31st December 2013

Happy New Year!

For the last couple of New Years Eve's Steve and I have hosted our friends at our house.  We throw a big fancy dress party, get all our friends round, lay on a hot buffet (courtesy of Iceland for the most part), rearrange the living room to fit the 20 or so people we have over in somehow and drink ourselves into a stupor.  At midnight we link arms and sing auld lang syne whilst jumping up and down and attempting not to fall over.  The next day the house is a bombsite, the floor is sticky and there is normally a broken glass somewhere, mirroring the broken state of my head.

New Year 2012.  Believe it or not this was quite early!

New Year 2013.  We had just lost the quiz and had won a wooden spoon for our efforts.

We didn't do that this year.  I could say this is because we are feeling the need for more subdued New Year's these days, we are more mature, we prefer a quiet night in or we just don't have the stamina anymore for wild parties.

I could say that but it wouldn't be true.  In reality I just completely forgot to organise it and by the time I got my backside in gear most people already had plans. 

So instead we went quiet (ish) and intimate.

We had James and Sasha (and Ashley who was asleep in the travel cot upstairs) and RV and Claire around for dinner and games.  We still had to rearrange the living room but it was significantly less hassle than I had anticipated.  To be honest I actually didn't lift a finger to help with the furniture - Steve did all that for me!

I did lift a finger in the kitchen though! I cooked a 3 course meal for 6 and a cheese course - I was actually quite impressed with myself!  I have hosted dinner parties before but have never attempted three courses - normally someone else brings dessert.  We started with antipasta sharing platters similar to this one, moved onto beef stew with dumplings and finished with creme brulees and coconut and pistachio baklava's, the recipes for which will be appearing on the blog in due course.  All the food was chosen as it could either be prepared the day before, assembled at the last minute or cooked earlier in the day and left to simmer for hours, meaning that I had plenty of time to relax and not worry about anything.

We sat down at around 8pm for the first course of food and spent the first hour or so just chatting and gossiping.  Once the starters were cleared away we then cracked open the first board game.

We started with the Logo game.  Sasha and I were in a team together and the first three sets of cards we got were all to do with cars, which isn't exactly a strong point for either of us.  Everyone else got rounds of chocolate and alcohol so we felt decidely hard done by.  We lost.  Spectacularly.

To console us I served the main course and after devouring it and cracking open (and drinking) a couple more bottle of wine we then felt ready to tackle Cranium.  This is easily one of my favourite dinner party games as you end up in fits of giggles at the ridiculous things you are required to do! Cranium always seems to require a little less sobriety than most other games.  Unfortunately this did result in me shouting out rather rude words attempting to guess what Steve's drawing of a 'bum bag' was, leaving him laughing so hard he was unable to draw anymore.

Note to self, must take games more seriously.

Halfway through playing I served dessert which halted play for a little while.  We then carried on, getting more and more competitive as the play progressed and the bottles emptied.

There was copious amounts of drink to wash down the food with.  We started on champagne, moved onto beer and wine, then onto port and Baileys to complement the cheese board and then back onto the champagne (Chapel Down, a local vineyard and one of my favourites) as midnight struck.  There was also a bottle of very good Old Pultney that had appeared at Christmas!

We pushed the boat out a little with the cheeseboard, trying a few that we hadn't had before.  The blue disappeared really quickly but the Gjetost was less popular.  I think I was the only one who liked it - if you haven't had it before it is a Norwegian cheese that tastes and looks exactly like fudge, but with the texture of cheese and a cheese aftertaste.  The girl at the Macknade's cheese counter said it has a marmite effect on people - you either loved it or you hated it.  I loved it, everyone else hated it.  Odd, as I don't like fudge!

As the witching hour approached we turned off our music system and turned on the TV to watch the fireworks display over London. 

The displays are always fantastic and this year I think they really outdid themselves.  The countdown started, everyone coupled up and we opened the back doors to see the fireworks going off through the town, harmonising with the display on the TV.

Everyone took a quiet moment with their loved one, reflecting on the last year and what the future year will bring.

2013 has been an incredible year for us, busy and chaotic and wonderful and I can only imagine what 2014 will bring.  To all my friends, family and readers, I wish you a wonderful 2014.

