A week of parties
I am now in Italy where I arrived on Saturday night (2 hr and 15 min late - not bad when the flight is only 1 hr 30 min! LOL).
The week before was very busy. 3 parties in 6 days!
It all started on the Saturday with our Christmas parties. This year we decided for an Italian theme. And Adrian beautifully decorated the dining room in green, white and red, but more about the Christmas decorations in a later post.
We started baking on the Thursday night, and cooked all day on Friday (I took a day off work) and Saturday. And we were ready when the party kicked off at 4 pm. 34 guests (not all at the same time) including the lovely Ricardo, who came to stay for a few days.
Menu:
Parmesan toast
Walnut & rocket pesto crostini
Mushroom pate' (shop-bought!)
Caprese on sticks
Cannellini bean and Gorgonzola dip with tricolore crudites
Mozzarella and roasted pepper quiche
Turkey tonnato
Tomato tarts
Affettati and cheese
Honey and marsala pears with cheese
Italian meatballs
Pesto roast potatoes
For dessert, we had
Baci di dama
Ricciarelli
Irish cream tiramisu
Zabaglione trifle slices
Chocolate salame
Then on the Wednesday evening we hosted Adrian's Italian class Christmas Party.... quite fun but with less cooking.
And on Thursday night we went to the Garden Museum's Party... (it was also my company's Christmas do at the Ivy but I didn't go as I was one of the few people who lost the bring-a-plus-one 'lottery' )
The week before was very busy. 3 parties in 6 days!
It all started on the Saturday with our Christmas parties. This year we decided for an Italian theme. And Adrian beautifully decorated the dining room in green, white and red, but more about the Christmas decorations in a later post.
We started baking on the Thursday night, and cooked all day on Friday (I took a day off work) and Saturday. And we were ready when the party kicked off at 4 pm. 34 guests (not all at the same time) including the lovely Ricardo, who came to stay for a few days.
Menu:
Parmesan toast
Walnut & rocket pesto crostini
Mushroom pate' (shop-bought!)
Caprese on sticks
Cannellini bean and Gorgonzola dip with tricolore crudites
Mozzarella and roasted pepper quiche
Turkey tonnato
Tomato tarts
Affettati and cheese
Honey and marsala pears with cheese
Italian meatballs
Pesto roast potatoes
For dessert, we had
Baci di dama
Ricciarelli
Irish cream tiramisu
Zabaglione trifle slices
Chocolate salame
Then on the Wednesday evening we hosted Adrian's Italian class Christmas Party.... quite fun but with less cooking.
And on Thursday night we went to the Garden Museum's Party... (it was also my company's Christmas do at the Ivy but I didn't go as I was one of the few people who lost the bring-a-plus-one 'lottery' )