Mince pie Monday

The very "rustic" mince pies above which look like they were made by a 5 year old were actually made by 35 year old me! They are mini mince pies, made with a Nigella recipe. I made my own mince meat as well. The mince meat is lovely but the pastry not up to my usual standard. I shall blame this on following the modern method of using a mixer to mix the pastry. I usually do it by hand ensuring the pastry is well aired. I shall revert back to the hand made method in future I think. Still the mini pies won't be too bad with some custard!

This weekend we put up the Christmas decorations, well I did it as a surprise for Jase although it was a surprise for him I also deprived him of joining in with the decorating so my surprise wasn't as great as I thought it would be. We have always decorated the tree together, I wish I had waited now and not surprised him at all!
I haven't been able to take many good pictures of the tree, my camera isn't great and I'm not a brilliant photographer. But above is a snap of the tree and below a close up of some of the decorations.
If anyone is wondering about the sparkly pink stags pictured earlier in my blog, they have pride of place on our book case, and the candle with Christmas decoration is on our living room table. Below is a picture taken by Jase of my favourite Christmas decoration my ruby branches. I bought them in a lovely little shop in Dulwich village about 5 years ago. Some of the beads have fallen off but it wouldn't be Christmas with out them.