Friday Dec 23rd Xmas Shopping -Supermarkets Are busy -

Waitrose Xmas. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

 Everybody is out buying in supermarkets in London, my family tell me. I am at home with a cold, despite being double jabbed in Singapore, against flu and Covid, my 5th jab.

I was online in a toastmasters international meeting, Singapore International Dynamic, run by President Edward in Belize. Our theme was Xmas food around the world.

He had a great background of trees. In Belize their Xmas meal includes local food such as beans and rice.

President Edward of Belize.

 We started with a table topics or imprompty speech session, 2 minutes each on local festive food for Xmas or any other holiday we celebrate.  I showed Waitrose Xmas cake. I also had extra props. Stollen, the marzipan filled sweet roll cake, from Germany, but Waitrose haas their own brand. For Hannuaky, which this year coincides with Christmas, the food is latkes, grated potato pancakes, ike has browns or rosti, and donuts with dozens of kinds of fillings..

Donuts, for Hannukah. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

He warned us about procrastinating. Don't leave your shopping until the last minute. Some shops will close early, even lunch time on the 24th, so their staff can prepare for Xmas Eve.

Last year Edward went out to buy presents at a department store and food at a supermarket. 

Supermarket - Closing Time. 

All went well until his wife phoned and reminded him to buy the cranberry sauce. 

By now the traffic had built up, exacerbated by a minor, but inconvenient traffic accident. Unnecessary stress.

The supermarket was still open but had closed the doors as it was already full of customers. Luckily he spotted a friend inside and was able to get his friend's attention and shout, Cranberry sauce!

Nearby was a seller of local Rum Popo. He bought that to give to his friend as a thank you for the favour.

What is rum Popo? The brand name for Local rum, with added ingredients, like an egg nog. The lady who made and marketed it was credited with turning around the Belize economy. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rompopeop

Rum 

 As Shakespeare said, all's well that ends well.

The moral of the story, don't leave things until the last minute. 

I had left my back ground to the last minute. I hastily looked for a suitable picture to load up. I found one of myself with Christmas crackers.

Then I found a picture showing the candles for all eight nights of Hanukah with an increasing number of candles. The last night, number eight, is on Boxing Day, December 26th.

Christmas and Hannukah backgrounds for the International online Toastmasters meeting on Friday Dec 23rd.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rompope

https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club

December 21st - was the December solistice and the first day of winter - planning your seasonal trips and outings

 

December 21st was the first day of winter and the solstice. What does that mean?

For travellers, it means that in the UK the 21st is the shortest day. That is good news. From now onwards, every day there is a little more light. 

Is there anything good for travellers about short days? Early dusk means more of the darker evenings on which to enjoy the Xmas lights in the streets, the lights up the lamp posts in high streets (Americans say main street), and the Christmas trees. Now is a good time to dash and take photos of the local lights. 

How long will the lights be up?

I looked it up in Wikipedia. Which was very illuminating. 

UT date and time of
equinoxes and solstices on Earth^[1][2]

event	equinox		solstice		equinox		solstice
month	March[3]		June[4]		September[5]		December[6]
year	day	time	day	time	day	time	day	time
2017	20	10:29	21	04:25	22	20:02	21	16:29
2018	20	16:15	21	10:07	23	01:54	21	22:22
2019	20	21:58	21	15:54	23	07:50	22	04:19
2020	20	03:50	20	21:43	22	13:31	21	10:03
2021	20	09:37	21	03:32	22	19:21	21	15:59
2022	20	15:33	21	09:14	23	01:04	21	21:48
2023	20	21:25	21	14:58	23	06:50	22	03:28
2024	20	03:07	20	20:51	22	12:44	21	09:20
2025	20	09:02	21	02:42	22	18:20	21	15:03

The day is the same every year. But the time of sunrise and sunset varies. The length of time between dawn and dusk stays the same, but the times of dawn and dusk vary. (Well I never. Who knew? Maybe you. Not me. Well, we all know now.

