Christmas goodies

 In this post, I thought that I would acquaint you with the dessert goodies that Kiwis buy at Christmas. Well, a few of the goodies at least.  

This first one is the quintessential Kiwi treat. The Pavlova. You finish this by adding whipped cream and your choice of jam, and/or berries and/or fruit. This is a serious sugar rush just waiting to happen. I'll be the first to admit that I have a sweet tooth, but this one is a little too sweet, even for my tastes.  

You are probably already aware that 'pudding' here many times refers to a cake-like dessert. Look at all the varieties available. (next picture)  I think they're all pretty good. Well, the one's I've tried have been any way. They generally remind me of fruit cakes, which, despite all the jokes I've heard about them on TV, I like. 

BTW, since this post is a short one, I might as well fall back on a bit of reminiscing. A one-of-a-kind fruit cake story. But true.

  

Jeanne once made a fruit cake just before Christmas. She used candy oranges, lemons and limes in it along with the usual stuff. For some reason, she felt that the finished product might be substandard and hated to serve it.  She poured a Liberal dose of brandy over it, wrapped it in a tea towel and then waxed paper, and stuck it at the back of our refrigerator's crisper. 

She forgot about it. I didn't even know it was there, and for seven and a half months the cake passed out of all knowledge. Until, when chance came, it ensnared another bearer. *

One day, sometime in July, I was rooting around in the veggies, spotted an unknown entity at the very back, just lying there, and picked it up. 

"What's this thing," I asked Jeanne. 

"Oh my goodness, it's a fruit cake I made at Christmas and forgot about," said she.  

She then told me the story of its creation and of its doubtful value.   

I figured 'what the heck, how bad can it be'? And cut into it.  

It was magnificent!  It was the best fruit cake I had ever tasted or would ever taste. (I'm 69 now and I haven't yet discovered its equal) It was the fruit cake that defined what every fruit cake should be. Maybe fruit cakes in Heaven will taste like this one I thought, but I doubted that any other earthly cake would or could. 

I think that it was the brandy that did it. I'm sure all trace of alcohol had long since dissipated from the cake, but before it left, it must have performed some sort of magic on the molecular structure of flour, sugar, fruits and whatnot. Talk about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts! It had metamorphosed from a caterpillar into a world-class butterfly. 

It was so good I hated to swallow each bite. With every taste my brain would explode with pleasure endorphins. It was a sad day when the last of the cake was consumed. I suffered withdrawal symptoms for nearly a week.

But the memories last.  

*I hope you recognized a few phrases from the Lord of the Rings opening monologue. I couldn't resist using it.  

Have I whetted your appetites at all?  Christmas is right around the corner. Better get out there and buy whatever it is that is your 'must have' Christmas treat.  

Merry Christmas to you all, and remember the Reason for the season.             -djf