I laughed, Max. Hope your friend in Dunedin eschewed the glue component. Might I suggest the lack of response thus far is due to your too-early posting. Come December, it's bound to better received.
Bill
> On 22 Nov 2014, at 2:53 am, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> My friend in Dunedin - his childhood was spent near Belfast - has been preparing the family Christmas cake with the ingredients below,
> and kindly forwards me his inspiration.
>
> Season’s greetings from Max in Seattle
>
> MISS HOOLIGAN’S CHRISTMAS CAKE
>
> As I sat at my windy one evening,
> The letter man brought unto me
> A little gilt edged invitation,
> Saying, Gilhooly, come over to tea.
> Sure I knew that the Hooligans sent it,
> So I went just for old friendship’s sake,
> And the first thing they gave me to tackle
> Was a piece of Miss Hooligan’s cake.
> Chorus:
> There was plums and prunes and cherries,
> Citron and raisins and cinnamon too,
> There was nutmeg, cloves, and berries,
> And the crust it was nailed on with glue.
> There were carraway seeds in abundance,
> Sure ‘twould build up a fine stomach-ache,
> ‘Twould kill any man twice to be ‘ating a slice
> Of Miss Hooligan’s Christmas cake.
>
> Miss Mulligan wanted to taste it,
> But really there wasn’t no use,
> They worked at it over an hour,
> And they couldn’t get none of it loose.
> Till Hooligan went for the hatchet,
> And Killy came in with a saw,
> That cake was enough, by the powers,
> To paralyze any man’s jaw.
> (Chorus)
>
> Mrs Hooligan, proud as a peacock,
> Kept smiling and blinking away,
> Till she fell over Flanigan’s brogans,
> And spilled a whole brewing of tay.
> ’Oh, Gilhooly,’ she cried, ‘you’re not ‘ating,
> Try a little bit more for my sake,’
> ’No, Mrs Hooligan,’ sez I,
> ’But I’d like the resate of that cake.’ [receipt / recipe]
> (Chorus)
>
> Maloney was took with the colic,
> M’Nulty complained of his head,
> M’Fadden lay down on the sofa,
> And swore that he wished he was dead.
> Miss Daly fell down in hysterics,
> And there she did wriggle and shake,
> While every man swore he was poisoned,
> Through ‘ating Miss Hooligan’s cake.
> (Chorus)
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