The Sewing Dilettante

And all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. In fact, hubby and I are tucked up cosily on the couch, recovering from yesterday's excesses and anticipating D(elivery)-day tomorrow. Who knows when I might have a chance to post again, so I wanted to share a few festive photos before wishing you all the very best for 2013 and signing off for a little while. First off, my Christmas cake went down a real treat yesterday! I was concerned that it would be dry in the middle, but it was perfectly moist all the way through! Despite the dark exterior, the crumb was surprisingly light, both in colour and texture, and the marzipan and icing were just thin enough to add a little almond-y sweetness at the end without overpowering the cake itself. Yum! We cut slivers of cake to have with coffee right after Christmas lunch, even though we were all stuffed to the gills, and after a much-needed brisk walk, managed a bit more. I mustn't have been the only one to sneak...

Yesterday, hubby and I decorated the Christmas cake . We cheated a little bit, using ready-made marzipan and ready-rolled icing, but, hey, we're novices. Plus, we were both in agreement that this was not the time to faff about making our own marzipan and icing! Still, I'm pretty happy with the end result. I had some fun with PicMonkey 's Christmas effects.... As you can see, we kept the decorations simple. While I learned how to make sugar roses in my abortive cake decorating course recently, I never got to do anything remotely Christmas-related. I suppose hubby and I could've experimented a bit, but once again, we opted for simplicity and ease, if only for sanity's sake! As we decorated, we nibbled on the bits of cake I sliced from the top to give an even surface, and they were delicious, even if I do say so myself! Rich; fruity; redolent with cinnamon, cloves, and a touch of whiskey; and exceptionally moist! Here's hoping that's true of the whole ca...

Dare I say it? Quickly and quietly, perhaps... Christmas.  I know, I know. It's a little bit early to be thinking about such things, right? Normally, I'm a fan of waiting until the end of November before diving into the Christmas rush, but this year presents a slight deviation from the norm, primarily because Baby H is due on 30 December. Hubby and I have thus wisely decided to forego visiting our families for the holidays, thereby avoiding (I sincerely hope so anyway!) all of the potential nightmare scenarios I've been envisioning - giving birth in the car halfway between Wicklow and Dublin in the middle of a freak Irish snow storm being the main one. Instead, we're going to make a few traditions of our own! We're not quite sure what these traditions will be yet (see above), but I figured now was as good a time as any to try my hand at Christmas cake for a traditional conclusion to our not-so-traditional Christmas dinner (assuming we get to sit down to eat it, that...