Also in the group tonight was a cooking expert who was only too happy to fill me in when I didn't know what "suet" or "sultanas" were or how to juice lemons or grate nutmeg (I've never seen nutmeg in an un-ground form!).  She also despairs of the American system of measuring.  "We can't use any of the recipes in the Ensign!  They all use 'cups' and things.  What sort of 'cups' do they mean?  Mugs?  Drinking glasses?  We have all sizes!"   British people measure things in ounces; they have to pour all their ingredients onto a cooking scale.  Interesting!  This lady couldn't believe that I'd never made a Christmas pudding before.  "What do you eat after Christmas dinner?" she asked in amazement.  Christmas pudding is made of bread crumbs, vegetable suet, spices, sugar, lemon rind, almonds, and every imaginable dried fruit. Emma swears it's the most delicious things she's ever tasted!  We all made wishes whilst stirring this hodge-podge of ingredients--another time-honored British tradition--and wished its future eaters health and happiness.  Apparently, you can also stick little trinkets (coins and such) in the pudding for the eaters to discover and enjoy, providing they don't choke to death first.
 
All in all, it was a splendid evening.  When I tried a sultana and pronounced it delicious, Sister Spiers insisted on sending me home with an entire bag of the dried fruit.  She also gave me a glass bowl to store my pudding in, and she's going to steam it for me (since I don't have a sauce pan large enough to accommodate it!).  What a sweet, sweet lady!  When I apologized for the mess we made of her kitchen, she just said, "No, no!  I have a dishwasher--wonderful thing.  I'll just stick everything in there and then relax as it swishes away!"  I feel like she's taken me in as an adopted daughter, and it really warms my heart to discover that such good, dedicated, loving Saints exist worldwide!