Stir-Up Day

Yesterday the lights of Melbourne dimmed a little as we revved up our old cooker and steamed our Christmas puddings for 8 hours.

Stir-Up Sunday came a little early for us this year, as I decided I should strike while I felt up to it rather than waiting for the official day when we might be having one of those days when stirring an enormous bowl of fruit seems just a bit beyond me. Everyone had a stir as tradition dictates, including Lily who put the end of the spoon in her mouth – but I didn’t realise we were supposed to make wishes. All the while I was stirring I was thinking about how nice it would be to have a holiday in Byron Bay – so maybe that will come true by accident.

Obviously I won’t be able to tell you whether this was all a success or a failure until the weekend before Christmas when we have the first of our family gatherings and eat pudding number 1 — but it’s dark and rich looking and smells pretty good. We ended up using Delia’s recipe with some tips (and fruit buying from the Vic Market) from Paul — he uses vegetable shortening (copha) instead of suet, and only half the recommended amount. So that’s what we did too.