Why would the dawn times affect travellers? If would affect you if you wanted to see dawn at Stonehenge or any landmark which is supposed to have been constructed to look special on the day of the Solstice.

This chart seems odd to me.

Dusk on Dec 22 in London is just before 4 pm. That was an awkward time for lighting Hanukah lights for a dinner event starting at 6.30 pm. Fortunately the hosts were not so religious that they insisted on lighting the candles at dusk.

Earlier in the week for day three of Hanukkah, we had three hanukiahs, one lit by the lady from each of three couples. 

Current Time:	22 Dec 2022, 12:10:52
Next Equinox:	20 Mar 2023 21:24 (Vernal)
Sunrise Today:	08:04↑ 128° Southeast
Sunset Today:	15:53↑ 232° Southwes

Sunrise at Stonehenge. Photo by Mark Grant in Wikipedia.

Centuries ago, in fact, as recently as our great grandparents time, (I am writing in 2022) there was no TV. Street lighting came in in the 1800s, house lights, later. So the time of dawn and dusk affected your travel. 

Scottish Winter Food

Dawn and dusk also affected meal times. Up north in England they had high tea, a combination of tea and supper, with a savoury course or grill followed by filling sweet cakes or buns.  Christmas pudding and Christmas cake contained dried fruit and often alcohol as a preservative, with hot custard. Almonds might be added, arranged in a circular, concentric, pattern on top as in Dundee cake.

Stonehenge Summer solstice from Wikipedia on Solstice

The Soltice - meaning

The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol ("sun") and sistere ("to stand still").

Why? Because at the solstices, the Sun's declination appears to "stand still"; that is, the seasonal movement of the Sun's daily path (as seen from Earth) pauses at a northern or southern limit before reversing direction.

When I am planning a trip, I check on the temperature of the destination in the month I will be travelling. You also want to check the season and school holidays.

Australians visit the UK for Christmas, which is their long, summer holiday. We used to go skiing in New Zealand 

Museums

Many museum opening days vary with the seasons. Some museums close for winter and open in spring. Others have last admission half an hour before closing time. 

The food served varies. Hotel and restaurant prices may be high for Christmas and New Year, and the whole of December, or including the first week of January. Sign up for your favourite restaurants and hotels. One year in the Lake district we stopped at a famous restaurant, the Miller Howe, and signed up for their newsletter. In the spring we received an offer for three nights for the price of two, or two for the price of one. Whatever it was, it made the difference between never going, and a once in a lifetime experience. 

I visited Harrow School in England in the winter. The school had a guided tour which I read about in the local newspaper. I was surprised that they had a tour in winter. They had the winter tours because Australians came over and joined the tours. I met an Australian teacher who was on her summer break during my winter in the UK.

Useful Websites

For the time of dusk

https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/london?month=12

Top twenty desserts - here's my list - what's yours? Where to see, eat, try and buy or make them - anticipating Xmas holiday meals

Would you like a cake like dessert to finish lunch, or dinner? A surprise to make a grand end to a dinner party?

What about Christmas? In England people make Christmas cake or Christmas cake well in advance. The alcohol helps preserve it.

The French instead have buche Noel. 

The Italians, Spanish and Venezuelans have Panetonne. It keeps in a tin for months. 

1 Sicilian Pishacio layer cake 

(muffin)

Italian. In the UK from Etna Cafe

 

2 Lokshen Pudding

Jewish, Ashkenazi style, from B & K

Lokshen pudding from B & K, Hatch End. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Noodles with succulent sultanas (large dried grapes from the island of that name) and lemon juice for added flavour.

3 Christmas cake or wedding cake or fruit cake with yellow marzipan and white icing. Make sure it has almonds, marzipan, not just white icing. The hard icing helps keep it moist. The marzipan adds flavour, and nutrition from the almonds.

English

From Wiki.

Recipe from

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Christmas_Cake

4 Stollen with a Marzipan centre

German

From Marks & Spencer or Tesco and other supermarkets around Christmas holiday time

Check the picture to see the amount of almond paste in the centres.

