In which GG gets festive.

Busy week in the Glutton household. Saturday saw the annual girls' christmas dinner. This has been a tradition for six years - me, Emily Jo, Ailsa and Charlotte congregating at Sharmin's for dinner. Lots has changed, including boyfriends, husbands and locations and in fact this year was the first year that a boy was allowed to attend - Emily Jo's new baby Jonah. So, we love it. Sharmin is a great cook and a brilliant host and for me, this annual dinner marks the start of Christmas - we have pressies and dancing and I wouldn't miss it for anything.

We kicked off with some spectacular canapes - pink devilled eggs (eggs dyed with beetroot) and blue cheese and apple in red chicory leaves. Dinner was amaze. A sweet onion pie had a lovely doughy crust and a really savoury/sweet filling. This came with roasted red peppers with capers (sharply flavoured, went brilliantly with the onion pie) and a salad of sprouts, green beans and


lettuce. Dessert though, was the star. Sharm has never really forgiven herself for serving, two years ago, a ready made dessert. The excuse (and it was one we all could get on board with) was that she had just hooked up with her new man and had more important things to do than make puddings. However, on that occasion she served mini pancakes as canapes, made from mixture left over from breakfast pancakes that the new man has suggested she save for us. We were disposed to like him. Anyway, back to 2009. The dessert was a chocolate and prune steamed pudding. The prunes were puree and it had the most velvet texture, was light and rich and I had to restrain myself from wolfing it. All in all, a brilliant night.

As we speak, I am steaming three Christmas puddings. I was so worried about them boiling dry I overfilled the pans so in the mad boiling frenzy the puddings may have become a bit waterlogged, which I hope isn't a huge problem. To be honest, I imagine that anything that has an initial 5 hour steam followed by another three hour steam can stand a bit of water, but any advice, as always, gratefully recieved.

Lots of love,

GG

In which I remind people who GG is

You may be forgiven for thinking some disaster had befallen the Glutton household. The truth is I've actually been horrifically busy at work and at weekends, so I haven't really had much spare time lately. It's been quite a gluttonous couple of weeks though, and I have a lot to update on!
The nice people at Eurostar gave GluttonBoy a pair of first-class tickets to Lille. We went to Lille for our anniversary last year so we were looking forward to eating and not having to do any sightseeing. Lille, as you may well know, is a very foodie type of place and we'd earmarked a few places we wanted to go back to.
On arrival, we started with a cafe creme at Caffe Leffe before a recce in the best bookshop in town, Furet Nord. The cookbook section was of course HUGE, with emphasis on verrines (little terrines in glasses), macaroons and creme brulees. We earmarked future purchases before heading off into the old town. First stop, was Alice Delice - a lovely boutique cookware shop. Last time I bought some paper you put on buscuits to make a pattern. The shop was full of very professional serve-ware - mini creme brulee dishes, mini soup bowls and oversize spoons in which to serve canapes and amuse buches, on slate tiles. It got me thinking that the French have a very different approach to food and entertaining. They really value home cooking, regional cooking and are happy to go out for a bowl of casserole, but if they entertain at home, then it's really on - complete with professional level presentation and effort. Even things like jam making equipment were nicer - they don't use old jars from Lidl, but lovely new Bonne Maman style jars they've bought specially.
Next, was the search for Guillaume Vincent - we bought a box of ganaches last time in Lille, and they were, without exception, the nicest chocolates I've ever had. It look much walking to find it, but was worth it. The woman was being besieged by posh teenagers and look relieved to only have to deal with us and our sub-GCSE-level French. Loaded with ganaches we went off for lunch to the Estaminet we hadn't been able to get into last time. An estaminet is a traditionally Lille restaurant and this brilliant. Ooom-pa-pa music blaring, tables with checked cloths, everything came with cheese or cow innards. Really, GB was in his element, particularly when the 13% beer arrived.

He had andouillete with chips and I had chicken swimming in cheese (morailles) sauce, and chips.
You can see the horrific aftermath here:

So, sated, full of cheese, we stumbled out into Lille. We'll gloss over the horror what was the christmas market and instead dwell on Meert, which must be one of the prettiest tea rooms in Europe. Dark wood, gilt, elaborately beautiful displays, ribbons, exquisite cakes and sweets. We had a lovely tea and shared a Mervielleux and a Mille Feuille. Then, off to Carrefour for a quick scoot round for Mont Blanc chocolate pudding, vanilla sugar and some biscuits. And then home.

Lille is a brilliant place for a day out. I hate flying and being at the airport early, security etc etc, so the speed and efficiency of Eurostar is perfect for me. Add in that the staff are lovely and that you're in the centre of Lille less than 90 minutes after leaving London and it just seems like a perfect way to spend a day - stroll round the old town, have some nice lunch, and then home. Fab.