Christmas Parties

So I am completely failing to find the time update this blog more than twice a week, I'll keep trying. This week has been full of Christmas Parties. Last Saturday I went to my former works Christmas party, and they had a home made buffet which had been made by two of my old colleagues, they had made so much food and it was all delicious.

On Wednesday I went to my sister's flat for drinks and nibbles, her flatmate had made the most delicious canapes, everything from beef with horseradish in mini Yorkshire puddings to home made cheese straws and this was all washed down with mulled wine. I had a really lovely evening talking and getting to know people.

I then hosted a Christmas party of my own at work for the Friends of Islington Museum, this for me was basically a networking event, something which I am not very good at, but I had a go and met a few people who could really help with some projects I have coming up. The food here was mainly just mince pies and wine with crisps and nuts and things but all in all a good night.

Cooking wise it was a very lax week and most of the pictures below are from the week before as I spent most of the week out of the house.

This is the Ham and Cheese Casserole which I cooked for Sunday lunch last weekend. The recipe comes from Heather of Gild the (Voodoo)lily, and I have to say is one of the most delicious things I have ever made, I will definitely be cooking this again. I loved the addition of veg into the mix. I didn't have any green beans and so i used mange tout instead and it worked just as well.

Sunday Dinner was Toulouse Sausages with Creamy Leeks, this again was fabulous, the creaminess of the leeks complementing the flavour of the sausage, this was sat on a potato rosti cake which i have rediscovered, its such an easy way of cooking potato.

My final offering this week is Beef and Ale Pie. I grabbed this out the freezer, I made a two individual pies quite a while ago and froze them for late working nights when all I want to do is shove something in the oven and have a rest. This is a recipe from Good Food, its really a casserole with dumplings recipe but I had some left over puff pastry, so I left out the dumplings and made them into pies. I had this with lovely bottle of wine that I brought back from my trip to Lille, this was definitely my idea of heaven on a freezing night.