A thread about the winter holidays.
Photos, thoughts, music, whatever you like.
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Seeing as you mention drinks from the Dark Side (of the Pennines), here’s some TV adverts for the stuff. Worth a watch. Honest.
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The other day, I saw the first house with Xmas decorations up. Modest enough but still there. 'Tis the season to be jolly but also 'tis not yet the season for decorations. Bah , humbug!
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Around a third of my neighbours have their exterior Xmas lights up.
I’m going to pick up some rum or brandy to start soaking my dried fruit for a Christmas cake. And I’ll visit a Xmas market today.
But, I am also attempting to eat no sweets this holiday season, so there is the Bah Humbug element to my late November and entire December. 
By the way, these are Canadian Humbugs, descended from British Humbugs.
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We’ve two festive trips this coming week. One is just to the supermarket to finish off buying the non-perishable stuff (we’re hosting the family Christmas Day get together, so there’s much booze to be bought). The other trip is into the city to visit the Christmas market - I think now the UK’s biggest. The local newspaper has already reported complaints about the price of food at the market - £10 for a bratwurst hot dog roll!
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I think the Toronto Xmas Market is charging a similar amount in Canadian dollars for a bratwurst in roll. They were already trying to charge around $15 for a grilled cheese/ cheese toastie in 2019 before the food costs went up. I haven’t been to the Toronto Xmas Market in several years.
We’ve been to the Christmas market. It’s been in the local news in recent days. And not for any good reason. Apparently, the cops issued a “dispersal order” against groups of youngsters from the Gypsy and Traveller communities. They’d arrived by train and the cops forced them back on to departing trains, seemingly, without any consideration as to where those trains were going. There have been absolutely no reports of the youngsters causing or threatening to cause any trouble so the growing consensus is that this is purely discriminatory practice by the cops which they wouldnt practice against any other minority group. There would be uproar if a group of Sikh or Jewish youngsters were similarly turned away from visiting a fun market.
Anyway, we also arrived by train and started our wander through the various market areas. The cops were certainly still making a presence. Including some who were armed - always a very disconcerting sight. It’s the first time for years that we’ve visited the market and it’s changed. And not in a necessarily good way. There used to be a lot of stalls selling craft products - handmade Christmas tree decorations, quirky gifts and the like. Whilst a few remain, it’s now mainly food offerings. We actually came away having bought nothing to bring home. But we did graze our way round. We ate:
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Dutch mini pancakes. Available with a choice of toppings. We went for the classic sugar & lemon
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bratwurst. Tasty sausage. half a metre long. In a nice crisp baguette. And only eight quid
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mac & cheese, topped with crispy onion. Nice tangy cheese, probably a cheddar
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cannoli - one vanilla, the other pistachio.
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You did well!
Mrs H makes an ace banana bread. The only cake I consider for breakfast.
Which reminds me, I must tell her there are three bananas lurking in the freezer.
We’re out tomorrow on a Christmas food foraging day out. Not real foraging, of course. But a visit to Bakewell farmers market, which we havent been to for some years. That’s Bakewell of tart/pudding fame (not that either of us like them). The town has, I think, three shops which claim to sell the original recipe (all different, of course). There’s a new (to us) butcher who apparently sells meat from their own farm. And then, a couple of miles away, the Chatsworth Farm Shop. Originally created by the previous and now late Duchess of Devonshire. It’s very posh - used to have the most fab bacon and hopefully still does.
It’s about an hour’s drive which, in UK terms, means this isnt a local trip. 
. The plan is a fairly early start to get there for about when it opens at 9. Breakfast in the cafe. The “Full English” will be on the cards. Then round the market and the town before getting off to Chatsworth. Where it may be time for lunch in their cafe (too posh to refer to it as a caff). A fun day, hopefully
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Sounds like a wonderful day!
I remember passing by Chatsworth when I stayed at Rowsley.
I wanted to go to the Chatsworth Farm Shop. It didn’t work out during our short stay.
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Great nativity scene.
I’d forgotten you’d stayed in the Bakewell area. As I wrote, we’re about an hour north - but it’s a lovely drive over the “high peaks” if it’s a nice day. Poor weather and you can easily be driving through the clouds.
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I would love to see some photos of the landscape. 
I have been looking at the Holiday Markets taking place in southwestern Ontario and Grey Bruce this weekend.
Well, it was a typical British day for weather. Nice autumn sunshine when we left home. And dull, cloudy, drizzle when we got into the peaks. Photography is tricky. It’s a busy road with few stopping places - and they didnt co-incide with good views. So, this is the best I can do. It’s taken from the back of the Chatsworth Farm Shop. In roughly the middle of the shot, you may be able to make out a church steeple. Just beyond that and out of sight is Chatsworth House. Farmers Market and farm shop were fine - we bought assorted goodies. But the market isnt as good as it used to be and I doubt we’ll be rushing back. See the UK forum for breakfast.
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We had a grey winter day here in southwestern Ontario, too.
I’d never had a mince meat pie until I moved to Shizuoka, Japan in 2021. But a gourmet supermarket in the main train station there had mince meat tarts and I tried one. They weren’t bad, but I’m not in any rush to have one again.
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They vary quite a bit.
I don’t make them, but I’ll eat them if they’re at a cookie it table or a gift.
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These are the ones I had. I chose them because I know and love Walker’s shortbread.
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