My Favourite Home-Related Christmas Presents

This Christmas was a scaled back one, presents-wise. My sister suggested a secret santa among our siblings and my college girls and I decided to skip the presents this time but make more of an effort to meet up. 

It was obvious from the few presents I did receive this Christmas that the givers put thought into their purchases. And so I ended up with some gorgeous gifts for my home.

Back in the summer I put together a wish list of Irish-designed items. It seems Santa read that post. I returned to Germany from my post-Christmas visit to Ireland with two Stephen Pearce dishes, perfect matches for the bowl I already had, and an Avoca Handweavers rug which had belonged to my Nana (thanks Dad and Mam!). 

From the Max Benjamin collection, which I have given others on several occasions and only realised recently that they are Irish too, I was given a candle and a soap set by my mother. The candle is from the Max Benjamin Tea Collection and is called Victorian Earl Grey. The scent is beautiful and tin the candle is housed in is such a pretty shade of turquoise. 

The soaps too smell divine and will suit our redecorated bathroom perfectly. Even the box they come in ties in nicely with the colour scheme of the bathroom.

Speaking of the bathroom, the boys were given a set of Cath Kidson face cloths. They are the softest thing you've ever felt. The pattern of cowboys on horseback throwing lassoes appeals to the boys very much, so fingers crossed face-washing may also gain some appeal. 

My very favourite gift for our home this Christmas has to be the cake slice from the Dunnes Stores' Carolyn Donnelly Eclectic collection. 

The detail on the handle is what makes it so special, I think. It pairs really well with my vintage silverware and my mis-matched china plates, both flea market finds.    

With my birthday coming up, the cake slice won't have long to wait for its first official outing. I've already been given a few presents but, not one to open my gifts before the day, I have them put away. 

I do have a sneaking suspicion though that there may be another Stephen Pearce item in there somewhere. 

Homemade Christmas Food and Drink Gifts - Part Two

I am spectacularly late on this. Seriously. The production time on this post would rival that spent on any Hollywood blockbuster. The budget was ever so slightly lower though. 

On the 14th November, on the spur of the moment, I decided I would film the making of my homemade foodie gifts. What I neglected to take into account was the amount of editing a spur of the moment vlog needs. Especially when there are countless star appearances by Number Three. He even attempted a few stunts, but I literally caught him in time. 

But anyway, back to the matter at hand - making a few cheap and cheerful, quick and easy food gifts.

Are you in need of some last minute gifts? Does your creativity need a culinary outlet? Or do you just need a way to get rid of all the bottles and jars you've been hoarding all year? 

Whatever the answer, you have come to the right place. Take a look at my short vlog and see the gorgeous, tasty edible gifts you can make in no time, with very little effort, no cooking and very few ingredients. 

In this vlog you'll learn how to make:

 - Candy Sugar in Grand Marnier, for pepping up punch, mulled wine black tea or coffee

 - Homemade Vanilla Sugar, for adding an extra depth of flavour to baking

 - Layered Seasonings in a Jar or Grinder

 - Homemade Seeded Brown Bread Mix, just add buttermilk before baking (get the full recipe here)

You'll be amazed how much you can make in five minutes!

Your shopping list:
Caster sugar
Vanilla pods
Orange liqueur
Candy sugar
Sea salt (coarse)
Black pepper
Oregano
Chili flakes
Brown flour
White plain flour
Bicarbonate of soda (bread soda)
Fine salt
A selection of seeds (linseed, poppy, pumpkin)

P.S. In an ideal world (or on a better organised blog) you would find here at the end of the post some lovely printables to pin, print or download. But this is the real world, my real world to  be exact, so maybe there'll be printables next year. If I think of it on time.

Homemade Christmas Food and Drink Gifts - Part One

So, the "in a few days" I wrote in my initial post on Christmas food has turned into eleven days and I am very sorry about that. Somehow the days just flew by in a blur and here I am with my photos and my half-editied vlog, desperately trying to get my recipes out to you before Christmas Eve.