5 Yemas de Cartagena

Spanish

Cartagena is in the Murcia region of South East Spain, up the cost from Marbella. We tried this declidious dessert in a Parador hotel, a former historic ruin reconstructed and turned into a tourism-attracting hotel as part of the nationwide network serving local food.

Yemas are eggs. We had a creamy dessert in the hotel.

There are also wonderful solid chestnut or almond bars or bite size pieces in divided chocolate boxes. 

https://nativespain.com/celebrations/christmas/turron-de-yema-tostada-spanish-christmas-egg-yolk-turron-spanish-recipe/

6 Apple Strudel

B & K deli take away or eat it, Hatch End or Edgware in NW London, England 

Apple Strudel. Pastry folded over filling of apple chunks. Photo by Angela Lansbury

7 Baklava

With real nuts. Avoid the sort made with cheaper peanuts.

Greek and middle European and middle eastern.

Baklava in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria. Wiki.

8 Summer Pudding

From Waitrose.

9 Bread and Butter Pudding

Bread pudding, or bread and butter pudding. Layers of bread soaked in milk. With sultanas or raisins.

10 New York style Cheesecake

Baked. A cake. Not a mousse! 

From Carnegie deli in Wikipedia.

11 Tarte Tatin

French apple torte. Also known as upside down cake. Thin pastry base and thinly sliced apples with apricot see-through glaze.

Can also be made with pears. Overlapping slices in a circle, or on a grid.

12 Mango Sticky Rice pudding 

Fresh mango and sticky rice. Singapore and Asian countries. Thailand. The Philippines uses coconut and chocolate.

13 Ipswich Almond Pudding

A cold dessert. Unusual. A great cake if you can't cook or don't want to risk something going wrong, or want to prepare in advance. I found the recipe in a looseleaf file or regional UK recipes issued by the tourist board years ago. We used to make this for dinner parties when we were just married. 

You use sponge fingers as the base and sides, soaking them in milk plus alcohol. Add layers of alternating double cream with ground almonds, more soaked sponge fingers, and whipped double cream. Refrigerate to help it to set and keep the cream fresh. Even better the next day when evaporation intensifies the flavour.

14 Surprise Mock Egg

From the now no longer Haro restaurant which was at Little Bedwyn. We would drive hours there and back for their expensive but exquisite meals on special occasions such as a birthday or wedding anniversary. The egg served like a boiled egg in an egg cup with a meringue outside and a mango flavoured yellow inside. 

To counteract over sweetness and add crunch and sustaining cereal, a salted shortbread biscuit as a reminder of the oblong 'finger' slice of toast dipped in a boiled egg when we were children.

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

15 Chocolate Lava Cake/ Melted Chocolate Puddings/ Chocolate Fondant (Chocolate bomb)

Served at Petrus (expensive) and many other restaurants. Other versions have cold white ice cream centres for contrasting colour.

Hot outside chocolate pudding with molten chocolate or chocolate pudding centre.

French bombe glacee from Wiki.

Chocolate with ice cream centre was the dessert at the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II.

16 Welsh cakes

Best served fresh and hot with melting butter. I had them hot at tea time in the Fishguard Hotel in Wales at Writers' Holiday.

17 Meringue with fruit - Pavlova

Hard white meringue base ring with chopped or whole fresh fruit in the circular centre, such as strawberries. The national dish of Australia and New Zealand, both countries claiming it was invented there. Broken up meringue in the UK is called Eton Mess. Easier to make.

From Wiki.

18 Christmas Pudding

UK. Americans serve it all year and call it plum pudding.

Heston Blumenthal added a whole citrus fruit in the middle. This was sold through supermarkets at a premium price.

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

19 Large thin Crepes (Pancake) with Grand Marnier liqueur.

Feature of Mont St Michel in the north of France.

20 Salzburger Knockerl

A huge dish to be shared. In Austrial we had soft meringues floating in sauce. Salzburg. Vienna.  The French version is Isles flottentes or floating islands.

