Leviticus 186/84: Dickens tells Boris what our Christmas Future will be ...

As ever, it was leaked over the weekend … It seems that pubs and restaurants are to be given a symbolic hard time over the coming weeks to minimise socialising here in England … fortunately the Gothenburg in The Pans is allowed from tomorrow, Tuesday 24th, to resume food and drink service at tables and Calum and Michelle have been getting the decorations in place. Barons' Courts contributed its usual annual pour boire to get illuminations on the balconies too so the whole street looks more cheerful. So what we are awaiting from Boris later this week here in Milton is resolution as to what tier we are in until Christmas week. It appears as though all shops will be allowed to reopen almost everywhere and that for Christmas we'll be advised to "use our brains and common sense" in each family to protect our most vulnerable members.

Cashew and Cranberry and Cappuccino Days all rolled together! It's not often that three delectable celebrations come together and I'm puzzled with Cranberry Day so close to US Thanksgiving coming as soon as Thursday when they seem to be traditional fare with turkey and perhaps better matched that day. I managed to find a goodly 1.4kilos of turkey at Morrisons today as well as further no/lo-alcohol beers for Avril. There's not much more to say about cappuccinos … colourful to match a Capuchin friar's cloak. I've always preferred an americano with cold milk personally. Also called a Long Black Down Under and the Russians attempted to encourage russiano. Of greater interest are …
cashew seeds, always seemingly one of Avril's favourites. The cashew tree [anacardium occidentale] is a tropical evergreen tree that produces the cashew seed and the cashew apple. The tree can grow as high as 46ft but the dwarf cashew growing up to 20ft has proven more profitable with earlier maturity and greater yields. The cashew seed is often considered a nut in the culinary sense; it's eaten on its own, used in recipes, or processed into cashew cheese or cashew butter. The species is native to Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America including north eastern Brazil. Portuguese colonists in Brazil began exporting cashew nuts as early as the 1550s but nowadays Vietnam, India, and the Ivory Coast are the major producers. The shell of the cashew seed yields derivatives that can be used in many applications including lubricants, waterproofing and paints. The cashew apple is a light reddish to yellow fruit whose pulp can be processed into a sweet, astringent fruit drink or distilled into liquor.

Most of the world's cranberries are grown in USA, Canada and Chile. They are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to 7ft long and 2"/8" in height; they have slender, wiry stems that are not thickly woody and have small evergreen leaves. The flowers are dark pink, with very distinct reflexed petals leaving the style and stamens fully exposed and pointing forward. They are pollinated by bees. The fruit is a berry that is larger than the leaves of the plant initially light green it turns red when ripe. As fresh cranberries are hard, sour and bitter about 95% are processed and used to make cranberry juice and sauce. Cranberry juice is usually sweetened or blended with other fruit juices to reduce its natural tartness. Usually cranberries as fruit are cooked into a compote or jelly known as cranberry sauce traditionally served with roast turkey as a staple of English Christmas dinners and Thanksgiving both in Canada and in the US. The berry is also used in baking of muffins, scones, cakes and breads and is often combined with orange or orange zest. Less commonly, cranberries are used to add tartness to savoury dishes such as soups and stews. Finally there are several alcoholic cocktails e.g. The Cosmopolitan that include cranberry juice.
P.S. Liggonberries which we came across in Scandinavia, also called cowberry, are not the same as cranberry but both lingonberry and cranberry are part of the vaccinium family of plants like blueberries, huckleberries and bilberries.