A Very Merry Cranberry from Team Hagstones xx

Hello Friends,
Just a quick one from me today. My festive list is just about complete & we're ready for seasonal japes & jollity.

Albert Whiskers deigned to pose for a portrait.....though note to self for next year.........

........when I make my mini sausage pies, he can be sent for a run round the garden while the cat flap is temporarily locked. Never have I cooked anything where he's been so under my feet, meowing like a starving cat who has just spotted the Very Last Sausage in the World. He only discovered sausages earlier this week & they are clearly much on his mind. He even tried going outside & sitting under the kitchen window just in case one of my pies happened to fall out while cooling. It didn't, & he's had to make do with cat biscuits to fill the vast gaping chasm that is his tummy!

The cake is made & iced........

and I decided against the rutting reindeer when his other antler also fell off, so it's Frosty & Father Christmas this year.

The mince pies are made, using the cranberry mincemeat I made recently......which brings me onto the cranberries......those luscious red fruity jewels..... (hang on, I think I was channelling my 'inner Nigella' there for a moment) which we only see in December.

Whether you want to make cranberry mincemeat.......

......cranberry chutney, cranberry vodka - no photo due to obvious reasons - or cranberry & apple jelly.......

......then the canny time to buy your cranberries isn't now, it's just after Christmas. Cranberries are one of those seasonal items which most people only want in December. However, if you are a keen cook & like to make preserves for the pantry or to give as gifts, or you fancy having some cranberry vodka bottled & ready for festive slurpage this time next year, then you need to get hold of some a lot earlier than that, & this is the problem because they won't be around in the shops till it's too late to do much with them. As a very seasonal item, they're also expensive. £3+ for a very modest amount isn't unusual, but if you look in the supermarkets between Christmas & New Year, you can pick them up for a titchy fraction of this - our best bargainmongous ones were from Waitrose at 20p a punnet. They freeze brilliantly & easily last a year, so that's what I do, & I'm hoping to find some as soon as annual demand for them has peaked. So there's a little money saving tip.....but only if you a) like cranberries b) like actually doing stuff with cranberries. If not, just go to the sales as usual & don't waste valuable shopping time shouldering people out of the way in supermarkets in your search for cheapo small red fruits!

And lastly, of course, whether you, like us, celebrate the ancient midwinter feast, the birth of the son of your God, a welcome time spent with your nearest & dearest.....or a fusion of all three, we would like to wish you all a Very Happy & Peaceful Yuletide.
May your blessings be bright,
C x