New Year's Day

As Mum provides Christmas dinner, it's my turn to provide dinner on New Year's Day. I don't normally do formal table settings but this time I fancied a change. I went for a green and silver theme inspired by a green table cloth I already owned and the silver runner I picked up for a bargain price in the sales. I also did these little tealight displays using some glass jars which originally had some kind of pudding in them. The napkin flower was courtesy of Kirstie Allsopp as demonstrated in her latest series.

In honour of the New Year, we rolled out the glitter ball!

When Mum and Dad arrived, it was time for a cocktail, White Christmas Dream. Not something I usually do as you can see from the fact that this isn't a cocktail glass, but I came across this recipe and, by chance, had all of the ingredients in the house. To serve one person: 30ml vodka, 30ml amaretto, 30ml double cream, pinch of grated nutmeg. Yum!



For dinner, it was minted lamb stew with carrots/peas/soya beans, roast potatoes, broccoli and green beans.

Dessert was a new recipe which I'll tell you about next time.

Before settling down with coffee and mints, we headed into the garden to use up the last of the sparklers from Bonfire Night. Even Mum and Dad enjoyed whirling these around!

Then a couple of games. First up was High Five. I bought this set last year but you could easily make your own. You need a set of cards with the letters of the alphabet and a set with categories (TV programmes, countries of the world, flowers etc). Draw a card from each pile and each team/person has a minute to come up with 5 of the category beginning with the letter. My team won!

And then our all-time favourite, Cluedo. I think my brain was too addled by tiredness, cocktails and wine by this point and I was finding it hard to remember which was my character let alone who they might have murdered where! Dad, however, was on fire and won every game.

And that was my New Year. A perfect one of family, good food and fun. Hope you all enjoyed your New Year's Day, however you spent it.

Back to reality and work tomorrow.