Post draft saved to guard against loss. More text and photos being added.

For tea time in the UK we like hot crumpets with butter and jam. Some people like waffles, which come in at least two varieties, Belgian, thick, with the square or oblong holes, and American, thin, any shape, and can be served for breakfast, or Vietnamese as a snack, round thin and folded over the filling.

I haven't mentioned my former favourites which no longer have a novelty value.

1 Crème brulée or burned cream. 

2  Pot de chocolate (chocolate pot).

3 Fruit salad with caramelised ginger which we make at home.

4 Gulub Jam/Jamun. Indian. Two or three balls in syrup. Our favourite dessert in Indian restaurants (which is London are often owned by Pakistanis or people from Bangldesh who have lived in London for years.) We like it more than kulfi (Indian ice cream). We bought a packet mix from Mustaphas' store in Singapore. However, we found it hard to keep the balls from falling apart. 

Useful Websites

https://nativespain.com/celebrations/christmas/turron-de-yema-tostada-spanish-christmas-egg-yolk-turron-spanish-recipe/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_chocolate_cake

About the Author

Angela Lansbury was born and bred in Britain, and has lived in the USA and Singapore. Her family have worked in or lived in Spain and Switzerland. She is a member of Toastmasters Clubs meeting on Zoom with visitors from the UK and USA, India, Sri Lanka, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Through the Toastmasters mentoring program Angela has connected with individuals in Vietnam and Romania, a different connection each month. Please come to the next BHA Toastmasters meeting on the 3rd Saturday afternoon every month. 

Christmas isn't over yet! Decorations, celebrations, January 6th and leftovers all year

Neighbours in London, England, celebrating with mistletoe. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. (From their life story which I edited and printed for them from their reminiscences, entitled: Soup and Sympathy.)

It's New Year and the Christmas decorations look so limply last year. Should I clear Santa's red hats and the green plastic tree and the Christmas crackers with Santa in a red nose ready for New Year's gold and glitter?

Answer
We had a debate on this. We could have put away the plastic green tree and replaced it with the white one. Then we decided that we would celebrate the traditional 12 days of Christmas to get our moneys-worth from the money spent and more time value from the time spent.

You may think differently, clear up fast, if you go back to work on January 2nd, or even January 1st. Who goes back to work so early?

1 Doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and admin staff.
2 Fire and police.
3 Shop owners and staff, especially those running sales on clothes, household goods, electricals.
4 Teachers at schools or running holiday classes for those still on holiday.
5 People working for themselves, in offices and from home.
6 Retired people writing their novel or running on-line businesses.
7 Lawyers and solicitors and court staff.
8 People working in transport, buses, trains, planes, car hire.
9 Restaurants and fast food and supermarkets and corner stores (convenience stores).
10 Bloggers.

January Celebrations In Spain And Europe
European countries following a different calendar celebrate the magi or three wise men. In Spain when my late parents lived there in the winter, (renting out their flat in summer) we used to watch the parade in nearby villages such as Estepona, where costumed figures on horseback would throw sweets to the excited children.

If you want to go to Spain or a European country where they celebrate on January 5th, or 6th, there's still time to book.

Leftover Food To Buy
In the UK we can buy Christmas puddings, Christmas cakes and mince pies left over from Christmas at bargain prices. The same goes for wrapping paper and Christmas cards if you want to stock up for next year, and Santa outfits.

Saving Christmas Pudding and Christmas Cake
In theory you can keep a Christmas pudding or Christmas cake in a cool dark place for several days or weeks (check packaging). The paper packaging is a help. A tin is even better, especially one with a good seal. Or a plastic box such as Tupperware. Check the packaging and the item you have bought if separate.

Preservatives include alcohol such as brandy in the pudding. Alcohol, a wine expert tells me, discourages mould. (Alcohol is an antiseptic).

Christmas Pudding
We indulged in Waitrose's Christmas pudding by chef Heston.

