Hello! Happy 2018! (I mean, I know we're technically at the end of January, but let's ignore that.) I hope the new year is treating you all well.

You may have noticed that one of the first things I did in 2018 was change my blog layout. Let's face it, my last blog layout was pretty ugly. This one is much nicer to look at, and it works on mobiles and tablets too. Score! (Please don't make the mistake of thinking I did any hard coding for this layout, though. I merely dowloaded one of the layouts that was available. All I did myself was take a favourite old photo of mine, edit the colours and slap it up.) Hopefully this new layout works for you, but let me know if you run across any issues.

So, I've got a food post in the works, but first it's time for my traditional Christmas round-up. (Man, Christmas feels so long ago.)

This year I worked a lot over Christmas, so I didn't have time to do to much. I visited my parents for a few days, where we spent most of the time in front of the TV with snacks, watching the box-set of "Taboo". (It was just as violent and camp and ridiculous and entertaining as I remember it being from my first watch.)

Let's have a Christmas present round-up:

Many Christmas cards. Lots of my colleagues ended up giving me cards, which I wasn't prepared for. I had nothing to give in return!

Bathroom stuff. A new bath mat, a huge box of stuff from the Body Shop (both from my parents), and a couple of things from Mariya. The little brown thing in the bottom left contains a soap which Mariya got in India. Apparently the soap is Ayurvedic; it certainly smells good.

Books. The beautiful brown notebook is another present from Mariya's India trip, and the rest of the books are from my parents. I've always been slightly intrigued by "Rivers of London" but have never read it, so I'm looking forward to giving it a go. The Caitlin Moran book I've already started reading; it seems to have a very socialist theme and I'm loving it.

Cat section! (Yes this post has a cat section.) The tea towel is from Mariya and shows pictures of cats along with commands they're clearly not obeying. Perfect. The Christmas socks are also from Mariya and fill all my festive pet sock needs. Underneath everything is a reusable bag from my parents; the bag scrunches down small to fit inside the cat's face, which is a pouch (terrifying?)

Chocolate section! Making January bearable.

After visiting my parents, and after a quick detour to go see my very first panto, I went to Canterbury to visit James and Eppa for New Year. Nick was visiting them too, so Nick and I met up on the train, where I could give him a quick overview of Thomas Becket. Oh yes. Our New Year's was going to be Thomas Becket themed. Or Orlando Bloom themed. I forget which one (which will probably give you a good idea of how much we stuck to the theme).

Mostly, though, the theme seemed to be both James and his son Jack coming down with a stomach bug and generally feeling awful the whole time. Other notable events included watching the continuous rain out of the windows, watching "Peter Rabbit" with Rene (by the way, this "Peter Rabbit" is not the "Peter Rabbit" of my childhood, and I'm not sure if I should be disgruntled about it), and cooking and eating an eight-course meal.

YOU HEARD ME.

EIGHT-COURSE MEAL.

James, Eppa, Nick and I each cooked two courses, so we ended up with two starters, two sides, two mains and two desserts. (There was technically a final ninth course, made by James, but only James and I ate it; more on that later.) We started cooking and eating around 6pm. We finished just after midnight. It was lots of fun, and interspersed with bouts of doing jigsaw puzzles, like the party animals we are. I should note that we all ate the majority of the courses, but some people missed some courses. (James, particularly, soldiered on very bravely while slowly growing more and more ill throughout the night.) Personally, I did not miss any of the eight courses (because I'm not a quitter).

And because new year was so food related, I thought I should probably treat it like a mini food post and show you photos:

Course number: 1 and 2
Dish: Cauliflower cheese and crudités with hummus
Made by: Eppa (cauliflower cheese) and James (crudités with hummus)
Both yummy, but I didn't eat too much, because pacing yourself is everything. The cauliflower cheese was technically classed as a "side" in this meal, rather than a "starter", but we ate it first because Eppa knew she would be constrained by children's bedtimes and wouldn't necessarily be able to cook later.

Course number: 3
Dish: Mushroom paté
Made by: Nick
This starter was the most controversial of all the dishes! I'd never heard of mushroom paté before, but this was a mixture of mushrooms, cream cheese, thyme, and some other stuff that I forget. I thought it was really tasty; earthy, rich and cheesy. Nick liked it too. Everyone else hated it. (Although technically, I can see how this wouldn't be ideal if, like James, you're ill; and I don't think Eppa ate it at all.)

Course number: 4
Dish: Bean burgers with guacamole
Made by: Me
This counted as a "side" dish, because it contained no meat. I've a feeling that I might have left out some of the ingredients, making it lose some flavour. Oh well; they're burgers, and burgers are always good. The only downside of rice and bean burgers (in, I might add, normal-size burger buns) for an eight course meal is that they fill you up by a scary amount.

Course number: 5
Dish: Warm chicken, spinach, avocado and quinoa salad
Made by: James
Now we move onto the main dishes. This one tasted really good and looked great. Everyone loved it.

Course number: 6
Dish: Lamb ragù pasta
Made by: Me
Hearty, minty, lamb-y, tomato-y, carby. Can't go wrong. Both Eppa and James insisted on eating theirs with cheese on top, which was not recommended by the chef (me), but was apparently a nice addition.

Course number: 7
Dish: Chocolate torte
Made by: Nick
After the main dishes, we had a tidying-up break for a while (cooking eight courses uses up a lot of dishes!) Then we moved onto the desserts, and despite how much we'd eaten, and how late it was (11:30pm), both desserts were very easy to eat. This was stunning. Just look at it; it tastes the way you imagine it will.

Course number: 8
Dish: Strawberry tart
Made by: Eppa
This was also stunning. I forget what Eppa used for the creamy base under the strawberries but it was really good.

Course number: 9 (discretionary)
Dish: Trebor extra-strong mints
Made by: James
At the end of the eight courses were two discretionary courses: cheeseboard and mints. None of us felt up for cheese after all we'd eaten, but James and I decided we could fit in an extra mint. (Nick decided not to mint, and Eppa had already run upstairs to comfort a wailing child.) Please admire this wonderful presentation; in a bowl and everything.

At the end of the weekend, I asked everyone to fill in a feedback form (gotta project-manage these events properly). Suggestions for future improvements included:
Remember to take shopping list when food shopping
Add clubbing to the itinerary
Get babysitters
Less vom

Clearly it was a success all round! I certainly had loads of fun.