Christmas is Coming, the Goose is Getting Fat

I’m so incredibly excited all of a sudden! Christmas is just around the corner and I have a fridge jam packed with Christmas goodies that I just can’t wait to start cooking and eating. I’ll admit it now: I’m gluttonous and I’m indulgent and, let’s face it, nothing brings out these rather wonderful qualities more than Christmas!

Yesterday afternoon while I stayed at home wrapping presents Rob braved the supermarket armed with a long list I’d typed out. He came back with bags of food and I immediately felt the excitement of Christmas descend as we unpacked them. There were only a few things left to buy after that mammoth shop such as the booze, which Rob bought this afternoon and the cheese, which I made up my mind I would buy at Neil’s Yard Dairy at Borough Market when I was there with a colleague the other day.



It was the first time I’d been to the shop and I was very impressed. My colleague was buying a selection of cheese for a friend’s dinner party and was given a friendly and personalised service to help him choose – and we got to taste some fabulous cheeses along the way.





For my Christmas cheese board I chose Stichelton, Waterloo and Isle of Mull Cheddar (you can view information about all of these here). Being a British cheese shop Neil’s Yard doesn't stock Brie, which I do love, so I bought a piece of that elsewhere to add to the selection.



Borough market was open today and I managed to pick up a stem of brussels sprouts while I wandered through, enjoying the very Christmassy atmosphere and taking in the sights of plump turkeys and hanging geese. It looked and felt a little like I’d stepped into ‘A Christmas Carol’ which I’ve been reading on my way to and from work. Certainly I’m full of Christmas spirit now!

Tinsel and Sparkle, Crackers and Lights

Last Sunday Rob and I went to choose our Christmas tree. I love doing this each year and, although the shops are full of gifts months before and Christmas songs are on the radio throughout December, bringing home the tree really marks the start of the festive season for me. Rob spotted this one and it's really lovely with a full, bushy shape. I'm a classic and traditional girl when it comes to the tree and every year I adorn it with gold and red baubles that shine under the little lights.

I'm feeling very festive now, although it took a while for that to happen and up until even last week I just could not believe that Christmas day is next week. The last six weeks (wow, six weeks!) since I started my new job have been like a whirlwind. It's a great time to start a new job though and I've been enjoying parties and lunches there as well as catching up with old colleagues. I'm off to another little gathering, at my Mum's, tonight and I think I'm going to be all partied out come Christmas day!

I've been so wrapped up in my new job that the Christmas preparations have pretty much been passing me by up until now. I felt a sense of panic threatening to descend upon me when I realised I only had a few weeks to go but, after ordering our turkey, a late night shop last Thursday night, a huge Amazon order and finally writing and posting our cards today to catch the last post for 1st class I now feel more that I can start to relax and enjoy the season. Bring on the food and drink!

In the Bag: Cooking the Month of December

With less than two weeks to go until Christmas we thought we'd fill this month's bag with traditional Christmas ingredients for you to make a seasonal classic, perhaps with an original twist, or to come up with something completely new. So without further ado let's open up the bag:

Mincemeat
Chestnuts
An orange

Entry Details
Make a dish using the ingredients and blog about it then send an email with ‘In the Bag in the subject line to asliceofcherrypie AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk by Sunday 4th January with the following information:

• your name
• a link to your post
• the name of your dish
• a picture of your dish

Rules

Here are the loose rules - but ultimately remember the objective is to have fun whilst highlighting seasonal food:

1. Participants should attempt to use all the ingredients 'in the bag' for that particular month, but may leave one out if they prefer. The dish should be based around the seasonal ingredient, with it acting as a central ingredient.

2. Participants can include any "extra" ingredients that they see fit.

3. Entries should include a link back to the host for that month, and the post should be tagged "In the Bag".

4. Entries can be written any time during the month, as long as the URL is emailed to that month's host before the closing date.

5. Particpants from outside of the UK are most welcome to join in and substitute an item from their own local seasonal produce if necessary.

'In The Bag' is a food event run monthly by 'A Slice of Cherry Pie' and 'Real Epicurean'.

Naff Retro Party Food

As the party season is in full swing I thought you may enjoy this list of buffet style food from the 70s and 80s that my colleagues and I came up with today at work during a moment of joint reminiscence. Although the theme was naff retro party food quite a few on the list made us go “ooh I used to love those” and some that we admitted to still liking, so perhaps there’s something to be said for a little naff-ness every now and then.

How many do you remember and what can you add to the list? Look out for them at the next Christmas party you go to and let me know if you spot any of them!

Cheese and pineapple on a stick
Prawn cocktail
Twiglets
Baby Cham
Vol au vents
Fray bentos pies (I’m not quite sure how this got on the party food list!)
Ice gems
Spam fritters
Snowball
Avocat
Cherry Brandy
Glace cherries
Black forest gateaux
Watney's red barrel
Double Diamond
Screwdriver
Mateus Rose
Branston pickle
Birds trifle
Arctic roll
Angel delight
Blancmange
Matchmakers
After eights
Cocktail sausages
Sausage rolls
Pickled onions
Tizer
Discos crisps
Melon balls / boat
Party rings iced biscuits
R White's Lemonade
Soda Stream
Rum & raisin choc ice
Tutti frutti ice cream
Space dust
Pink panther wafer biscuits
Garibaldi
Fig rolls
Quiche
Cheese straws
Fish paste sandwiches
Polony
Spam