Bringing it to the Boil
Posted: Friday 24 December 2010 - 5 comment(s) [ Comment ] - 0 trackback(s) [ Trackback ]
Category: General
In a recent interview, Stephen Cleobury, who will direct his twenty-ninth Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College Cambridge soon today, spoke of the psychological aspect of the occasion. The music has been learnt and rehearsed; his job is to bring everything to the boil at the right time.
 
As he does that musically at 3pm , many of us will be doing it for real in our darkening kitchens as the final countdown to Christmas begins. As a cherubic choirboy sings 'Once in Royal David's City', and as the conductors, organists and choristers amongst us breeze in and out to services, I juggle the culinary demands of preparing traditional Christmas fare with the culinary challenges of feeding :
a) someone who doesn't eat carbs - no bread, potatoes, pasta, pastry
b) someone who is into hummus, plus garlic and onion dip
c) the elderly whose digestion is very poor,
d) the young who think that a mince pie for breakfast is enough, and one of their 5-a-day.
The timelessness and beauty of the King's service is an anchor in the busyness . My hope is that Stephen Cleobury gets his side of Christmas to the boil at the right time, and that I get mine. 
Happy Christmas, everyone :)
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