only of a sutler. I'd never heard of a sutler, so I had to look that up! That turned out to be a person who followed an army and sold provisions. So again, you could say a grocer, but still no mention of that word.

Anyway, victuals are food supplies or provisions, so someone who is a victualler is the person who supplies the food or provisions. Anyone any other thoughts about the word?

For more V words from around the world, please check out ABC Wednesday and join in the fun!

How Santa came to be

I absolutely love Christmasfilms and at the last count I had nearly 130 with another 100 or so on my wish list. I also love to read Christmas books, but for some reason I never seem to find nice ones. Until a few years ago.

My sister and I were on holiday in Ireland in 2005 and we both love books. If we see a bookstore, however small, we will enter. And in this small bookshop in Clifden (Connemara, Co. Galway) we found a book. Nickolai of the North by Lucy Daniel Raby. It was a children's book, but it looked great and we both wanted it. There was just one slight problem though: they only had one copy! My sister came away with the book and I had to wait until after I had returned home and could order it online.

Now, I bet you have been wondering where Santa comes from. The flying reindeer, the elves, the delivery of the presents in one night? This book explains all. Where he grew up, how he lived his life and what happened to make him Santa. It's also a story of good and evil, a story of what will happen if our greed gets out of control, but most of all it's a story of love.

There are 25 chapters in the book, which would make it a perfect book to read to children: a chapter a day! It would be appropiate for children about 8 years and over (in my opinion), because of some scarier moments (or cliffhangers if you do read a chapter a day). But it's also perfect for adults, although I wonder if you will have more restraint than me in only reading one chapter a day. I've never been able to...