A lot of people make shortbread or gingerbread at this time of year, but I’ve been baking Grandma’s foam biscuits. Put half a cup of milk and a cup of sugar into a pan. Stir it as it comes to the boil, then add a teaspoon of bicarb soda. And there’s the foam. It bubbles up so much you have to be careful and take it off the heat and stir it frantically as the foam subsides. Add a dash of vanilla essence. Leave the mixture to cool. (Because it’s Grandma’s recipe, I feel I should say you go do something useful while you wait for it to cool.) Later, sift three cups of plain flour into a large bowl. Rub half a cup of cold butter into the flour. Mix in the milk mixture. Roll it out, not too thick, not too thin, cut out the biscuits – preferably with an old mustard tin so they are just the right shape – and bake them. Really, they should be baked in the oven of a wood stove, so the smell of them cooking can mingle with the wood-smoke.