The Christmas posts keep on rolling. Last night I met up with my oldest childhood friend and her family for a night of board games and fun. I’m massively competitive and so is she and although we love each other dearly, no one wants to be the sore loser.
The game was good fun, although challenging. Who remembers when Mount Vesuvio’s erupted or when Björn Borg won his 5th Grand Slam? Well, I do now. And I also won.
Before we sat down for the big Christmas Eve buffet, I served gingerbread sticks with mulled wine. It might seem unwise to eat something sweet before you tuck into meatballs, ham, smoked salmon, sausages, cocktail sausages, potatoes and a light salad (which goes virtually untouched), but there’s no point serving something after lunch, as no one has the energy or appetite to eat much at all after the feast of the year.
I served these gingerbread sticks with cream cheese mixed with lingonberries. Easiest appetiser ever.
It’s tradition in my family to decorate the Christmas tree a couple of days before Christmas Eve. When the tree is up, you know that the Christmas spirit has truly evaded the house.
When I was a kid my grandpa had a friend who owned some land and he gave us permission to go out and chop down our very own Christmas tree from his grounds. We never had a Chip n’ Dale moment (to my great disappointment), but it was a lovely experience nonetheless.
I finally arrived home a couple of days ago and was lucky enough not to get stuck at the airport or the train station. It was pretty much smooth sailing. However, I wasn’t exactly prepared for the cold weather, it was -20 degrees, and I had sneakers and no gloves. I was no better dressed than a tourist from the Mediterranean.
The cold journey was pretty much forgotten as I stepped through the doors to my family’s flat and could smell freshly baked bread. My mum is no baking babe, but for my homecoming she’d prepared a multiseeded loaf with dried fruits and nuts. We’ve been snacking on this bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day since.
This is a blog post by request from Mr. E, my former colleague and very good friend. I was suffering from writer’s block one day and asked E what he wanted to read about. Surprisingly, he said “why don’t you write about fondue?”.
Now, E though fondue was a quintessentially Scandinavian meal, and that it would therefore make sense for me to go through the traditional ways of preparing it and also where to get it from in London. Since fondue is actually a typical Swiss dish, I can’t offer much expertise in this area, but I decided to do some research nonetheless. Who wouldn’t be up for some fondue fun?
still or sparkling? 