This recipe uses suet as the shortening agent but as Sarah will be eating with us at Christmas, I have replaced the suet with butter as she does not eat animal products, she is a bit selective, but butter in cakes and puddings is OK with her. Using butter instead of suet does not produce as rich a pudding, but her company more than makes up for that.
Staying there at the same time was a young German lad who had been sent off by his parents for twelve months to travel the world, before returning home to undertake compulsory national service. Something I believe occurs on leaving school and before commencing university. He explained that they had thought him too young to undergo that sort of rigorous training...it went through my mind as he was telling the tale that they hadn't thought him too young to undertake a very grand world tour completely unaccompanied at what seemed to me a very tender age, but I am sure they knew their son best. He was a delightful and very personable young man who had improved his language skills enormously (he told us) during the twelve months, and I am sure his life skills had developed at the same pace, (I had a son the same age and had some inkling). He was about to return home after this last few days in Tasmania and was very pleased to share our meals for the couple of days we shared the accommodation, as he had rather underestimated the availability of food sources on the island for someone without either vehicular transport, or fishing equipment.
The Christmas pudding really surprised him...he said he had never eaten anything like it and he really tucked in. I had forgotten that this pud had also had coins included (my children were still young enough to expect them at every spoonful), and his surprise and delight were unbounded. I have to say that we did not actually get a chance of a second helping...he polished it all off and went off home with a goodly collection of "old" Australian coins in his pocket, and I'm sure with a tale of the strange eating habits of Tasmanians...
Better go and check the water levels, can't leave these little babies unattended for too long...
Bye now,
Di