Christmas; The Extended Cut

Christmas Day is peaceful and quiet.  Steve and I celebrate it on our own, exchanging presents in the morning with fresh brewed coffee, munching on smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.  After we have managed to wrestle the last of the wrapping paper out from between the cat's claws, Steve gets on with cooking Christmas dinner which is devoured by me and then we try and feel better about it by  going for a really long walk through the countryside, hip flasks filled with brandy in hand before curling up on the sofa together to watch some comedy, all washed down with copious amounts of champagne and wine.

It is quiet and relaxed and low key and rather alcoholic.

Boxing Day, less so.  Apart from the alcohol.  The second you walk through my parents front door a glass is pressed into your hand and filled to the brim with fizzing champagne.  I felt quite sorry for Steve and Gary, the two designated drivers for the day who were both on soft drinks!

We normally visit Steve's folks the weekend before Christmas so Boxing Day is spent with my parents at their house.  They are often a little hungover from the previous day but ready for Christmas Take 2.  This year was a little different as Mum and Dad were flying to Africa the next day which meant we had to condense the party into 6 short hours before being booted out of the house.
Boxing Day at my folks means lots of food, lots of alcohol, lots of chocolate and lots of noise.  It is not just us, my extended family is also there.

I grew up with Jan - she lived across the road from me with her parents and her mum would take us and my sister to school in the mornings, then my mum would pick us up in the afternoon and Jan would hang out at our house until about 5.30 when her mum would come and collect her.   We played games, rode our bikes around the neighbourhood, roller bladed up and down the close, watched films and became adults together.

We followed this same routine for 12 years and Jan and her parents became our extended family.  To this day they still spend some of the Christmas period with my mum and dad, only now Jan is married and has a small one of her own!

Having Kian around makes Christmas a lot more interesting.  He is now at the age where he gets properly excited about opening presents and he instantly spotted the shiny packages when he came into the house! 

Of course he wasn't the only one excited about more presents!  My mum has a habit of going completely overboard with Christmas and this year was no exception - I was thoroughly spoilt by her!

The Chilli Vodka was a gift from my sister.  Now I like my heat, but boy does this thing have a kick!  I licked the cork and had a coughing fit.  This is possibly the hottest thing I have ever tasted.

Oh, apart from this one.

This one belongs to my mother.  Mine is 100,000 scovilles.  My mum's is 250,000.  My mum can take more heat than anyone I have ever met and she is quite happy to sip this slowly.  I took one sip and pretty much burst into tears.  This is hotter than anything I have ever tasted and consequently I now want my own bottle!  In the meantime I'm looking forward to trying Bloody Mary's and Drunken Noodle Pasta with the 100,000 chilli vodka.  I'm guessing it is really going to spice things up a little!

After presents had been torn open it was time to head through for lunch.  I always love the festive table mum sets - it looks warm and sparkly, covered in chocolate coins, mini gold nuggets, baubles and a centre piece made of glass globes and candles.

Cold cuts and leftovers are, for me, one of the best parts of Christmas.  I just love the food, served with my mum's special yellow fried potatoes (an old family recipe, handed down from my grandmother that I will share one day), sweetcorn, pickles and chutneys.  To this day I cannot eat cold meat without fried potatoes and sweetcorn and my sister always calls dibs on the sausage meat stuffing.  It is a completely relaxed affair - help yourself, go up as many times as you want and pile your plate high.

Once settled around the table for a while conversation is quiet as people tuck in and then it turns to all manner of things under the sun as we catch up with each other and I hear the stories of the games people played drunkenly the day before.

Throughout the whole dinner Spiderman was there to make sure no dastardly villains could steal away the food (and to eat all the pigs in blankets himself) and also to dig for the gold (nuggets from the table his grandfather hid around the house for him to go looking for).  I think Spiderman is considering a career change to a prospector.

Once dinner is over and the last mince pie has been devoured it is time for more food; cheese and wine by the fire.

Unfortunately the numerous bottles of empty wine and champagne does mean that getting the group shot of everyone took far, far longer than it should have done and this was the best we could come up with. 

I completely blame the champagne.  And the wine.  And the vodka.

It was shortly after this that we were booted out of the house so that mum and dad could get ready for their early morning start.  We set off and I promptly fell asleep in the car on the way home, completely worn out by a 3 year old.

Don't let his innocent looking face fool you.