Lights and Mince Pies

It's a fact of modern existence that Christmas decorations go up earlier and earlier as the years go by, so much so, that I confidently predict we'll be seeing Santa on our Easter eggs in the not to distant future. Round my way they already have a cheerful fusion of Xmas and Diwali lights with non specific symbols on them (though since candles feature so much in both celebrations there are quite a few of those). The lights go up in late October/early November which coincides nicely with the days getting shorter making that transition a little more bearable.

So, it's about this time of year that my customary experiment with mince pies takes place. Every year I say "oooh, mince pie!" and cheerfully bite into one expecting a lovely warm christmassy feeling to hit me only to find myself gagging moments later. It's then I realise that I don't actually like them very much. The same goes with Xmas pudding, something I have to drown in creme anglaise to make palatable.

So it was quite the shock this morning to be confronted with a mince pie that I quite enjoyed, almost absent mindedly I scoffed one with my tea whilst reading my email. Odd. Maybe, stopping smoking has fundamentally altered my food memory or perhaps it's so cold that my body is suppressing my taste buds to get me to stuff my face for winter...