Holly, Ivy and Ratatouille!

Stranded as I am in Los Angeles (listening to Mudd and Bing Crosby... Sigh...) I have decided to throw a lunch party tomorrow - Christmas Day - for a bunch of other Christmas orphans from my programme.

Given that we have vegans and veggies and all sorts of dietary requirements and considerations, I have decided NOT to do a turkey - or a ham - but instead I'm preparing a whole bunch of small things that people can nibble.

Piece-de-resistance will likely be the delicious-looking leg of lamb that I'll roast tomorrow. Along with it;

- caramelised maple sweet potatoes

- a ratatouille that looks just like the one from the movie (thank you Thomas Keller!)

- Conor's "roasted roots" - potatoes, garlic and fennel

- white miso peas and carrots

- Ellen's grilled asparagus

- cranberry bread and butter

AND FOR DESSERT;

- my pumpkin spiced bread & butter pudding

- chocolate raspberry brownies

- coconut macaroons with pomegranate cream

- pumpkin pie

- french macaroons with cranberry sweet cream filling

Cooking

I really love cooking - but I seem only ever able to get any done during school holidays.

I'm going for some hardcore nostalgia this weekend; yesterday it was spaghetti bolognese (see above, accompanied by the pumpkin spiced pudding that seems to be becoming my signature autumn dessert!), and today I'm gonna make a quiche - like my mom used to. Maybe with some tomato soup on the side!

As companions to the recipes that make me feel a little less homesick, I'm having fun with some true Americana recipes - yesterday was a bread&butter pudding, and today it's going to be a pumpkin pie. Haha!

(Tomorrow will likely be a chili, and a tres leches cake. Delicioso!)