Happily, the Buddhists came to the rescue! I was in their charity shop, the Lama's Pyjamas, on Roman Road, one evening last week, when I overheard the staff saying that the fake tree in the display window was for sale for £4.
I decided to get it the next day, but before that, Wingnut's mum arrived in the morning with a bunch of lovely papier-mâché decorations from the Kringloop, a chain of Dutch recycling shops. That woman has better hearing than Sinterklaas and Santa Claus combined.
So, having sworn I would never have an evil fake tree, I now have a very nice one with free decorations from the Buddhists, the gift of Dutch baubles, and a teddy bear from Tokyo to finish it off.
Merry Xmas, have a good one!
As it's Christmas, I added in all the optional extras of cinnamon, mixed fruit and apple, for that seasonal flavour, which worked out great. I don't remember my one in Leiden being nearly as good. The only problem was that it took much longer to bake than the recipe stated: a full 75 minutes instead of 60.
I would've take a picture of the completed Herman but at this point that would involve stomach X-rays, so maybe not.
Herman II will be baked on New Year's Day. Should make a good start to the year!
To my great surprise and delight, he's back again. First staying with a friend in Bethnal Green, then in Bow and now with me.
He's not very talkative, but cakes generally aren't. (If he is, you've probably left him alone too long...)
Here's a recipe for Herman, the friendship cake. My Herman is on Day 9, so has just been fed and divided. It's a bit sad, looking at my remnant in a bowl. Even sadder because I don't think I can rehome my little Hermans as most everyone's gone for Christmas already. So, while my Herman goes to his warm "resort" tomorrow, the others might have to go somewhere a lot colder for their holidays.
I saw a nice thing at the secondhand charity shop Ayoka the other weekend. A mother had brought her daughters in and they were enjoying themselves buying Christmas presents.
I think that's a great idea. Apart from the benefits to the environment and charity, the children could feel like they were buying something substantial while not having to spend 52 weeks of pocket money.
Personally, if anyone wants to get me a Christmas or birthday gift, I'm totally cool with secondhand. I probably should've said that earlier but the constant cries of, "spend, spend, spend! our way out of recession," is doing my head in, which has prompted me to say it now.
In our poor student days, some of my friends would get me random old secondhand SF with funky covers for my birthday. That was really appreciated.
Also, last year I had way too much fun digging up last minute gifts for Wingnut in charity shops. Buying new would not have been nearly as enjoyable.
This year, I've discovered the joys of eBay for children who are too small to notice or care whether something is new or not. All that's needed is some extra packaging to make the unwrapping as much fun as it should be!
Anyone else considering going down the secondhand route?
It was only when I got back that I noticed @KateNash had tweeted a pic of a strangely familiar post office queue. Except by the time I'd arrived, the people in the photo were in the toasty warm while I was still standing out in the winter sun.
A following tweet complained of someone blatantly violating the sanctity of the queue. This being England, no one said anything, but I was disappointed not to hear a single good British tut. Is tweeting the new tutting? :-D
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sierra_le_oli- Kimberley Verburg
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