Merry Christmas

Figgy pudding and a buche de Noel (in progress)

Last year I didn't have opportunities to bake for Christmas, so I bought a rather expensive Christmas pudding. Mistake. It was no good.

Figgy pudding is one of those foods that just won't submit to industrialization. This year I did a little baking. The figgy pudding is easy and I don't know why more people don't have them.

The most troublesome part is finding and chopping suet, now that most grocers trim their meat in distant mega-butcheries and ship the meat in chilled. But a few places still accept requests.

Figgy pudding doesn't usually have figs in it, though I have made it that way. This year, I saw a British baking show that presented a figgy pudding made with fresh tangerine. So I guess you can do what you want.

The buche de Noel has worms helping to decompose the fallen log. That was for my youngest grandchild, Dakota, who helped me decorate, though he ate more worms than he got on the cake.