Ok, I really am getting ahead of myself I know, but I am almost excited about Christmas. Actually, thinking about it now, it's really not that far off at all so.....perhaps I can get excited. Yes, I think I will. I don't think it's time to start baking mince pies yet, but I can at least start to piece together my Christmas meal plan in my head, make a mental shopping list of things I can buy in advance, and yeah maybe I will trawl through food magazines and cut out possible recipe ideas and perhaps make a little scrap book. Is that really that wrong?! Perhaps yes.

 If you love food though, Christmas time is just the best. I am already enjoying the winter mentality of eating to keep yourself warm (despite having that mentality pretty much the whole way through the pathetic summer) and have been relishing in dishes that take about five minutes to prepare and three hours to cook, whilst I sit back and read the paper and smile to myself as the wafts from the oven come through to the living room. So far I have already been embraced by the winter spirit, most lovingly, by two of the best and most classic puddings; sticky toffee and apple crumble. How well I have done so far, and I did not have to make these myself! This was round two of my sampling Lucy's sticky toffee pudding, with the inclusion of stem ginger (a really tasty alternative for those with 'cooked-fruit phobias'-they do exist), and it was even better than the last. The sponge was soft on the inside and slightly crumbly on the outside and the sweet, buttery sauce was perfectly balanced by the slight kick of the ginger. So good!!

Then for fireworks night Emily treated us to a dinner of chicken wrapped in bacon, roasted in the oven on cannellini beans (or similar) and new potaoes, with steamed spinach and brocolli. By the end of this I was pretty stuffed, but it was so good and the dish was sat so very near, so I kept stuffing myself even more and nearly had no room for crumble. But after a jaunt down the road to Brockwell Park to watch the fireworks (carrying our Starbucks cups of mulled wine!), we were ready for action again. It would be rude not to and the smell of crumble coming from the oven was far too tempting for us to resist. It was one of the best crumbles, with quite tart apples and sultanas on the bottom, walnuts and crumble mixture on top and lashings of custard - the best way to be served! So ladies, thank you very much for contributing to my extra layer for the cold months ahead, may there be many more puddings to celebrate!

I'm off now to study some chutney recipes and buy some preserve jars on the internet. I have decied to be adventurous this year and use the festive period as an excuse to make some chutneys and jams to give as presents. That way, even if they do taste disgusting and are hated, I will still come out looking like a thoughtful young lady. Clever me! If anyone knows any tried and tested recipes, let me know...... 

P.S: In case you have not guessed I did not make that turkey! I wish I had.