my xmas cheer

Jonna — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:34:35 +0000

ta da!

So, today I finally made the fruitcake. I’ve been thinking about it and sort of preparing for it for over a month. It started when I read Joyce’s blog from Panama and earlier I read about making a Christmas pudding in Nicaraugua on Ancel’s blog. That had gotten me to discuss the details of Christmas puddings with the Brits. I hadn’t decided until today whether to make an American fruit cake or a British Christmas pudding, it seems the difference is mainly in the cooking.

My original idea was to make either but with tropical fruits soaked in dark rum. Back in October, there were dried mangos and papaya and pineapple in all the stores. When I finally got serious about it in November, they had all disappeared. In their place were lots of dried northern fruits like peaches and pears and apples. So, I continued to search and I bought candied tropical fruits which are still around.

I’ve no idea if there is a reason for these appearances and disappearances down here, it’s the way it is. I live in a kind of perpetual fog about what is going on around me. I have the major occurrences down, I know the main holidays and what foods are associated with them and usually I can find whatever I need with a little thought. Some things though never rise to the surface in my brain so I never ask and I just don’t know why or what or when. It’s a feeling I find I like, one of always walking around a bit confused and not caring much that you don’t understand what’s going on around you. Is this the secret to a happy life as an ex-pat?

Anyway, I started collecting candied fruit and eventually found some dried mango and of course, raisins and dates and prunes. As I found different things, I chopped them up and put them in a tupper (tupper is almost a verb in Spanish) with lots of dark rum to ‘soak’. I added rum whenever it looked a bit dry, this is some high octane fruit that I had aging on the counter. Collecting the stuff I need took almost a month. The last item, something to wrap it in for the curing process I found last night at Mega. They are soft white rags, I washed them in vinegar and rinsed them when I got home. Oh, and a couple of small bread pans. I guess truthfully I must have decided to go with fruit cake rather than pudding last night when I bought those pans, puddings are round. I just didn’t think that I’d enjoy a pudding steaming on the stove for 6 hours, it hasn’t gotten that cold here.

This morning I put it all together. I used the recipe that Joyce published as a start, I used cardamom instead of mace because I don’t have any mace and I like cardamom. I baked them in a tray of water on low heat for about three and a half hours. Perhaps this makes them kind of a cross between a pudding and a cake, they did steam a bit. I was a little fuzzy on the amount of fruit, I did weigh it at some point while I was collecting it but I kept adding more and didn’t want to put that gooey mess on my scale. In the end I had enough for the 2 loaf pans plus I used one of my teflon jello molds for 6 small ones. I figure I can use the small ones as tasters, you know, to see if they are aged enough. I might have to try one tonight as a base line.

I may add the dregs of some vodka I blended with fresh ginger and have had in the freezer for a month when I start soaking the cakes. I’d say this is going to be a very alcoholic cake. Just licking the bowl after putting them in the oven I got a buzz this morning. I’m also not sure they will be aged enough by Christmas but they should be about perfect when our friends Bobby and Patti get here in January. I think it is another symptom of my cultural fog, I don’t much care if they are done on time or not. Perhaps I’ll make the Christmas pudding for Stephen’s and my birthday in February, I’ll wait for the next norte to make it but I’ll start soaking whatever fruit is in the stores now.

***Raui update. She is spending another night at the vet. She ate last night but not this morning, something has to be wrong with her stomach. She is playing and acts normal in other ways. They are still giving her IM antibiotics for the upper respiratory infection and, since I get so damn confused with all the different sized syringes and the mls of medicine, I’m kind of glad. I’m not all that fond of dosing incredibly small animals with liquid antibiotics that I had to mix precisely from a powder and keep in the refrigerator. I’m just a lazy gringa I guess who wants someone else to do that part, someone who has had a lot more training than I have perhaps?

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my xmas cheer