Gunpowder, Treason and Crepes

[CointreauVersial]

Here we are again.....

I think your menu sounds delicious Rose - not even sure what gourmet is. I'm usually happy if it tastes good and the company is good. I find the idea of dinner parties really stressful and have friends who present fantastic stuff with no effort. Also, watching Come Dine With Me whilst ironing makes me wonder if everybody is actually bitching about my food behind my back whilst saying it's nice to my face.

I think I'm lucky that most of my friends are of the 'oh good someone else is cooking' school and therefore don't expect Michelin starred style food (although one of them can actually produce that type of stuff!)

Thanks all. I have just lost my confidence re cooking dinner for friends….never was all that great at it anyway, but in the last few years have been avoiding it like mad. And any Crepey who wants to brave it over to the wasteland wilderness of the North London suburbs is welcome here for dinner….
Hatty Come Dine With Me makes me laugh, but it's really a modern day cock fight…put hungry, argumentative beings in a room together and light the touch paper…. And don't get me started on that bloody voiceover!

Love the poncho - a really pretty shade of blue. Also love the ombre dress. I am still hopeful that I might shed a few lbs before Christmas party season and then I might stand a fighting chance of wearing something slinky like that. To this end, I had preggo personal trainer today - 4 times round the park (Belair park for the locals, not Brockwell - I'd need an ambulance after 4 times round there), squats, press ups, planks - I am spent. Still, there are 2 hours before the school run to get my mojo back.

Rose, I think your menu sounds lovely. People are coming for the craic rather than to eat Michelin starred type food. I think in our parents' day, having people over was so much more formal and you were expected as host to display gastronomic brilliance. Now I think people realise that lovely food doesn't need to be fannied around with and having people over is about sharing company and delicious food and drink. I often make shepherd's pie or a stew when we have people over as they are very forgiving. I would be thrilled to eat what you're making your pals and I am sure they will be, too .

Right, I have realised that Monday (when I usually catch up on work) is going to be buggered by DD2's dentist appointment. She is having a cap put on a hypoplastic tooth. I am playing it cool but am a bit nervous for her. The dentist is lovely but DD2 is a delicate soul and I don't want her to start feeling anxious about dental work in the future. As a thumb / finger sucker (happily now stopped but only in last 6 months) the orthodontic work is going to be BIG.

Rudy that's gorgeous….

X post massively there.

Rose, they are friends, they love you and want to spend time with you. The food is a mere adjunct. It will be fine and they will appreciate whatever you give them. Besides, if there is sticky toffee pud to devour, you cannot possibly go wrong.

Thanks Monty I love Shepherds pie, preferably with a mound of baked beans. I wonder what DM would call that…
I'm sure the dentist will be lovely and gentle and kind with your DD2.

Rose I like your thinking! And your menu sounds delish. I haven't had friends round to eat for ages - we always keep it low-key and relaxed. Maybe your DM is just stuck in the 1950's Cordon Bleu way of thinking

Rudy I like that poncho too (think your colour might suit me too). And the dress, though I haven't got the knees for it!

Monty, I'd need an ambulance for 4 times round Belair!
What is a hypoplastic tooth? DD is still a thumb-sucker at 15. My friend's DD (16) gave up when she got a tongue piercing!

Ash ankle boots? You are getting very S&B, Rudy! And sixth form evening on a Friday night? What on earth are they thinking?

Oh god, Tilly that makes me feel SO much better as my DD and I are locked in a battle about her persistent thumb sucking at 14…(with functional brace…)

Yes, indeed, DM is from the generation where you swept around the room with your signature dish to the oohs and aaahs of your guests, prior to sitting down at the table, to display culinary prowess, (I think it was usually a poached salmon dressed up like a dogs dinner…

Noooo Rudy that voice over sets my teeth on edge

Given that DD has been sucking her thumb from in the womb (scan photos!) she actually has pretty good teeth and no brace is needed. We told her we wouldn't remotely consider anything cosmetic unless she stopped and she really wasn't that bothered. I was also a thumb-sucker

Am liking those suede boots, Rudy

Those boots are lovely, Rudy. I love Ash boots. I get a lot on Ebay as it is a cheaper way of getting some better quality stuff. I agree about re ebaying. I bought 2 sparkly dresses last christmas which were frightful on (or on me at least) but being a savvy shopper bought them nice and early then managed to Ebay them for more than I paid.

Rose - would that be poached salmon with the slices of cucumber cut very thinly then bonded onto the salmon with aspic to emulate fish scales? My mum used to do that. She also used to pipe mash potato into swirls and them put them under the grill. All this whilst wafting Margot Leadbetter style in a luminous (and voluminous) kaftan. I am surprised she never combusted.

BTM, a hypoplastic tooth is one where the enamel does not form properly and so is is very jagged and liable to decay. When I was pregnant with DD2 I was quite unwell with a UTI which was hard to sort and needed a variety of antibiotics to crack. Poor DD2's teeth have suffered as a result. At least the manky ones are at the back. I hope the crown will be white but I expect it will be silver, poor pet. The dentist is a friend of mine and is very lovely but DD2 is quite a wusser and needs a lot of time and patience.....

Just bought this in green for work.

Well, apparently I suit this shade so hopefully it will fit!

I went on a cordon bleu cookery course at the local comp when we lived in Essex - I suppose I must have been in my 30s. I still occasionally make the odd thing from then, including the wonderful French
trifle, but now I buy trifle sponges and posh custard instead of making them!

Sorry to hear about the dental work, Monty, I hope DD copes with the work ok.

Thanks, NU.

My DM did a Cordon Bleu cookery course before I was born. It was so she could entertain my father's bosses/clients in true 1950's housewife style (she was actually a teacher)

NU, what is French trifle? My French friends had never tasted trifle before they ate it at my house in 1977. Proper Northern sherry trifle, of course. They LOVED it. It is now always requested when they visit

That's nice ladee. You'll need a cardi in this weather.

I'm having my first dinner party in this house in early December. EEEEK...I have no idea of what to cook as I'm such a casserole/stew/pie sort of cook. We have an L shaped kitchen diner too, but I find they can't see the mess that way as the table is at one end of the L and the sink at the other end 'round the corner'. Any recipes welcome? One veggie and seven non-veggie's and no fish (as I hate it!)

Took Dylan to see the English Channel - he wasn't impressed.

He didn't try to swim it then, Beachy?

Have just ordered my NUS card, hahahahaha. I can get discounts and everyfink.

Ooh, I need to get one of those. I need all the discounts I can get, especially as I've just been stung £65 for a box junction misdemeanour.

My lesson today went tits up. I thought my mentor was sorting out certain resources, and she thought I was, and I thought she'd get my panicked email at 10.40 last night, but she didn't, and blah blah. And she did the fatal thing of saying 'Are you OK? You seem very tired...' which made me cry and I had to go to the loo for a while.

In S&B news, bought this brilliant navy, drapey French Connection dress with pointy shoulders for £12 in the charity shop near college. Not entirely sure when I'm going to wear it, mind...