Happy New Year!

What a wonderful time I have spent with my family over the Christmas period. Whilst we weren't all able to get together this year, 2 of my daughters, their families and my husband and I managed to spend 4 days together. Keeley and Co had work commitments and then 3 of my grandchildren fell ill which meant they weren't able to enjoy the magic that Christmas brings for them! Luckily, their Christmas parcel from us arrived in plenty of time, despite the weather conditions that prevailed and the complications that beset the postal deliveries this year.

I baked, cooked, roasted and made a lot of yummy food and all thanks to watching the cookery programmes that I managed to fit into my busy schedule. So, thank you Nigella, Nigel and Gordon for inspiring recipes that we all enjoyed. Traditionally, my husband cooks the turkey overnight on Christmas Eve. My daughter had cooked the roast pork and I cooked roast beef.

Here are just a few of the things that I made....

Roast beef....

Pate Sucre - butter pastry, with a Mascapone cream and lemon curd filling, topped with fresh strawberries and raspberries, drizzled with melted chocolate and dusted with icing sugar!

Gingerbread

Banoffee Pie

Half of a Banoffee Pie!!! LOL.

For Christmas, I received 2 cookery books to add to my already extended collection - Nigella Kitchen and Sophie Dahl's - Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights.  I loved her series 'The Delicious Miss Dahl' recently.

Here's to a healthy 2011 and once all of the goodies have been devoured, it's back to that old word again.....'DIET'!!

Have a wonderful New Year all and thank you especially to my followers who have been very supportive and left me comments that encourage me to Carry On Writing!