Pass the mince pies- Christmas Chat Thread Part Deux

DvB

antimatterx wrote: »

I love mince pies, but I purposely only eat them over the 1/2 weeks I have for Christmas holidays.

Similar.
I love them, but try to limit myself to only eating them from December 1st (purely as a treat, once a week or so) and then over the actual work holidays.

I did freeze a couple of boxes this year but they got discovered, thawed & eaten by the kids during lockdown & I enjoyed the one I had so will definitely freeze a couple more boxes this christmas too.

washiskin

I wolf down a lot of mince pies over the season. So far, the Aldi and M&S ones are the best shop-bought ones imo, but there's a bakery in Navan who make spectacular ones...a euro each, but they're big.
Honestly though, there's something special about homemade ones....crispy pastry, gooey filling....the slightly burnt sugar taste off the bit of mincemeat that bubbled out..... 3 or 4 with a cup of tea.....magic.

Loughc

Lord Spence wrote: »

love christmas but have never been a fan of its traditional food and drink

Egg Nog: nope
Mince Pies: nope
Christmas Cake: nope
Christmas Pudding: nope
Mulled Wine: nope
Sprouts: nope

On the other hand :-)

Tins of sweets: Yup
Selection Box: Yup
Tins of Buscuits: Yup
Boxes of tayto: Yup
Tubs of smarties: Yup

Yep completely agree with the above and I'm not a fan of Cinnamon which everyone seems to add to things to make them more Christmassy.

washiskin wrote: »

I wolf down a lot of mince pies over the season. So far, the Aldi and M&S ones are the best shop-bought ones imo, but there's a bakery in Navan who make spectacular ones...a euro each, but they're big.

I think the ALDI ones have won awards and everything they're always highly rated.

Loughc

Loughc wrote: »

Yep completely agree with the above and I'm not a fan of Cinnamon which everyone seems to add to things to make them more Christmassy.
.

The smell of cinnamon is lovely and christmassy but I've been sorely disappointed biting into an apple tart to find it sullied by cinnamon, why!
I will allow a teeney tiny bit in my coffee at Christmas time, but that's my only allowance.

We're coming into pumpkin spice season too. Last year I was passing by what used to be my local cafe so I popped in and was excited to try a pumpkin spice latte, got it to takeaway, and thank god I did because I ended up pouting it down a drain anyone else ever try it?

DvB

Not a huge fan of Cinnamon myself. Did hear the lads on FM104 saying that the starbucks pumpkin lattes had been advertised as coming soon, but I'm not a fan of starbucks coffee anyway so wouldnt be tempted either way.

I think the reaosn I love the treats at christmas is that I generally love fruit based stuff, scones, fruit cakes, Panettone, oxford lunch etc. so mince pies, pudding, stollen all appeal to my tastes anyway.

And as much as I enjoy Chocolate I can generally take it or leave it & tend to eat small amounts of it, hence at Christmas quality street & their toffees being my favourite of the tubs over the pure chocolate heroes, roses etc. I know loughc loves his yule logs but I can hand on heart say I dont remember ever eating one as I'd nearly always go for a fruit based cake/pastry instead of chocolate based ones, but I must try one this year just for reference purposes

Jude13

Is egg nog a thing in Ireland now? Please say no!

Not a fan of Cinnamon either and always hated being given mulled wine on nights out. However once I made it myself from scratch it changed the whole game. I use only the classiest (box) wine and always have to make a second round as visitors guzzle it.

No harm giving yule logs a try I've tried the fruity Christmas treats as my family all love them, but I'm the black sheep of the family and prefer chocolate. Christmas cake and mince pies all smell divine but my taste buds just don't agree for some reason, so I'll just keep being the weirdo sniffing the cakes

I've gone past a couple of times in recent weeks to see if my old cafe has reopened but sadly it's not looking like they'll be back they did a lovely dark chocolate mocha, it used to be my Saturday morning treat. I live in a rural area now so we decided to get a coffee machine during lockdown, great investment!

I've never come across egg nog and it doesn't sound appealing... The only mulled wine I ever had was in the beer tent in the Galway Christmas Market, so I think it would be unfair of me to judge all mulled wine based on that experience but box wine! I don't think I've had any since I was maybe 19?

