Come Dine With Me (Part 3 of 4)

Come Dine With Me Part 3, means that today was Jess' turn to wow us with her culinary prowess.  As per custom for this event, we all got our formal invites in the post a couple of weeks ago.

Today's theme was Sparkles and so we were all donned in our sparkly attire.  To add to the festivities, we had bubbles and party poppers to play with on our table to distract us from our rumbling tummies, as we waited in earnest for the tasty food that Jess was getting ready.

As per last time, I won't offer any thoughts on the menu or the food, as I don't want to ruin the video.  But see for yourselves and decide what score out of 10 you would have given:

Canapes:

An assortment of tasty nibbles like bread sticks, olives and sun blushed tomatoes, washed down with a glass or few of Prosecco.  There was also some parma ham on offer which Amee didn't get to see because Bing and I had finished it before she had arrived.

Starters:

Marinaded salmon or chicken kebabs served with rocket and tomato salad washed down with some Sangria.

Main:

Moroccan spiced slow cooked shoulder of lamb with couscous, flatbreads and roasted vegetables with more Sangria and I think there was red wine.

Dessert:

Lemon and white chocolate cheesecake with raspberry coulis served with teas and coffees.

So lucky to have good friends that can cook.  And oh no, I'm up next.  Better get my cook on.

The First Party of The New Year

It's the first party of the year.

It's also Scrappy's birthday today.

I call her Scrappy, because she is small but mighty.

Very much like the little dog in Scooby Doo cartoons.

She also has a very big heart.

Here's a short clip of her blowing out the candle on her cake.

Happy Birthday.

x

Out With the Old and In With the New

Happy New Year.  2013 was a tough year, but it's over and it's out with the old and in with the new.

A new look for the blog, new memories to be had and new resolutions to be made for the year.
Resolutions which I am sure will only last till February.

Here's to a happier and more prosperous 2014.

x

New Year's Eve 2013

It's the last day of the year.  I spent the day baking.  Gingerbread Men and a Crouching Tiger Hidden Zebra cake (a.k.a. Stripy Cake).  Dessert.  My contribution to tonights party and buffet.

There was so much food.  I'm sure we could have fed the whole of Birmingham with the amount that was there.  We only managed to scratch the surface.

There was eating, dancing, drinking, laughter.  More drinking, eating, laughter and dancing.  The way the year should end.  The way we should start the New Year.  The way we should want it to continue.

A Spanish tradition is to eat a grape and make a wish on each of the 12 dongs that lead up to midnight.  The rush of having to eat a grape on each of the dongs meant I forgot to make a wish after each grape.

I ended up making one big wish.  Let's see if this year it comes true.

Happy New Year!

x

Art

Gingerbread People and a Gingerbread House.  A roof dripping in white frosting, jewelled with multicoloured Jellies and milk chocolate Jazzies.

A Gingerbread Christmas Tree and a Snowman too.

It's sad to demolish it all, particularly without Princess who is tucked away in bed, but it is so tasty that it cannot be helped.

A much needed dessert considering the unintentional, super hot curry that Papa Carter and I co-created.

Even after 2 cans of coconut milk and a few spoonfuls of sugar, there was still a significant amount of heat.  Thankfully there was rice.

The demolished Gingerbread House was not noticed the next day by Princess.  She was easily distracted by Gingerbread Pancakes and doing some drawing.

The Little Prince was just too little to notice anything.  Even the christmas cap that sat awkwardly on top of his little head.

Boxing Day Sales

Boxing Day.  The day after Christmas, when the shops re-open and life slowly makes its way out of the Christmas haze.

Boxing Day was always the start of the sales in the big retail outlets, such as Curry's or Dixon's, giving discounts on all sorts of electrical goods.  I remember buying my first TV in one of these sales.

But when did this change to the first day of any sales, electronic or clothes?  Everything was open today.  I was surprised.  Everyone was out trying to get a good bargain.

Although considering that in most places the sales had begun before Christmas, there was nothing that I saw that was an amazing bargain.  The excitement of the Christmas sales seems to have lost its lustre for me this year.

Christmas Jumpers

This year I wanted a Christmas jumper.  I spent weeks searching the internet and the high street trying to find the perfect one.

Something not too gaudy, but yet something that was tacky enough to be classified as a Christmas jumper.  Something that would be suitable for the Christmas jumper competition that we had at work today.

It was pale green, with snow balls and a sparkling christmas pudding in the middle.  Something different versus all the Snowmen and Santa Clauses that were out there.

It seems that Christmas Puddings were the in thing this year.  There were loads of us with different variations of a Pudding.  And then there was also my jumper twin.  Happy Days.