I asked the family, "Have we finished our Heston's Chrismas pudding?"
"Nowhere near. Maybe half way."

To my astonishment, the date on the packet says, end by 2019! So it would keep until next year - if we didn't finish it throughout this holiday season Christmas 2017-New Year 2018.

Icing
Icing is supposed to stop a cake from drying out. How? The icing is sealing the contents, from air, holding the moisture in.

Reading cookery books, you get the impression that icing is designed for the cake maker rather than the cake eater. I originally thought the purpose of icing was simply when making cake you could write visibly with chocolate or piping.

The hard icing on wedding cakes helps support the top tier. On Christas cakes the firm icing, as it dries and hardens all the better, will support little plastic trees which might otherwise fall over. Icing has many uses, not just smoothly concealing bumps in lumpy cake!

Apart from Christmas cakes, what other post-Christmas bargains can you find in the supermarket?

French Yule Logs
In France, they have yule log cakes, which are now sold in the UK. Brexit won't stop this. Supermarkets have customers from all over the world, and we have all got accustomed to buying a variety of international goods and goodies.

The French yule logs, German Stollen, and Italian Panettone are also likely to be reduced in price after Christmas and in January, especially if they are in Xmas themed packaging. Yule comes from the old pagan festival celebrating trees, hence our Christmas trees, traditionally with the fairy on top. The fairy can be converted to an angel if you prefer symbols you can associate with Christmas.

Italian restaurants and coffee shops, with a little help from supermarkets such as Waitrose and Tesco, have introduced panettone to a wider public.

The spelling of panettone used to challenge me. It is not tonne. You may have tons of panettone. Single N like the British word ton. However, double t. It's like a panet with tone. Panet-tone. Remove the imaginary hyphen. Double T. Panettone.

Preserving Panettone
After last Christmas, I kept panettone in a tin for months. My Italian cake progressively dried out and lost flavour. However, it could be dunked in coffee.

If it's dry, why not just throw it away. It depends how desperate you are to save money and save the planet from waste. Waste not, want not, the English saying goes.

When the panettone was too dry for dunking in coffee, that last of it could be used as a base for bread pudding, spiced up with sultanas, soaked in run if you like. Alternatively, you could use if to for trifle.

We went on a diet so I kept quiet about it. Eventually I forgot I still had it.

Then every now and then it came in handy. It was an emergency food when outside looked cold or dark and I didn't want to go out shopping. I'd be thinking, "I wish I had piece of cake. Please God - ah a piece of panettone - thank you!"

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Happy Christmas and Happy Hannukah - worldwide

This year for the first time I can remember Hanukah and Christmas are coinciding.

Christmas and Hanukah lights seems to be bigger and better and more widespread every year.

Here's just a glimpse of what's going on around the world.

UK Christmas
Christmas Eve is important to children because Santa is delivering his gifts. In the UK we have Santas and carol singing. The big meal is Christmas Day, December 25th.

Prague
Over in Europe Christmas has started already. At 5 pm in Prague fireworks were set off in the city, viewed from the wide pedestrianised Charles Bridge.
Photo of Fireworks in Prague, Czech Republic, New Year's Eve 2016, photo courtesy of Trevor Sharot.

Christmas Tree in Prague. (Photo by Angela Lansbury.)

Tonight in Prague the Czechs, plus of course restaurant and hotel guests, will be enjoying the traditional Czech meal of carp, followed by breads with sweet flavours and fillings - like fruit bread in England but plaited.

I tried the Czech traditional dishes: fish (carp) soup has a delicious and distinctive taste, not quite as good as the juice of fresh salmon, but very good. I love trying new foods and learning about new tastes.

Check potato salad is different from the British version. the Czech version has smaller potato cubes, sliced carrot, onion, Green pickled cucumber, ham, and more.

The strange thing about Czech food is that the Christmas meal my family tasted on one of the coldest days of the year had hot fish but cold potato salad, followed by hot strudel with cold ice cream.