Jude13

If i knew how to do a laughing emoji I would, 'sniffing the cakes', I do the same. Hate the flavour love the smell.

Yup box wine, we have a 'sin tax' here, so basically anything naughty according to the culture, pork/booze etc. gets a 100% to 150% mark up so the thought of putting in three bottles of 50 euro wine kill me, especially as I can going to throw a load of ingredients on top it.

Neyite

Jude13 wrote: »

Is egg nog a thing in Ireland now? Please say no!

Not a fan of Cinnamon either and always hated being given mulled wine on nights out. However once I made it myself from scratch it changed the whole game. I use only the classiest (box) wine and always have to make a second round as visitors guzzle it.

Egg nog used to be a thing in Ireland when I was a kid (80s) so maybe it's making a retro comeback?

I don't like cinnamon either - a hint is nice but anything more is too much and many an apple pie has been ruined by excess cinnamon.

I must see if I can get some boxed wine for the mulled wine - that's a great idea. I've a spare slow cooker that gets plugged in my living room for the mulled wine to keep it warm and have it near to hand.
Yule logs are basically Swiss rolls. I do a Cranberry & Chocolate ganache one that's really nice and looks impressive but it's quite straightforward to make.

Posy

Lord Spence wrote: »

Tubs of smarties

Is that a thing?

I've only heard of tubes of smarties, and never associated smarties with Christmas.

Loughc

Posy wrote: »

Is that a thing?

I've only heard of tubes of smarties, and never associated smarties with Christmas.

I associate the pink and orange tubes of smarties with Christmas as I only but them then but I love them haha.

washiskin

I honestly think Allspice smells more Christmassy than cinnamon.

L1011

Started doing some 'winterisation' of the house this week, which is needed anyway but the stormy weather reminded me. Ultrasonic mouse repellants (which don't sodding work very well, as I had to evict a mouse from a catch and release trap this morning) plugged in, fire side accessories in from the shed and so on.

Kicked off rather severe Christmas ideation. Putting the lights up on the stairs now would just ruin it for later - or at least that's what I'm having to tell myself!


Oh - eggnog is bloody awful. Bought a bottle of the Bols advocaat a few years ago thinking it'd feel Christmassy. Urgh

freshpopcorn

This time next week it will be the 2nd of September.
I do like Christmas Cake, Mince Pies, Puddings, etc. However I'm not got on Stollen. I always find it kind of raw.(I like the theory of it tough). I'd prefer Simnel cake.

DvB

L1011 wrote: »

Oh - eggnog is bloody awful. Bought a bottle of the Bols advocaat a few years ago thinking it'd feel Christmassy. Urgh

I dont think advocaat is quite the same thing. I remember my elderly aunt drinking that with 7up when I were a nipper & I tasted it more than once, t'was very sweet (sickly so in fact) whilst egg nog I've been told isn't quite the same when I asked the same question (i.e. is advocaat the same thing) and is closer to being a thicker Baileys type drink... I've never tasted eggnog (at least that I remember anyway) but am a huge fan of baileys, but I suspect its nothing like it... raw eggs? no thanks!

Is it a thing over here now? I always associated it with America moreso tbh. Clarke W. Griswold being a big fan:)

Jude13

Yeah, I am an 80's kid and don't remember either. If its baileys like then Im in. I tried to source the moose glasses from Christmas Vacation one year but they were excessively expensive.

DvB

Jude13 wrote: »

Yeah, I am an 80's kid and don't remember either. If its baileys like then Im in. I tried to source the moose glasses from Christmas Vacation one year but they were excessively expensive.

That made me laugh Jude, i did the same thing with the moose glasses a couple of years ago, managed to source a set of 6 but they would need to have been shipped from the states & the total cost was just over €130 so I didn't bother.
The things probably would have arrived broken anyway.

Jude13

Exactly as I thought. Also the storage of them in the kitchen cabinets would be an issue wit the antlers. I did get the ice hockey jersey he has in the move. I stuck a pic of me wearing up on one of the threads.

