don’t mention the C word

It was my turn to host the veggie lunch group. We meet once a month and Suzy’s, who set it up through U3A prefers to have a theme. This has covered canapés, Indian food, Italian etc but can sometimes backfire with too much pastry or too much cheese. One person does a sweet so I offered that this time as I’d not done one before.

Susie decided the theme this time would be Christmas which seemed a bit early to me but apparently we are going out together in December though a consensus has not been reached as to where.

Today had some interesting and well-made dishes. Alison is a superb cook. As well as roasted veg and parsnip purée with parsnip crisps she had made a mushroom and Gruyère tart with all-butter pastry. Butter may be heart-attack inducing but it certainly does make things taste better. Susie did ramekins of squash and walnuts in a sauce with a pastry topping. Judith did a Delia cheese roulade. We also had on offer shallots in a sweet sauce on pastry and Dorothy brought mushrooms chopped in soft cheese, not inspiring compared with the rest. However we did have a lot of mushrooms, parsnips and pastry this time. The conversation ranged from the C word experiences, the state of the NHS, education, films, books, sightings of the Aurora and of course, food.

My pudding was well-received and thankfully there’s enough left to take to Chris’s tonight. I’ll be like the Vicar of Dibley after her 3 Christmas dinners.

#3 Daughter has found out that the film the children were taking part in stars Frances Barber. They said she explained the story-line to them and she was really nice. I remember her in the Morse Turandot.