Christmas Come Dine With Me

Every year, my best friends and I have a girlie Christmas dinner which we have been doing this since we were old enough to drink in pubs.... which makes twelve years of Christmas girlie dinner hangovers! We always used to go out for a meal and then as we all started to get our own places we took to cooking Christmas dinners ourselves, but the saying 'too many cooks' springs to mind and too many times we ended up being very tipsy very quickly and dinner being forgotten.

This year we decided upon something different. We are all fans of Come Dine With Me so thought that we would have our own CDWM style Christmas dinner. We couldn't do it the same as the TV series with going to each others house for 5 nights so we opted for cooking a course each.

We were due to pick the courses from a hat, but in true 'us' fashion, we left it too late so it was a scramble over email as to who wanted to do what. I ended up dessert which suited me as I figured most would be drunk by the time we get to eating it and my score would be higher thus, I would win. But it isn't about the winning - it was the taking part that counts!

The menu was as follows:

Canapes: Caramelised onions and mozzarella puff pastries, brie and cranberry filo parcels, smoked salmon and prawns with cream cheese bites, roasted tomatoes and cream cheese bites, prawns with Thai green curry dip and pitta bread with homous

Verdict: All were very very yummy! A lot of effort went into the preparation and there were plenty of options. I gave Peta a score of 8

Starter: Laura went the extra mile and presented the starter on a scroll, complete with coffee stains! There was even a bottle of Chianti to complement the very tasty bruschetta.

Verdict: Delicious! The home-made pesto was mouth watering. I rated this course a 9 due to the amount of effort and the nice little touches.

Main Course: Chicken Thai Green Curry and Tofu Thai Green Curry with sticky jasmine rice and noodles

Verdict: Very impressive home-made Thai paste, clearly a lot of effort (which we were reminded about by Jade and Anna with stories of their exhausting shopping trip and hunt for green chillies!) The curry flavour was as good as any I have eaten in restaurants. However, I did score them at a 7, my reasoning being because I felt they could have impressed more with the presentation (oooh get me and my opinions!) I also commented that I thought the rice was 'too sticky', clearly the 3 bottles of wine were beginning to show they pointed out that it was meant to be sticky jasmine rice!

Dessert: Christmas Sticky Toffee Pudding with chocolate toffee sauce (courtesy of twitter friend @scooby867)

Verdict: Well, I won with a score of 25/30. I impressed with my presentation - a light dusting of icing sugar and a decoration grabbed off my tree. I also got higher scores due to the chocolate sauce; not being able to eat chocolate myself I made two versions which meant everyone was happy! Thankfully, Jade who is 4 months pregnant has a very sweet tooth and is craving puddings.. I knew I was onto a winner!

Me and my pudding!

It was a great evening and everyone put a lot of thought and effort into their courses. The videoing of our comments and scoring was hilarious, particularly as the bottles of red disappeared. We never got to see Peta's score for the main course, she turned the video 'off' to record her score then on again as she left the room, so there was twenty minutes of a mattress. Great viewing! But not as good or as funny as the other tape I found in my camcorder case. Rewind back to 2004 to another girlie night in and a very drunken one at that. We laughed so hard at how young we looked, how I seemed to be dressed in men's clothes, our attitudes and our dancing skills: Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace - eat your heart out! There were a few parts that pulled my heart strings, the fact that I claimed that I was going to get married in 2006; I remember feeling that my life was so planned out. I am now thankful that it didn't turn that way.

Saturday night was fantastic, not only was the food amazing but the nicest part was all being together and being able to catch up over several bottles of wine. Getting together like last night proves more and more challenging as we get older due to our work commitments, lack of time and everyone busy with partners and moving on to the next stage of their lives.

Good times.

Home-made Christmas

I think this is the first Christmas in quite a few years that I am full into the festive swing and feeling excited about the season to be jolly. This is partly to do with being on my own and not having to run here there and everywhere trying to fit everyone in. My parents divorced many moons ago and every year it is a battle trying to appease everyone, dividing my time equally between both parents as well as fitting in seeing my nans. This year, with being on my own I also don't have another family to fit in so it all will feel a little easier and more relaxed.

Although being on my own has meant doing things like picking and putting up the Christmas tree; every year I tell myself that I will not have a real tree the following year. I don't think there is anything else in the world that could induce such rage within me than the struggle to get a (wonky) tree into a bucket where the screws are bent and broken. It turns out, that the trunk on this year's treet, is nicely bent, which means it will never be straight no matter the stand or bucket. This is according to my mum and stepdad who saved the day by sorting out the tree for me whilst I was at work. I don't think it looks too bad, the eclectic range of decorations take your eyes away from how much it leans!

This Christmas is very much a home-made Christmas for me; I generally make my cards each year, which I always think should be a cost saving exercise, but it never is. I seem to spend a fortune on card, ribbon, buttons and card decorations and in terms of the time it takes, well, I started making my cards about 5 weeks ago! I enjoy it and it keeps me out of mischief (as my nan would say) so I guess it doesn't matter. I like to be individual. This year my cards have taken more or a textile theme - I even did some sewing!

Then there is the chutney, a scrumptious Christmas Chutney courtesy of Domestic Sluttery of which I have made two batches to give as presents to friends and family and of course, some for myself!

For something a little different, I made some Bath Fizzes, or Bath Bombs as I have been calling them! Again, so simple but really effective as a Christmas present. My first attempt was, what can I say; Interesting. You have to mix bicarbonate of soda, cornflour and citric acid together (I know! the ingredients do sound like they will burn your skin off - but they don't - it is all safe), adding in any food colouring or glitter and some essential oil for fragrance. I not only added too much lavender oil that I felt a little high but I also added too much when spraying with water - I let it get too damp and started the chemical reaction and it all started to fizz. How I thought I was able to stop this is beyond me, but I did try. Batch two worked and actually look pretty good if I do say so myself!

I think the chutney and bath fizzes make a nice little pressie... and anyway, it is the thought that counts!

Isn't it?