The end of 2022

 Well, it's the end of the year. Again. How did that happen?

Guerilla knitting confirms it is December

I did Spanish cooking this month, as promised (evidence below). I also had a lousy cold and missed half the festive build up, so I am currently doing all the Christmas things I want to catch up on. Gloegg, Zimtsterne, overdosing on productions of A Christmas Carol which I had to postpone due to not bringing viruses into company. I guess things are back to normal? It sort of is, though you never used to be able to postpone plays because you have a sniffle. I guess that's a good thing, in a world-has-changed way. 

I don't actually feel particularly normal. Not bad, but I think the world did change quite a bit over the past three years. Maybe any given three years does this to you, and the world, we just didn't have quite such stark markers before. 

Anyway. I shall be with you for New Year Confined Cocktails tomorrow night. Let absolutely no one say, as the nice chaps on a 2018 podcast I listened to today merrily did "Let's hope NEXT year isn't so crazy". Because lads, you had absolutely no clue what was coming. And that, I think, is best for all of us. 

That Spanish food? Cooking from Mezcla at times, which isn't claiming to be Spanish, but also from Tomato, Andalusia, and Liz's copy of Claudia Roden's Food of Spain which she gave me back in 2018 or so. 

Butternut miso gnocchi (that's Mezcla) with spinach and raisins (that's Claudia)

Making a heinous roasted onion aioli...

...and using with tomato and basil for the sloppiest open sandwiches of winter

Properly patatas bravas with what I hope is an exaggerated scale of ramekin of more aioli as well as the tomato sauce.

Chickpea pancakes before other bits get added (and before I tried to turn it and everything went bad)

....the bits. Which were meant to be a fancy stew thing but ended up just being roast tomatoes and garlic while I had the oven on for something else.

Chicken roasted with orange and cumin

...I used the bones for a good chickpea and chorizo stew, which is good enough I made it for my folks a few days ago as leftovers for catering for them after I'd left.

There were tomatoes stuffed with tuna, the Mezcla prawn lasagne (which is awesome and delicious if not photogenic), a proper tortilla de patatas, a weird sesame-ginger-tomato dip thing... And a slightly underwhelming pork in sherry stew was my last Spanish scheduled dish. I'm doing Swedish meatballs this weekend, and something venisonny with chestnuts, which is my last proper Christmas thing. The longing for citrus and green things has taken a while to kick in after rather a belated Christmas binge, but I can feel it growing.

I will be doing the challenge again next year, flipping the months around sides to middle, so January is Mexican. That should be enough fresh and spice to greet the new year. 

But to leave this year on a lackluster stew will not do. So I give you the most staggering Mezcla content - the black forest crumpet.

Did you know you could pimp a crumpet? Caramelise it in butter and sugar and the oven for 15 minutes, and then pile on scented cream, forest fruits, melted chocolate... My version took all manner of shortcuts and is still the fanciest pudding imaginable. Onna crumpet. Whoa. 

I mean, it looks revolting. But trust me, it's a revelation. Some revelations can be good ones.