You'll be glad to hear that I have a whole host of easy, tasty and quick-to-make edible gifts for you. Of course, you don't even have to give them away. You can keep them all for your own enjoyment. It is up to you.

So now to get down to the recipes. First up is my non-alcoholic punch. With so many friends and family members dropping in over the Christmas period, it is handy to have something a bit more festive than tea on hand to offer any non-drinkers or those driving. Click here for my delicious spiced punch with a rooibush tea base. You can bottle it and store it in the fridge for a few days, heating as necessary. 

Visitors like nibbles but mince pies or the same boring crackers with cheese everywhere you turn can get old fairly quickly. That's why I've made my own crispbreads this year. So easy and a great way to use up stale bread. I make my own bread, but you can use any loaf bread or baguette-style bread. I like to use my white, multi-seed bread.

Before the bread goes completely stale, slice it into very fine slices, almost wafer-thin. Lay the slices out on baking trays and brush lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 10-12 minutes. Leave to cool completely before stacking in tall, wide-neck air-tight jars. Tie with a ribbon and give as as present or keep in your own cupboard for nibbling with wine or port and cheese. 

For a sweet treat for yourself, your guests or to give as a gift, try making your own marzipan truffles. I flavour mine with walnut and orange, both Christmassy flavours, and coat them in cocoa. Click here for the full recipe. Pack the finished truffles into a jar or clear plastic gift bag and tie with a pretty ribbon to finish.

Jams, jellies, chutneys and relishes make excellent gifts at this time of year. If you are a jam-maker, you'll have a stock of jars at the back of a cupboard somewhere, bursting with all the flavours of late Summer and early Autumn. Some of the recipes I use are:

Green Cherry Tomato Relish 

Rosehip and Apple Jelly

Windfall Pear and Apple Chutney

Cherry Jam

I hope I've been able to provide you with a little bit of insiration here. A combination of the gifts listed above can make a gorgeous and inexpensive hamper for neighbours, teachers or friends. Why not give some of them a go to get you in the festive, generous spirit?

Christmas in One Day

I have an ambitious plan for today. I am going to organise Christmas. 

Tomorrow we are getting the tree. 

Today everything else is being done. 

ALL the presents will be bought. 

ALL the presents will get wrapped. 

The goose will get ordered from one butcher. 

The special Christmas Eve sausages will be ordered from another butcher.

The decorations will be brought up from the cellar. 

The Christmas CDs will be found.

The cards will be written and posted. 

Love Actually will be watched.

Mulled wine will be drunk.

From nought to Christmas in 24 hours.

Wish me luck. 

Homemade Festive Food Gifts

I don't know why but Christmas is very much about food, isn't it? Much more so than any other day of the year. We plan for ages in advance what we are going to eat, we do mountains of food shopping and we give and receive hampers. I love all of that, but I think I enjoy the hamper making best - all the decisions of what to make, wondering which combinations to give people and how o decorate it all.

Back in my student days I worked in Magill's delicatessen in Dublin and used to put together dozens of hampers in the run up to Christmas. The days were long and the shop was cold and by Christmas I was sick of the sight of cellophane and sticky tape, but I never tired of the food. Chutneys, relishes, jams, cheese crackers, spice mixes, Stollen, pasta, Pannetone and beautiful marzipan creations passed through my hands into the baskets and made their way under other people's Christmas trees.

The inspiration I gathered in Magills has contributed to my love of making homemade food gifts for friends at Christmas. It is such a satisfying thing to do - to take a jar and fill it with lots of good things, seal it, pretty it up with a ribbon and a label and bring it to a friend. 

If you're not a jam-maker or a chutney lover, fear not. There are plenty of other options - from homeamde chocolates to spice mixes and crackers. I'll be posintg tips, tricks and recipes for homemade food gifts over the next few days. I've even made a little video for you of some of my favourite quick and easy edible gifts. Maybe some the of inspiration I gathered will pass over to you!