DvB

Jude13 wrote: »

Exactly as I thought. Also the storage of them in the kitchen cabinets would be an issue wit the antlers. I did get the ice hockey jersey he has in the move. I stuck a pic of me wearing up on one of the threads.

Saw that retro chicago blackhawks shirt when I was over in the states a few years ago & was kicking myself after coming home that I didn't pick one up. But I'd already spent a fortune on WhiteSox stuff so couldn't justify spending any more at the time.

Jude13

I thought that medium would be a challenge but I would loose the weight to fit in to the blackhawks shirt, no idea that it would be the size of a tent. I was in Boston at the time so couldnt really wander around with it on.

DvB

Jude13 wrote: »

I thought that medium would be a challenge but I would loose the weight to fit in to the blackhawks shirt, no idea that it would be the size of a tent. I was in Boston at the time so couldnt really wander around with it on.

Yeah the sizes in the states can be bizarre. I had the same situation with american football shirts, i think because they wear padding underneath they tend to be much bigger in comparison to say football or rugby shirts over here. My Dallas Cowboys shirt is sized small and I still have plenty of room in it.

I dread to think what it would cost to ship one of those blackhawk shirts over nowadays, & thats if you could get them.

iguana

Don't know what's wrong with me this year. (Well I do, the global pandemic and being sick for months.) But I only bought my first Christmas present for S yesterday. It's a surprise of a new pair of rink skates that I'm going to customise for him.

Neyite

After Halloween is when the letter here goes off to Santa. Given little ones changing their minds every five minutes nothing gets bought until then, but I do stock up on non-perishibles or long life stuff in Autumn, as well as things like our matching PJs, books and that sort of thing.

iguana

Neyite wrote: »

After Halloween is when the letter here goes off to Santa. Given little ones changing their minds every five minutes nothing gets bought until then, but I do stock up on non-perishibles or long life stuff in Autumn, as well as things like our matching PJs, books and that sort of thing.

S is a long-game kind of person. He often picks what he wants for Christmas in January and that's that. In fact when he was 3 he chose what he wanted for his 7th birthday and never wavered. He's insanely easy to buy for. But convincing him that he doesn't actually have to be a palaeontologist just because that's the career he chose at 3 is still a work in progress. He's not even that interested in dinosaurs anymore!

washiskin

DvB wrote: »

I dont think advocaat is quite the same thing. I remember my elderly aunt drinking that with 7up when I were a nipper & I tasted it more than once, t'was very sweet (sickly so in fact) whilst egg nog I've been told isn't quite the same when I asked the same question (i.e. is advocaat the same thing) and is closer to being a thicker Baileys type drink... I've never tasted eggnog (at least that I remember anyway) but am a huge fan of baileys, but I suspect its nothing like it... raw eggs? no thanks!

Is it a thing over here now? I always associated it with America moreso tbh. Clarke W. Griswold being a big fan:)

Advocaat is very sweet, but I can't do without Snowballs at Christmas. I like a good bit of lime juice in mine, so it cuts back on the sweetness a bit. I have a few retro Snowball glasses (like ordinary champagne flutes) that I've collected in charity shops over the years that I use. Looking at eggnog recipes, it seems to be a very thin, spiced custard with booze. It does sound nice, I must say.

freshpopcorn

Autosport

Can’t wait for this album I sorted out my Christmas cards yesterday

Autosport

Autosport wrote: »

Can’t wait for this album I sorted out my Christmas cards yesterday

Dolly Parton is releasing a Christmas album too

https://www.google.com/amp/s/dollyparton.com/life-and-career/music/dolly-parton-to-release-a-holly-dolly-christmas/17730/amp

DvB

I must admit, a lot of these artists christmas albums do nothing for me at all and I don't know many people outside of fans of the artists themselves that would bother with these compilations, so I wonder do they really sell that well? Be interesting to see the figures in comparison to non christmas albums.

Would many of you guys here be bothered with christmas albums? I tend to stick to christmas FM, spotify or the likes of Now Christmas compilations etc. & other than the Andy Williams christmas album have never bought one (by a single artist) & dont see myself ever doing so either.

freshpopcorn

RTÉ have launched there Autumn/Winter schedule for 2020.