Friday, December 01, 2006

It finally stopped raining.

Although I don't have anything that interesting to talk about. I just went home and took a shower and watched movies with a roll of cookies yesterday. Good times in Ireland. And now onwards into the essay writing. 2 3,00 word essays, and an hour inclass exam and then I'm done. And onwards into packing up and heading home for Christmas. Save me some candy canes, for some reason they don't seem to have them here, or gingerbread. Although fruit cakes and mince pies they have aplenty. I'm still not entirely sure what a mince pie is, anyone?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Syd,

You ask for this.
Now you can make your own.
We enjoyed talking to you yesterday and are looking forward to you getting home.

Love ya,

GP

Description
These small pies, usually between 2 and 3 inches in diameter (5-7.5 centimetres), can be made using either sweet shortcrust pastry or puff pastry. The American version of the mince pie can be much larger (8-10 inches or 20-25 centimetres).

The origin of the word 'mincemeat' is of interest, especially as most modern mincemeat does not contain any meat whatsoever, save for the Amish variety, which often contains pork, beef or sausage. Up to Victorian times, the mince(meat) pie would have actually have been a spiced meat pie with some dried fruit. Nowadays, the only remnant of the original meat is the inclusion of suet. Typically, the filling is now made entirely from fruit-based mincemeat containing dried fruit such as raisins, currants, glace cherries, apricot, candied peel; spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg; nuts such as walnuts or chopped almonds; suet; and some kind of alcohol, usually either brandy or rum. Mince pies are suitable for vegetarians only if the suet is replaced by vegetable fat.

Once cooked, the pie is often finished off with a delicate dusting of either caster sugar or icing sugar on top.

Anonymous said...

Syd,
Can't wait to see ya! Mince pie is apple cinnamon I think with raisins. Anyways, we'll see ya soon and we'll make sure to have candy canes. Love, Aunt De