I didn't make this last year as it was just too painful and I wasn't going to make it this year either. But I had started contemplating it over a week or so ago and today, after an epiphany (or message from above) on how to solve a few previous minor issues I'd had when cooking it previously, I decided to have a go at my nanna's flour bag Christmas pudding recipe.
For years I looked forward to having this pudding. When I was young, nanna used to make it and hide old style coins inside. At the Christmas (or slightly post Christmas, depending on when we made it up to see her) table, no matter how full from mains we were, we'd always make extra room for some pud in the hopes of finding one of the special coins that nanna would swap for real money. As kids, we would always chew it extra carefully so that no teeth were broken nor coins swallowed and if you found a larger size one, you got a whole ten cents and thought you'd struck gold!
Over the years, Christmas pudding has never ever been a favourite of mine but nanna's pudding was always special. That is why, at one stage some years ago, I had asked her for the recipe and somehow she'd managed to hand write it out for me and a few other pudding lovers in the family. I have made it a few times before when she was alive although never as well as nanna and never with the special silver coins that were so reminiscent of my youth.
So tonight, as I'm sitting here waiting for the pudding to boil and watching it steam away in it's own little bag, I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I don't know if it's the result of a stressful day with the kids, the build-up of a long, hard year or if perhaps...just perhaps.....while turning the spoon through the golden fruit and reading her handwritten notes, I felt just the teeniest bit closer to my nanna as I'm sure she was watching over me from somewhere above as I was doing it.
