How bad am I at getting things on this blog? I have no excuses- our computer and broadband is fully functional, I've had loads of things going on, still taking pictures... just lazy I suppose. I have been rather busy, but not THAT busy.
Afraid this post will just be text - I don't have my camera at work with me today.
Ollie and I (well I) hosted a dinner party at the end of September. I went all out- house looked beautiful and spotless, I got a new dress and wore killer heals, my hair was done, nails done, makeup... I tried a bunch of new recipes and really challenged myself. Instead of starters, I did loads of posh canapés: smoked salmon, creme fraiche and chives on wheaten crackers; parma ham wrapped puff pastry sticks; baked brie with apricot jam and wheaten crackers all with sparkling wine on arrival. Main course was Fillet of Pork stuffed with homemade sage and onion stuffing, pommes fondant (mashed potatoes baked with cream and breadcrumbs), roasted carrot and parsnips and homemade apple sauce (I had baked seabass). And I made my first ever apple pie with shortcrust pastry (I didn't realise how easy pastry is to make!) Wine was flowing and we had tasty baileys and irish coffees to end the night.
We all watch this programme Come Dine with Me where 4 or 5 strangers host dinner parties and they each rate each other (scale of 1 to 10) with the highest scorer winning £1,000. Anyway, we got a bunch of texts from our dinner guests (Colin, Maire, Thomas and Nuala) saying I would have scored a 10! Everything was pretty tasty and I was completely exhausted at the end of the night.
I decided, following the dinner, that I would try to make something new each week. So far I've made Chicken & Vegetable Pie (with homemade shortcrust pastry), Steak and Onion Pie (again with the pastry), meringues, low fat apple strudel muffins (these were so tasty), banana muffins (these were beautiful), homemade macaroni & cheese (sorry Kraft Mac & Cheese, but our relationship is officially over) and Vanilla Buttercream cupcakes with buttercream frosting. I can't believe I used to do the whole Betty Crocker 'out of a box' thing... such a cheat (and the proper homemade stuff is a million times tastier)!
I'm going to continue with my experiments and each week try out new recipes and maybe invent my own! Can't wait to bake Liam's birthday cake.
Watch this space for pictures of some of my creations!