UK Hot Christmas
In England the we opt for hot food which is designed for cold weather. For example, the road meat such as Christmas turkey is served with hot roast potatoes, and hot gravy. The hot Christmas pudding is served with hot pouring custard. You can even set light to the brandy on the Xmas pudding (in a five star restaurant. Don't try this at home.)

Tonight there will be midnight mass. In Prague, the service is not in Latin, because the churches are not Roman Catholic but Eastern Orthodox.

Hanukah
Tomorrow in Jewish areas hanukah starts. Each of the eight days of hanukah one of the candles is lit. Note that the menorah has seven candles for seven days or nights of the week, but the hanukkah has eight candles for the eight days 9plus the on for lighting the others, making nine, four each side of the central candle.

For the children eight small presents, including often chocolate money in gold foil.

Happy Christmas and happy hanukah, everybody.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

(Christmas and Hanukah photos coming later today or tomorrow.)

Dona Theresa Italian Restaurant Christmas Party Menu

The Menu Choices
The prices were £19.95 + 10% service charge for a three course lunch. £23.95+ 10% service charge for a three course dinner.

Unlike many places offering groups a choice of three starters, three main courses, and three desserts, Dona Theresa offered 12 starters, 14 main courses and five desserts.

Decoration
The restaurant has a lovely mural. In addition it was beautifully decorated, with silver crackers, a blue wreath, and giant red goblets.


Pre-dinner Nibbles
Bread and butter was on the table. We also had plates of carrot, and celery and dips.

Starters
This time I wanted cannelloni filled with spinach. I normally like fish or meat.
Afterwards I re-read my own revue of this restaurant on TripAdvisor from last June. I praised different dishes. Oh, well, it's nice to have a change.

Tips
I shared the turkey and the lamb shank. I thought the lamb shank was wonderful moist. The turkey was drier although it came with the usual great trimmings including the sausage and stuffing. (I see from my photo that it was a plain long sausage, not the short sausage wrapped in bacon which in England we call pigs in blankets.) I had not a small portion of prettily decorated food like a small sun with satellites, but a large portion plonked on the plate to fill it and my tummy.

Salt?
The person who ordered lamb shank thought it was too salty (I've had food which seemed too salty to somebody else at another restaurant nearby as well). Apparently other pairs of people have also had the same mixed reaction, one of a couple says it's too salty, whilst the other says it's just right or nothing wrong with it. But the person who orders the food should be happy. We were offered an alternative but only wanted to comment - we didn't want to change it. I wonder whether your choice of wine makes the food taste saltier.

I and one other person shared our desserts of Christmas pudding and creme brûlée. We both preferred the creme brûlée.

We also had a good red wine.

Coffee was included. I asked for decaffeinated coffee and was asked what kind of coffee,espresso, cappuccino, latte ... I opted for latte. Mint chocolates wrapped in foil were placed on the table.

The ground floor toilets are convenient. By the time we left, around midnight, I was so happy.

Dona Theresa Italian Restaurant
451 Uxbridge Road
Hatch End
Pinner
HA5 4JR
Tel: 020 8421 5550 / 0352
www.donatheresa
twitter @dona_theresa
Facebook Dona Theresa Restaurant

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Fabulous dinner at Fulham Wine Rooms

Fulham Wine Rooms entrance.
The beautifully decorated back room.
All photos by Angela Lansbury.Copyright.2016.

Problems
We went there, a group of just under twenty for a wine group's annual Christmas dinner. The decor was delightful. The only problems with this place were the timing of the potatoes, and the pudding which could have improved, but everything else was so wonderful that I will remember my meal for years to come. It was that good? Yes. But! You have to choose the right menu, or share food with somebody else who orders different dishes to be sure to get the top notch tasty nosh. So what do I recommend? I've tell you the whole story in complete detail.

Answer
We had the back room because we were a private party which seats up to about twenty for a Christmas party, birthday or other celebration. Very convivial.

If you are a small group of, say, four, in the main restaurant I think you might like the alcove at the back of the room on the right, though if the left hand room is busier and you like a crowd go for that area where you can catch the eye of the staff at the bar and wander over to the drink machines and choose a glass of wine from the dispensers.



