The Essential Christmas Ingredients...

[The Next Big Event]

One of the absolute best things and I mean best things about being part of The Next Big Event is the frivolous foodie opportunity to really dive into ridiculously fru-fru xmas nibbles and snacks. For years I salivated whilst Nigella, Jamie and crew whip up nibbles thinking I wish I could just throw some fairy lights over an IKEA bookcase and look that cool. Sadly family and travelling always meant my nibbles went amiss, and left my attempts at smoked salmon canapés abandoned. So, the opportunity to plan meticulously and invite guests along to the The Next Big Event xmas doo has left me really relishing all Christmas food. 

I’ve always thought parsnips were an understated element of the Christmas lunch and therefore this year I am going to make a batch of Parsnip Soup, complete with Parsnip Crisp. I am going to wheel out  the vintage china too and place this soupy-goodness in my demure bowls, in a visually stunning pop of a xmas excitement worthy of the cover of Waitrose Food Illustrated. After that, I’ll coat marshmallows in chocolate (this is totally stolen from Starbucks but hey –ho) and create a Marshmallow twizzles ripe for a dunk in hot chocolate so our driving guests do not feel left out. Adding to the mix my spiced Christmas nuts - paprikaed, rosemaried salty morsels, and some of Hugh’s Courgette Pompettes to add a courgettey-cheesiness to the mix. If I could stop there, I’d cut out the giant Train Christmas vanilla cake, sprinkled with icing sugar landing softly on the cutest mini-train set edging around the corner of those giant Christmas trees (lush) and forget about the Jamie’s Party Forks that he just seems to throw together and cover beautifully in his favourite Olive oil. There’s every chance I won’t be able to stop, and I could ultimately suffer from Gout from eating so much Christmas Fayre, or catch the dreaded Tinselitus – a life-long disease only curable by cooking Easter, Hallowe’en and Bonfire nibbles too. Oh what to do....

One thing’s for sure I can’t eat it all by myself, I need those other essential ingredients – guests! So please do come along and help me and my Weight Watchers counsellors this Christmas, if you can come along and eat some food, I will be left with only the scrag ends and will not exceed my 1 stone over Christmas weight gain target.  After all, Christmas food is no fun alone, and really if you take away the meat, veg, cakes, and cranberry sauce, you’re really just left with a half-empty tin of Quality Street and I need someone to eat my coffee creams this year.

 

http://www.thenextbigevent.net/#/cocktails-on-the-quayside/4545489182