In the Parlance of Our Times

As I write, my Christmas puddings are at the beginning of their 6 hour steam on the stovetop. I've been thinking there must be a way to use modern technology to speed up the cooking of the puddings. Surely the microwave could help us out here.

Truth be told, I could - and often have - quite happily spent Christmas without any pudding at all. But once in a while I like to make one. Doing so gets me thinking and remembering about the years I spent in Ireland and the friends and family I still have there. In particular, it makes me feel connected to my mother-in-law, whose Christmas pudding recipe I'm using and who taught me what little I know about Irish cooking. As I rub the butter into the breadcrumbs I think of all the times I sat at her kitchen table watching her rubbing shortening into dry ingredients. As I pour in the brandy I wonder just how much a "half glass of brandy" meant to her. With distance and her Alzheimer's between us now, it's nice to feel this connnection to the past.

So I think I'll put thoughts of the microwave aside. Steaming the pudding gives me 6 more hours with her on my mind...how much of a boil would she keep going, how much water would she keep in the pot?

Sometimes it's just nice to do things the old way. Of course, I did use the food processor to make the breadcrumbs, grind the almonds, chop the dates and peel, grate the apple and carrot. No need to go overboard here.