A trifle is an English dessert made of layers of fruits, custard, whipped cream or sponge cakes and sometimes intoxicated with a little alcohol such as wine or sherry. A Christmas trifle, it being uniquely festive, must therefore come in shades of red and white (green would be difficult except with garnishes). And that’s exactly what I had whipped up to celebrate the first day of Christmas.
The word ‘sangria’ originated from the Spanish word ‘sangre‘, which means ‘blood‘. This word was used to name the alcoholic beverage ‘Christmas Sangria’ which commonly uses red wine and chopped fruits among other ingredients. ‘Sangria’ therefore makes specific reference to the deep red colour of the drink which is similar to that of blood.
The little boy just graduated from Playgroup and went on to Nursery 1 this month. He didn’t take it too well though. I think he misses his Playground teachers very badly as well as the fact that he was able to play around and horse around a lot in Playgroup without having to do any proper tracing and craft work at all. He cried and cried a lot in school, so much so that I could sometimes see how swollen his eyes were when I went to pick him up from school at the end of the day.
I miss my pomegranate panna cotta very much. It’s almost five years since I made that dessert – I didn’t even realise time passed by so quickly!
Christmas is never too early and always at least one month ahead of the actual day in my calendar. This is also what happens in the commercial world – shops can be seen taking down their Halloween decorations and then immediately replacing them with Christmas lights and holly. Somehow, having this festive season at the end of the year makes a world of a difference. It feels like a long-awaited break that’s finally arriving – a time that allows everyone to be able to let their hair down and let go. This is perhaps the reason for stretching this festive season to as long as is possible so that Christmas doesn’t end as soon as it comes.
