Sunday 26 October 2014

Catch-up

Thank you to the people who noticed I had fallen off of the planet and emailed me to make sure I was ok.  It was much appreciated and lovely to know that people were thinking of me. I'm not going into details as to why I haven't been around for a while.

There has been very little stitching the last couple of months.  The death of Debbie seems to have taken my mojo too.  So I will tell you about everything else that I have been up to instead.  

We decided to have a family 'Come Dine With Me' challenge.  If you haven't seen the programme, it is where total strangers visit each others houses for a meal, scoring each person for their night. Whoever has the highest score wins £1000.  Clearly, that wasn't going to be the prize here!

After drawing straws for the order and sharing of menus, we took turns over 4 Sundays to cook our creations.  

Colin was up first with Sausage and Lentil soup, Beef casserole with crispy potato topping and butter crumble cake.  He did add red cabbage to the plate with the casserole.  Everything was really tasty too.




Rachael's night was next.  She made home made mini pizzas for starters (making the pizza base herself) with cheesy garlic bread.  This was followed by chicken and ham melt, roast potatoes and peas with a cheesy sauce and finally the world's most delicious cake - EVER! It doesn't look much from here but was wonderful!  So chocolately with a wonderful caramel filling.




Third, was Luke.  I have to admit that I wasn't looking forward to his night as I hate meatballs! Anyway to start with there was garlic bread and 'piggy kebabs'.  These turned out to be pigs in blankets but he did mine really crispy so they were tasty.  Then the dreaded meatballs - which were really delicious.  He served it with onion relish and mango chutney and made his own bread too.  It was supposed to be pitta bread but he didn't roll it enough so there was still loads of air in it BUT it was wonderful!  I have told him that he can make a batch of this EVERY week. We forgot to get a photo of his dessert but that was gorgeous too.  Pots au chocolat, with plenty of chocolate. 




Lastly was my night.  What a lot of pressure!  I made an Onion Soup with cheesy croutons but people were so keen to tuck into it that we forgot photos until it was almost eaten!  This is what was left of Rachael's at the time.  Then it was skin on wedges with buttered corn (on a massive skewer!) with home made Southern Fried Chicken, topped with pulled pork (also made from scratch), home made BBQ sauce and topped with melted cheese.  It was beautiful!  The pull pork took around 5 hours in the oven on a lowish heat but was SO worth it!  For dessert I made a shortbread stack, with whipped cream, strawberries and served with home made ice cream (not in a machine) and chocolate dipping sauce.




We made videos on the i-pad like they do in the back of the taxi and held up our score cards to find the winner.

And the winner is...



LUKE!!!!!

It was really good fun, although hard work and expensive.  The winner gets a meal for himself and 3 family members...I wonder who he will choose...

12 comments:

Justine said...

Lovely to see you back blogging! All the meals look delicious but I think Luke was a worthy winner. Hope your stitching mojo comes back soon.

Shirlee said...

Glad to see you posting again : )

stitchersanon said...

Glad your ok. I did think about you but know it is a busy time in school this time of the year...Just figured it was real life. The menus sound wonderful. A fantastic idea. One I think we will have to copy. All looks yum, but I wonder, when I come to lunch, who will do the veggie version rofl

Linda said...

Hi Sharon. I'm so happy to see you back. Your challenge sounds like fun. And oh my, all that food looks delicious. Hopefully your stitchy bug will return soon.

Linda

Steph said...

It is wonderful to see you back and I hope you are doing well. This is an absolutely fantastic idea. A fabulous way to have family night and make it fun all at the same time. xXx

Claudette497 said...

What a fun idea! Congratulations on having a family full of good cooks - sounds like mom can start taking a lot of nights off now!

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Nice to see you blogging again but it was most unfair to show all this lovely food with no warning! I am very hungry now.

I can just imagine how this would go in our house. Large Boy can manage cornflakes and a selection of shop bought cakes if he could be bothered to go to the shop. Small Boy would just give us the things from his plate that he doesn't like!

Maybe Luke should come and give them lessons? It doesn't say the three members of the family have to be in HIS family now does it?

KimM said...

So glad to 'see' you again. Take care of yourself - and WOW - what GLORIOUS food!!! I don't cook much, but you might have inspired me to find a cookbook and dust it off - HA!
hugs
xxx

Mii Stitch said...

Yay!!! I'm so glad you are back :)
Hope your stitching little bug will come back in time too!
What a fantastic idea you had to make a come dine with me!! Love ALL the foods & you are all winners for having taken the time to prepare all this yummy food... so wish I was there :)
Congrats to Luke!!!

Rhona said...

Lovely to see you back blogging - hope everything is ok. Your meals all look wonderful....I'll have to see if I can get my family to cook like that!

Annette-California said...

Welcome back Sharon! I thought you were occupied with school! So I was waiting and looking forward to seeing a post from you. Debbie would be the first one to tell you - please keep stitching! I really do believe that.
Oh my everyone in your family is certainly talented cooks. Now I am very hungry after seeing all the wonderful foods! love Annette

Katie said...

Hope your mojo comes back soon. Big hugs!