Starters
I can't comment on the scallops which I didn't try because I am allergic to shellfish. I had the artichoke soup. Highly recommended.

Soup
I and my dining companion were ecstatic about it. I shall look for recipes on line. The soup was flavoursome. But what really made it was the slivers of wafer thin brown almost crispy intense flavour artichoke. How did they do that? Exquisite. Just right. Flavour of the year. But that wasn't the only one.

Bread
We don't like to fill up on bread and the group organiser hadn't ordered any but one person asked for bread. Up it came, with butter, fruit bread. I love fruit bread. Not quite as good as the multi-seed loaf with is six stars, but a top of the ratings five star bread.

Next, main courses. Here's the blip. The venison is perfectly presented. It arrives with sprouts, a carrot, a parsnip, and a spread of mash.

Story
My companion on my other side says his venison tastes like steak. He tells me a story about his father-in-law who was a butcher. In a restaurant they are served what is described on the menu as chicken and looks like chicken. You can fool some of the people, some of the time, but you can't fall all of the people all of the time. His father-in-law knows immediately that the texture is wrong. He calls over the waiter and says, "This is not chicken. This is rabbit!"

Tips
1 Order the artichoke soup. Or, if it's not offered, request it.

2 Make sure you get all your vegetables, notably the potatoes. If potatoes don't appear with your main course, ask for them immediately.

My delicious turkey roulade was slices from a rolled up meat with an intensely flavoured wrap of wafer thin smokey bacon, contrasting with some kind of stuffing, a mixture of three flavours. Wonderful. What looks like a puree of pretty orange parsnip is interesting - but where's the second vegetable, the potato?

The person diagonally across from me immediately asks the waiter for potato. Not to be outdone, I do the same. The waiter nods and hardly any delay, up come two large portions of new potatoes in butter, half sliced, fried, very tasty, a big bowl for each of us, enough to share with others. I have just finished my food when up come more bowls of potatoes for everybody else. The timing of the potatoes was all wrong. What happened?

3 Order the creme brûlée for dessert.
Creme brûlée was the last brilliant course, the dessert. My dining companion and have made a point of ordering different food. We always do. Especially if you are having two or more Christmas dinners in successive nights or even the same week. We have ordered one Christmas pudding, my choice, and one creme brûlée, his choice.

We had already had what we thought was the world's most wonderful dessert in Umbria, Italy, at the truffle producers. (See my other posts on Umbria.) But here's another, and one which anybody can try, much more easily, creme brûlée, the thickened cream served not in a small deep bowl but a large flat dish, with a scattering of embedded contrasting colour dark black berries.

The only problem is, looking back at TripAdvisor and comparing last year's dinner with this year's it's a different menu. This is a second dish I shall try to emulate.

If you can't get this dish, try to make it yourself. If you go to a restaurant where you can ask for a dish, ask them to make this. If you go to Fulham Wine rooms, check their menu.

Christmas Pudding
Christmas pudding is traditional for Christmas dinners in England. The Americans call it plum pudding, although as far as I know it's made with dried fruits nowadays, currants and sultanas and chopped candied peel. Check the ingredients on packaging.

I've seen plum pudding in American supermarkets all year, including summer. In England Christmas pudding is seasonal like everything else with the word Christmas. Christmas Pudding appears in British supermarkets around November. The leftover stocks are half price after Christmas in January. Then it disappears. Any supermarket can sell you a delicious Christmas pudding which takes a minute or two or three (depending on portion size) to reheat in a microwave.

4 Avoid the Christmas pudding at Fulham Wine Rooms. This was the last blip. I hate to criticise. I worry that I may be ruining the day for some trainee chef who has tried really hard. I hate to say this. But I and three other people thought the Christmas pudding was lacking. It was too pale, lacking the rich fruit, no great flavour, 'dry as dust' said one person, not relieved by the moistening of the custard. The custard looks ample in the photo but by the time I was half way throuth the pudding I had run out of the white custard.

