Jamie, wine and the psychotic reindeer

The newlywed Rappachappas, Miss SMBW and Mr Hope came round for festive drinks and supper on Tuesday evening. (Well, Miss SMBW came round for lunch accidently and we headed off for Brent Cross instead!)

DBFB and I used the opportunity to do some experimental cooking and try out a recipe from Jamie's 30 minute meals.

Given that Mrs Rappachappa has always had a hankering for Nando's, we picked:

• the Peri-Peri Chicken in her honour, served with
  
• sweet and roast potatoes and
  
• Portuguese custard and cinammon tarts for dessert

For the salamatarian, I baked:

• a celeriac and butternut squash parmigiana, made with double cream and raclette and parmesan cheeses. Not for the dieters!

Followed by more cheese:

• brie
• manchego and
  
• blacksticks blue (from Shropshire)

To drink with this menu, we had a red, a white and and a dessert wine.



The red was one I had bought from Harry about 6-7 years ago. It was that expensive, Miss SMBW and I bought 6 bottles between us. I managed to keep one this long through sheer willpower and burying it in my understair cupboard.

It was a Savigny-Les-Beaune 1999, Domaine Philippe Girard, 13% made with old vines (vielles vignes) number 001143. And a bronze medal winner at the 2001 Concours des Grands Vins de France for Macon.

This wine was decanted before serving. It smelt of farmyards and old cabbage. But it opened up to some berries - red currants and a plums. On the palate the fruit was there mixed with an earthy vegetal flavour. Great with the spicy chicken and the rich cheeses.

We also had a Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa, M'Hudi 2009 12.5% from Marks and Spencer £8.49 a bottle. Beautifully aromatic, not as heavy on the grassiness you expect from a New Zealand version, but passionfruit on the nose and lemons and grass on the palate. Good with cheese and the peppery salad.

Lastly came Croix Milhas Rivesaltes Ambre, 15.5% from Perpignan. A vin doux naturel, aged 3 years in oak and made from Muscat, Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc and Macabeu. If you're new to dessert wine, this one is a reasonable £7.99 from Tesco. It's easy to drink with raisins and hazelnuts on the nose and taste and worked well with the simplicity of the custard tarts and the soft brie.

In the new year we'll be doing a Jamie meal every week! Yay! But the evening ended with Mr Rappachappa and Mr Hope departing with the psychotic Lindt reindeer. Oh yes, they were back.

Cherry and marzipan cake

So Christmas isn't really Christmas without cake. But I just can't face eating an entire full-on Christmas cake (DBFB just won't eat it because it is fruit, and therefore devil's work).

Instead, I have made a cherry and marzipan cake, courtesy of a recipe in the Sainsbury's Magazine. And put my creepy santa on it.

Gingerbread part deux

Ta da!

Thank goodness I halved the recipe. Otherwise we'll be eating these until next Christmas.

Icing commences at 9pm.

Christmas gingerbread

Today's plan of going to St Albans for a cooking session with the crazy gang has been postponed because of the snow. Instead I have been baking gingerbread solo (and will be doing diet-busting fairy cakes with the gang in the new year).

Inspired by Kirstie Allsopp's recipe (no thanks to Channel 4 - the recipe is buried so deep on their website and the SEO is so dreadful that not even Google could find it), the dough is now chilling in the fridge.

Check back in a couple hours for the final results.

Gastronomy in Bruges

Favourite hubby and I headed to Bruges a week ago. Tiny and beautiful and yet packed to its medieval rafters with fab cafes and restaurants. So here's a run down of the best...

For lunch
Caffe Noi is a modern little eatery - great coffee and snacks.

But if you're after something more traditional then Cafe de Medici is a perfect spot. Go for the coffee and 'deluxe' it to get a selection of delectable little cakes and desserts.


Bars
The best place for a beer is Staminee de Garre. Tucked in a tiny little alleyway between The Markt and The Stadhuis, it serves a vast array of beer and little cubes of cheese (you can also get food there). It is small and cosy and a perfect bolt-holt in winter. If you're not sure what to order, the staff are on hand to advise - I'm a fruit beer fan but I like the raspberry beer to be sour rather than sugary and that's exactly what I got!



For dinner

Brilliant meals were had at Gouden Karpel - great fish, try the scallops. And they had Vernaccia on the wine list!




If you fancy some Belgian tapas, then head to Quatre Mains. We headed here on our last night, in search of something a bit lighter and a bit different. Try the smoked salmon and the Belgian sausages with mustard - amazing.