My Week In Pictures 51/16

I started my week with a tea party. The best start to any week in my opinion!! My fourth Tara’s Busy Kitchen Presents event styled in a wintery way with a slight nod to the impending Christmas festivities. I welcomed 14 people to my house for a deliciously decadent afternoon tea created with local produce. We had mince pies pimped up with Lyme Bay Winery cherry brandy liqueur. Devonshire honey cake made using local honey from Princesshay (a shopping centre less than a 5 minute walk from my front door.. so, city bees!). French macaron made less than a ten minute walk from my house by the wonderfully talented Sabine amongst other sweet treats as savouries. I served my favourite local fizz from Sharpham Vineyard alongside plenty of tea from the Plymouth Tea company. A wonderful atmosphere was created with plenty of chatter and laughter which can only be a positive thing can’t it? I am already planning my next event for the new year.. watch this space.

On Monday my friend Emma came over for morning tea.. we hoovered up most of the leftovers from Sundays tea party! To be honest I am surprised I had room for more cake!

On Tuesday Steve and I purchased our Christmas tree. I swear it was the last tree for sale in the city centre. It’s a beauty..

Tuesday night I headed off to Chococo on Gandy Street for a chocolate tasting hosted by the wonderful and passionate Claire. Claire and her husband Andy are co-owners of the chocolate house and share a love of artisan chocolates. All of the chocolates available at Chococo are hand made which makes them extra special.

Claire gave the group an education in chocolate production from bean to bar. We tasted and compared chocolates from various chocolate producing countries including Madagascar, Tanzania and Vietnam to name but a few. My favourite was from Grenada and suited my pallet perfectly.

On Wednesday I met up with Carmen for our Christmas jaunt to Trill Farm and lunch in The Old Dairy. The Old Dairy is independently run by Chris Onions and he caters all of Trill Farms events, courses and the Wednesday and Saturday lunches.

Carmen and I were booked in for the Wednesday lunch. A set locally sourced menu for £15.00. We were served homemade sourdough with butter, a red cabbage salad with a punchy blue cheese dressing plus celeriac remoulade and potato curry. For the meat eaters there was a pork pâté topped with a plum sauce that was destined to be smeared thickly on the sourdough.

You sit down at a big long table and the food is placed in the middle for you to help yourself. As Carmen and I were dining with other guests I didn’t feel it was appropriate to take lots of photos. I manage to snap a secret few though in and around the farm.

For dessert we were served an apple and fennel sorbet served on poached pears and if that wasn’t enough there were medlar mince pies.. so good with the zingy Trill Farm autumn tea.

I have been doing loads and loads of cooking this week. I have been entertaining, preparing and testing recipes using all my wonderful Shillingford Organics veggies and my Indigo Herbs specialties. Over the upcoming few days more recipes will be posted to get you in the entertaining zone for the holidays. 

Amongst all these foodie delights I have also had the pleasure of a get together with my dear friends Jemma and Cat (Rebecca via FaceTime) but it was too dark to photograph. It’s always lovely catching up with them and putting the world to rights! We have put a date in our diaries every month to meet up and take it in turns to cook for each other. I am looking forward to seeing what scrummy things we all come up with.

Obviously we all know what is coming up next weekend.. the big “C”! I have my menus planned and three days of entertaining pencilled in the diary. I am really looking forward to it to be honest. For many people Christmas is a stressful time especially when they have to cook but I embrace it. Keep your menu simple and just go with the flow. At the end of the day the best part of the festive period is catching up with your friends and loved ones in my opinion. The food and festivities just enhance that.

Besides all the Christmas entertaining I have another trip to THE PIG at Combe for an evening soirée with music, dancing and lots of yummy food. I am also heading back to Comptoir Libanais for lunch with my friend Cassie and her mum, Caroline so that will be fun. I also get to eat more mince pies with my Christmas loving friend, Amber!

I will keep you up to date on my goings on via Instagram and Twitter so why not give me a follow? 

In the mean time have a wonderful week in the build up to Christmas and enjoy the time you have with your friends and family. 

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