bottles, brown paper & blooms

I'm just going to say this once and for all.

Next year, I think we'll go out for dinner.

This year there was only one place the acorns team wanted to go for our Christmas get together, and that was my place.

They wanted a tour. 

Maybe a tour, drinks and then out for dinner?

No, Brunnel thought dinner at home would be nice.

So did everyone else.

I'd have been fine if I hadn't broken every cardinal rule about entertaining at home.

Especially the rule about never attempting to cook anything that you've never tried before.

My usual go-to repertoire had been gone-to before.

I needed something new, but quite possibly, not so new that I had never actually tried it before.

The only thing pre-planned was the ice cream to accompany the mystery dessert.

I managed to make that the night before, so it was actually frozen (always a bonus).

Everything else was, hmmm, quite spur-of-the-moment-market-fresh that morning.

No wonder Brunnel thinks I turn into someone else in the kitchen!

He was very helpful and went to get his hair cut.

Surely I could dazzle with my table setting, keep pouring lots of wine, and the food, if I was lucky, might be overlooked?

This was the best plan I could come up with.

That morning, I had been given a hilarious old box of stencils, amongst which was a flower stencil.

We rolled out the brown paper, and Milly set to work with her brush and some white paint.

The resulting disposable table cloth was perfect.

We stamped everyone's names on to luggage tags and tied them around the neck of an old bottle with twine to use as place settings.

The bottles were filled with a mix of sweet peas, antique carnations and queen anne's lace and placed on the table en mass.

A last minute napkin panic arose when I couldn't find my old white napkins anywhere. However, a lucky linen remnant and pinking shears saved the day. It was all very upcycled!

Don't be silly! As if there are photos of the food! 

That was far too stressful.

It's stressful just thinking about it now!

It quite possibly sounds better than it tasted -

 Pan-seared salmon with a fresh pea, broad bean, mint and feta rissotto, topped with a drizzle of parsley salsa verde and accompanied by a green salad & asparagus.

Followed by warm caramel & ginger cake with homemade ginger, cranberry & pistachio ice cream.

Oh yes, I can do that restaurant menu-speak quite well!

I just can't quite turn out the actual dishes.

Ah well. Brunnel came home from his hair cut, handed me a stiff drink, and all was well that ended well.

I think....

Amanda xx