Using random.com, Caroline Warfield has selected the winner of her giveaway from her visit with us on Sept 30. A-n-d the winner is: JUDY!! Caroline tells me Judy has already received her choice of either Dangerous Works or Dangerous Secrets, from Caroline’s “Dangerous”series. Congratulations, Judy!! Thanks for visiting us at Risky Regencies!
Well, I want to say that everyone who offered suggestions for my “real Regency heroines” list are winners simply by being generous people who participated and expanded everyone’s knowledge of the period by doing so. But I did promise specifically to give away a free ebook or two, and since the response was so wonderful, I gave away four!!
The winners were chosen at random and they are: Sharon Farrell, Queen PoohBear, Harriet Robinson, and author Kim Lambert (who posted on FB). I included several people who posted on FB because I know not everyone finds it easy to post comments on the blog. Congratulations to all four winners! And thanks again to everyone for helping to create a most interesting roster of admirable women!
Congratulations to Karenmc! You are the winner of Rose Lerner’s True Pretenses!
Karenmc, look for an email from Rose!
Thanks to everyone who made Rose feel welcome!
Deborah Swift!
You are Risky Regencies winner of Sarah Mallory’s Temptation of a Governess!
Sarah will be in touch with you soon.
Thanks so much for visiting the Riskies!
First of all, congratulations to Teresa B., winner of It Happened One Christmas. Stay tuned for other guests and giveaways!
Here’s a blog that I originally posted on Dec 5, 2011. It (slightly altered) seemed perfect for today!
Stir Up Sunday is the Sunday before Advent begins, when, according to the Book of Common Prayer, the prayers begin:
Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord the wills of thy faithful people, that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Traditionally, the prayer read at Church was supposed to remind cooks that they should mix up their Christmas pudding.
This year Stir Up Sunday would have been on Nov 22, so I am a week late and my pudding will not be ready for Christmas. To us Americans, pudding is some chocolate or vanilla or banana custard-like dessert, but English pudding is a mixture of lots of different ingredients, including some grain product.
In the Regency, meats such as beef or veal could be added to sugar, raisins, sherry, lemon, orange, prunes (the dried plums that give plum pudding its name), cinnamon, cloves, brown bread, and such unfamiliar (to me) ingredients as cochineal (a food dye made from insects), suet, sack (a wine from the Canary Isles), hock (another wine), and treacle (a sugar syrup).
Into the mixture was stirred a coin (for wealth), a ring (for marriage) and a thimble (for blessedness. Each member of the family stirred the mixture and made a wish. The mixture was then boiled in a cloth for hours, and hung on a hook to dry until Christmas.
On Christmas day, the pudding was covered with warm brandy and set aflame, making it a dramatic and exciting addition to the Christmas dinner.
If you would like to make a Christmas pudding for your Christmas the Regency way, you are too late, because it has to age to get the best effect and flavor. But never fear! Modern technology comes to the rescue:
What special “pudding” (aka dessert) do you make for the holiday season?