Busy Saturday

[caz963]

We packed the kids off to Nanny and Grandad's for the weekend last night, so today was Operation Christmas Shopping.

We managed to drag ourselves out of bed fairly early and braved the cold, the biting winds and the rain to get the rest of the stuff the girls have asked for, plus a few other odds and ends. But I'm bound to have forgotten something.

Then we spent most of the afternoon wrapping presents while watching Iron Man.

I don't know why it is though, but I can't say that I feel particularly festive. The girls are getting excited, and so are all the kids at school, but it just doesn't feel real to me! The end of term is Friday, and we're having our usual Christmas tea for the kids and some of their friends after school, so perhaps that might help to start to get me in the mood.

Tomorrow morning I'm planning to make marzipan and then slap it on the Christmas cake so I can ice it next weekend. Maybe I'll even make some mince pies.

Comments

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Oh, homemade marzipan is SO much nicer than the shop-bought stuff. It's not so sweet, and the recipe I use has both icing sugar and caster sugar, so there's a very little "crunch" to it, too.

I will admit it's a bit laborious, but it's not difficult. The recipe I use is Delia Smith's - here (http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/almond-icing-marzipan,890,RC.html).

If you can't access it, let me know and I'll email it to you.

[kiss-me-cassie.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Thank you! I can get the recipe fine, but... is caster sugar the same as granulated sugar?

::feels stupid::

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Caster sugar is finer than granulated sugar, but not so fine as icing sugar. Over here, we use caster in most cake recipes because it makes for a lighter texture. According to Yahoo!Answers *g*, you call it "superfine" or "Baker's" sugar.

Also, I tend to find that the number of eggs used in that recipe makes it very sticky and I seem to remember the first time I made it, it turned out more like a batter than a paste! I'd recommend using one less egg than she says. You can always add a bit if it's too dry :)

[kiss-me-cassie.livejournal.com]

Thank you SO much!

[caz963.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! Let me know how it turns out.