This weekend I hosted a bit of a Christmas dinner party for 4 of my closest friends. I worked super hard for it but I have to say that it was a huge success and everyone had a lovely time. To ease the load (work wise and expense wise!) one of my friends brought the starter (a delicious cauliflower and three cheese soup) and another brought the ingredients for dessert (Eton mess, made with raspberries). The main course and other bits and bobs were left to me. I made us a big roast ham dinner with roast veg (parsnips, carrots, butternut squash, red onions and garlic) and roast potatoes (par boiled then drizzled with olive oil and paprika before putting in oven - lovely!). There was a bit of stressing on my part that I would either under or over-cook everything, but I am very pleased to say that it all turned out perfect.


We then a bit of a break to enjoy the X-Factor final (I know, you gotta love it!) and I then served dessert, fresh coffee, cheese and biscuits, homemade mince pies and we had crisps and dips dotted here and there as well. I can tell youthat we could hardly move an inch by the end of the night! But I would rather there was too much to eat than not enough. There was so much food that we didn’t even cut the Christmas cake I had made! Here is a pic of the cake anyway, I guess I may save it for Christmas day itself (unless my boyfriend discovers it first!):