I like Christmas. I still get quite excited about it – but not until 1^st December will I even consider putting up a tree or any decorations. I have found it interesting on my travels around the world that Christmas seems to be one of those holidays that is gaining popularity in non-Christian countries. Several years ago when I was in Bangkok, the city was awash with Christmas decorations and when I returned a few months later, they were still up! In Qatar, a Muslim country, decorations were fairly easy to come by, and some of the shopping malls – particularly those aimed at the expat population – would have some decorations. Kazakhstan, being both orthodox Christian and Muslim, had plenty of Christmas cheer around, but the celebrations at school were always referred to as ‘winter’ rather than Christmas. So we had a “winter” concert and a “winter” break. They still had Father Christmas though!

Here in China even there are Christmas trees in several places, outside high-end hotels and shopping malls, mostly, and I find this quite surprising. There are also decorations to be found in various shops. We have a big tree on the front lawn of the school, and a few more dotted about. I know that this has caused some consternation to one or two here: it is, after all, an international school, and the worry is that we’re becoming too ‘westernised’ – by which they really mean, Christianised. We do, of course, celebrate Chinese New Year and the Moon Festival in Autumn, but there are no signs of Eid, Holi, Diwali, or any other religions’ festivals being celebrated. In previous years, all Christmas and Halloween decorations were not allowed. This year, there are definitely more decorations around the city than last, and I suppose there will be those that bemoan this as an homogenisation of culture.

I sit somewhere in the middle of this debate. Being a fan of Christmas, I do like the lights and the trees but I can see that we need to be seen not to favour any one religion or culture over others, particularly in an international school. We have several Muslim families in our school, for example, and I do think it would be good to recognise other cultures more. In our previous school in Kazakhstan we had many people from India, so Diwali and Holi were celebrated. We also had “A Country A Month”, during which that country’s customs and foods were shared and explored.

Anyway, the point is, there are signs of Christmas being celebrated here to the extent that I could readily buy some lights and a tree, which we have now put up at home. Tao Bao, again, came to the rescue: the tree, complete with ornaments and a string of lights, plus two more long strings of lights, cost just 130RMB (just over US$20, £12). Not bad, eh?

However, I haven’t found mincemeat anywhere, and I love mince pies . I think this may be a traditionally British thing as many of my American friends thought mincemeat really contained meat, rather than dried fruit (which reminds me of the episode of Friends when Rachel tries to make a trifle). This led me to investigate the origins of mincemeat and it turns out, it did originally contain meat but that its inclusion has been fazed out, so that it’s now mostly boozy dried fruit. However, the continued presence of beef suet must be a throwback.

My mother always made her own mincemeat – mostly because it’s much boozier, and therefore tastier, than shop bought – and so I decided I’d bring some traditional British Christmas to Chengdu and do the same. Buying dried fruit is, of course, no problem, and neither are the spices. I found a great recipe (thanks Mary Berry) that uses butter instead of beef suet, the inclusion of which always sounded weird, so I didn’t need to try to source that. Candied peel, or mixed peel as we call it in the UK was, however, another matter. So I made my own. And discovered it’s pretty easy.

Making candied peel

1. Peel two oranges and two lemons. Cut the peel into strips, and then into smaller pieces. I did this whilst watching TV and the house smelt AMAZING. As did my hands. Some recipes stipulate keeping as little pith on as possible, but I wasn’t too bothered.
2. Put the chopped peel in a small saucepan with enough water to cover, and bring to the boil. Boil for about 10 minutes and then drain. Repeat, but when draining the second time keep some of the water – about half a cup – and  return this and the peel to the pan with about half a cup of sugar. I used dark granulated sugar, which makes the fruit quite dark, but gives a lovely rich, sweet, nutty flavour to the peel. After boiling for another ten minutes, put the peel and the juice into a bowl and leave overnight. This allows the sweetness and all the flavour to concentrate in the peel.
3. The next day, return the peel and juice to a small pan, add a little more water and another half a cup of sugar and boil for about 15 minutes. As far as I can tell, none of the measurements or timings are critical.
4. Once the peel and syrup have boiled together for a while, drain once more – but this time I kept the juice as I now have some delicious orangey syrup which I’m sure will be lovely on something. Or in something.
5. After it’s well drained, spread the peel out on greaseproof paper to dry out. If you want crunchy, REALLY sweet peel, as a snack, you could sprinkle some extra sugar at this point and let the peel dry and crisp up. As I wanted to use it for mincemeat, it didn’t need to dry completely, so after a day I put it all in a small bowl and covered with cling film ready to add to my mincemeat.
   

I haven’t got around to making the mincemeat yet, but that’s tonight’s job. I’ll keep you posted on progress.