I'm British. I was brought up on yellow custard. Yellow custard is yummy. Yellow custard is to the English what pasta is to the Italians. I expect yellow custard. It's absurd, you may think. I concede that it's unreasonable of me. Yes, yellow custard looks like school dinners. The yellow colour is not necessary. It's probably a nasty colour additive. Fresh or dried custard powder or imitation egg may upset people who are allergic to egg yolks. But I want thick yellow custard on my Christmas pudding - and lots of it!

To sum up, try artichoke soup, venison and creme brûlée at Fulham Wine Rooms. Just thinking about it makes me smile.

We didn't want to leave. We were so happy. But the last train was going. Luckily you can now get all night buses in London. But we didn't want to risk missing the last train. Why spoil a perfect evening?

Fulham Wine Rooms
871 – 873 Fulham Road,
London
SW6 5HP
Telephone:
+44 207 042 9440
www.winerooms.london/fulham
Hours
2.30pm – midnight, Monday to Friday.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d2142592-Reviews-The_Fulham_Wine_Rooms-London_England

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Heston's Christmas Puddings - My Verdict

Last year we had the Heston's Christmas Pudding with the citrus fruit inside. It was wonderful. And a surprise. Refreshing.

We just tried the new for Christmas 2016 pudding. It is visually appealing, Glittering outside. It has good ingredients, a liquid centre like a cross between treacle pudding and honey and marmalade. Yet not as good as the citrus fruit version.




Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Christmas Dinner at Dona Theresa Restaurant in Hatch End

Dona Theresa Restaurant in Hatch End is one of several good restaurants in Hatch End.

I'm glad I photographed the menu. I had forgotten they had an H in Theresa.

December Christmas Party Menu. Three course lunch £19.95+10%service charge.Three course dinner £23.95+10%service charge.

The orange carrots, green celery and stick of white (radish?), black olives contrasting with mayonnaise. I wasn't mad about the olives which was good because I didn't exceed my share.

Aubergine with parmesan cheese on top. Very good.

My colourful and plentiful starter was a delight. Avocado firm enough but not too hard and salmon tasty enough but not too salty. Plenty of salad so you easily get three of your five a day portions at this restaurant. Veg dips before, salad/veg starter and veg with the main course.

Turkey with stuffing, chipolata (small sausage) and cranberry sauce, fried potato, green beans (maybe a bit soft and tasteless if you like al dente but so much else was good mine just disappeared) and battered something or other.

Ice cream. Three scoops with a hard wafer. I presume this person asked for three scoops of vanilla.

Somebody else had three different colours of ice cream.

Christmas pudding with custard. That's my choice.

Christmas pudding with cream.

Dona Teresa has had Christmas parties every night this week (like most restaurants in London and many parts of the world). On Tuesday they had Watford Speakers' Club and members of the public. On Thursday they had HOD Speakers' Club which had enough members and guests to fill the entire restaurant with four large tables and create a stage area down one side for comedy acts and presentations of awards. Two people were at both events and ordered different food the second time to make a change.

Wine List

The large wine list included a red Rioja, for those who are fussy and want something better, all prices available. We had a bottle which could be shared around a table, of half a dozen drinkers, especially if two or more others at the table are non drinkers (one person declined, being a designated driver) and others didn't like red wine, or had already had a drink (of Champagne - at home) before going to the restaurant. A small glass of (sweet) muscat (grape) to finish could be shared by two people.

The decor is delightful. The mural of canals goes along the wall and right round the room at the back.

Look up and you'll see the lights continue across the ceiling. Magical.

The Christmas set menu of three courses includes tea or coffee. One of the clubs organised pay in advance so on the night members and guests only had to settle up for extra drinks.

Dona Teresa, 451 Uxbridge Road, Hatch End, Pinner, HA5 4JR. Tel 020 8421 5550.

They also have a website and a Facebook page with lots of pictures.

Photos by Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Copyright. More photos available.