Happy New Year!

Well hello there strangers! Or rather, should you be the one saying that to me? I know, I know, I disappeared for a bit, but with work to do before the end of term and then a Christmas holidays spent travelling the length of the country (and generally just vegging on the sofa and eating copious amounts of food before I had chance to photograph it) meant I haven't had the time to blog for all you beautiful people, but I promise that I'll try my best to start posting a bit more regularly now 2012 is upon us. 

I spent Christmas at my brother's flat in Bournemouth with our parents and Bruce the border terrier, and it was lovely (thankfully having my mum there meant that Christmas dinner wasn't left to my brother to prepare- although he did do a good job of carving the turkey with his brand new knife, I'll give him that). I shall now leave you with some obligatory photos of delicious Christmas food that makes me drool over my keyboard and long for next December and the days when it is acceptable to put cranberry sauce on everything and drink wine at any time of the day. It's fine, me and my flask of coffee and clingfilmed sandwich are getting by alright. I don't even like chestnut stuffing and Christmas pudding. Much.

Starter of smoked salmon and prawns- which is my main responsibility for Christmas dinner every year (one I take far too much pride in).

The main event (and my bother tucking in). Delicious turkey. All the trimmings. Standard.

 Italian meal we made a few days after Christmas, inspired by the new cookbook I got as a gift- Jamie's Italy, and the hamper of Italian food goodies that my parents received as a gift. Crostini with various toppings, including a cannellini bean and garlic affair that I made using a recipe in the book; antipasti with mixed meats, buffalo mozzarella, roasted peppers, olives, semi-dried tomatoes and bread, and pasta with homemade pesto. Not quite Christmas food but made using Christmas pressies so I thought I would include it. Plus it was too delicious not to.

So there you go, a snippet of my Christmas. I hope you all had a lovely one and ate far too much amazing food. Now onto 2012 and the culinary adventures that await!

Leeds Christmas Market

Apologies for not posting for a while, but after a reading week spent lying on the sofa at home gorging myself stupid on my mum's cooking rather than actually doing much reading (I did buy a book- if that counts), I have had a pretty busy catching up week living in the library, with a mountain of books and a plethora (told my mum I was going to get that word in somewhere) of bagels to keep me company. Which inevitably hasn't given me much time to post or anything interesting to post about. But I have managed to escape the clutches of John Ryland this weekend and have fled to Leeds to rest my brain a little.

One thing I'm not sure if I'm mentioned on here yet, but I have definitely mentioned to anybody that will listen to me (or even anybody that won't- I've been getting very strange looks on the bus) is that I am very excited for Christmas. Yes, I am aware that it is only November, but the evenings are really dark, the shops are full of Fair Isle jumpers, and- most importantly- Costa's Christmas coffee menu is out, and it's making me giddy. I am one mince pie away from causing a tinsel-explosion in my bedroom. One thing I have been getting very excited for is the arrival of Manchester's Christmas market; a combination of market and Christmas- are they many better things in life? But as it doesn't start until Thursday, you can only imagine how much like a hyperactive child I was when I realised that the one in Leeds started this weekend. Nice weather, toffee nut latte in hand, the smell of roasting chestnuts, the piped in jolly Christmassy tunes- I was a very happy bunny. I didn't actually buy anything- not even (shockingly for me) a bag of sugar roasted nuts. My boyfriend did buy a marshmallow thing which I've always seen (along with the huge queues at the stall) and imagined to be majorly overrated and overpriced- how exciting can a chocolate covered marshmallow be? But it was like a giant Tunnocks teacake- which it turns out is very exciting. I now cannot wait (even more- if possible) for the Manchester market to open, and then I can roll straight out of the library to a place where counting down the days until Christmas doesn't seem quite so sad, and where I can binge on roasted nuts, pretzels, hot chocolate, crepes, and generally satisfy my Christmas cravings the way I know best- through my stomach.