Feeding the 5,000 (minus 4,997)
I had a lovely evening yesterday. I'd invited tallbint and Ian, plus Iain and Vikki over for dinner. J and I were punctual to the point of early - I was still assembling the main course, and wearing one of the tattiest shirts in my possession. They amused themslves by looking at my books, while I got the food in the oven and got changed. Now Iain and Vikki aren't know for being punctual, but when they were late, even by their own standards, I started trying to phone them (of course, I didn't have their mobile numbers, and had to phone a third party to get those). I couldn't get hold of them, and even though the main course had taken longer than expected, dinner was ready. We'd not been eating long when Vikki phoned to apologize, having just got in and found my message. A friend of theirs in in hospital in Barnsley, and they've been visiting and looking after things. I'm not entirely clear on the details, but she apologized a lot, and clearly had a good reason for not showing up. In fact,, Iain was still in Barnsley when Vikki called, It was a shame not to see them, but these things happen.
Having guests over was a lovely opportunity to get out the posh table cloth, and pretty place mats, and other civilized things that don't see much daylight. I put up the string of pretty, red fibre optic lights, which I've decided to leave up for another night, just to enjoy them a little longer. Well, they only get used about once a year, so...
The food turned out well, which was a relief as I'd never cooked the main course before, and experimented a bit with dessert. The main was chicken and orange parcels. I did the rice (cooked with onions, chicken stock, and saffron) and the leeks (cut into thin strips then cooked gently in butter) in the morning. In the evening, I assembled the parcels on squares on kitchen foil. A helping of rice first, a portion of leeks on top, a chicken breast fillet next, then a slice of orange. Wrap up the parcel and cook in the oven. The parcels were served with carrots and broccoli, and turned out very well.
Dessert was cinammon apple and raisin crumble. I added a splash of sherry to the fruit, and used muscovado sugar and oats in the crumble topping. Lovely. The apples were a rare cooking variety called Bountiful, which kept the shape of the chunks after cooking. Beanies has a good selection of rare apple and pear varieties in at the moment, so I thought I'd try something other than Bramley.
With Iain and Vikki unable to come, I have two chicken parcels left, so that's tonight's tea and tomorrow's lunch sorted. Plus extra left-over crumble and cream. Oh darn :)
So, good food, lovely guests (who offered to wash up !), and I not only remembered to buy the chocolate mints, but to offer them around afterwards.
Having guests over was a lovely opportunity to get out the posh table cloth, and pretty place mats, and other civilized things that don't see much daylight. I put up the string of pretty, red fibre optic lights, which I've decided to leave up for another night, just to enjoy them a little longer. Well, they only get used about once a year, so...
The food turned out well, which was a relief as I'd never cooked the main course before, and experimented a bit with dessert. The main was chicken and orange parcels. I did the rice (cooked with onions, chicken stock, and saffron) and the leeks (cut into thin strips then cooked gently in butter) in the morning. In the evening, I assembled the parcels on squares on kitchen foil. A helping of rice first, a portion of leeks on top, a chicken breast fillet next, then a slice of orange. Wrap up the parcel and cook in the oven. The parcels were served with carrots and broccoli, and turned out very well.
Dessert was cinammon apple and raisin crumble. I added a splash of sherry to the fruit, and used muscovado sugar and oats in the crumble topping. Lovely. The apples were a rare cooking variety called Bountiful, which kept the shape of the chunks after cooking. Beanies has a good selection of rare apple and pear varieties in at the moment, so I thought I'd try something other than Bramley.
With Iain and Vikki unable to come, I have two chicken parcels left, so that's tonight's tea and tomorrow's lunch sorted. Plus extra left-over crumble and cream. Oh darn :)
So, good food, lovely guests (who offered to wash up !), and I not only remembered to buy the chocolate mints, but to offer them around afterwards.