The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

Festive wishes

Home Baking treats seem to be the dominant force in the Ayres household at the moment.

I’ve just had one of Meg’s gluten-free "iced gems" biscuits, which she made herself - and very tasty it was too. Maggie’s magical skills with flour, fat and sugar are legendary, and she has passed many of her abilities on to the offspring.

Maggie herself has, of course, been busy making more food that an army could fight its way through, despite the fact there are only 5 of us here for Christmas this year.

Rogan has made some delightful chocolate-chip cookies and the most amazing chocolaty, crumbly peppermint slices.

Even I gave it a go yesterday, making some truffles with dark, 70% chocolate. Inspired by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Christmas special I decided to create my own concoction, mixing chilli jam, lemon marmalade and a dash of single-malt whiskey to the melted chocolate. After letting it cool, I rolled the mixture into small balls and dipped them in more melted dark chocolate.

The result is quite an intense hit of flavours but, if I’m honest, it didn’t turn out quite as well as expected. In hindsight, I should probably have used a chilli jam that didn’t have garlic in it, as the lingering aftertaste is just a bit too... lingering.

I could probably have enjoyed 2 or three of them, sharing the rest with the family, however the family have decided my creations should be left entirely to me.

5 down, 11 to go...

Meanwhile, in keeping with the traditions of the blog, you should find below our annual greeting card. There’s been no snow this year, just relentless rain, so I was quite pleased to be able to photograph a robin in a holly tree, which is not too bad where festive images are concerned.

So whatever your beliefs, non beliefs and state of mind, I wish you all the very best over the coming festive season and for the New Year.


10 comments

angryparsnip said...

Lovely photo of the Robin in the Holly Tree.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.

cheers, gayle

hope said...

Merry Christmas to a most creative family. :)

Mimi and Tilly said...

Have a fantastic day Kim, wishing you and your family all good things for 2013. Em :)

mapstew said...

Nollaig Shona! :¬)

Aoife.Troxel said...

Happy Christmas. :) Have to say the baking at our house was good and bad...such are the results of experimentation.

Pat said...

Warmest greetings to you all from Somerset:)

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Now that's a pretty Christmas card!
It makes me think of childhood though I've never seen a robin in real life. But we used to have Christmas cards with robins on them.

As for your chocolate experiment...don't let your family's reluctance stop you, Kim. Go for it, you the man! Try chocolate and cheese. Chocolate and spinach. Chocolate and fish. Hee hee. Am I teasing you? :-)

Wishing you and your family all the best.



Hindsfeet said...

Oh Kim, this is so *very* beautiful.....thanks for such a sweet share and wish for the season...

....wishing you and yours a lovely time too.....and, um, also in keeping with the season, wishing you truffle redemption ; )

all the best always and always,
Liz~*

Unknown said...

Same to you and yours Kim :)

Kim Ayres said...

Thanks to each of you for your kind words and festive greetings. I hope you all had a great time and are looking forward to a wonderful year ahead :)

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