Calendar Year 2011 in photographs and stories

Brian D, Lesley D, Jan C, Wendy M, Chris C x 2, Ross C, Luke C, David S, Andy L, Kate L, Sue B, Lynn B, John A, Mick T, Clare B, Ann P, Tom O', Jenny O', Zem R, Liz K, Alan ?, Chris W, James K, Julie G, Maria Y, Beth L.
It was good weather and we did spill over into the garden, good job I cut the grass.

People drifted round from 15:00 onwards for a glass of bubbly and a natter with old friends or to make new ones.
Think of prep and cooking, Aperitivo and Antipasto before 18:00, Primo/Secondo to follow, and then probably party chaos.

Aperitivo

• Il Papavera - Sparkling Pinot Grigio

  Very nice, light and fresh, but with no fridge space left, just a bit liveley!

Antipasto

• Focaccia (V)

  Nice rosemary aromas and devoured in no time.

• Grissini (V) (A.k.a. Bread Sticks)

  Chef ran out of time. With a little more time we would have used the recipe in the River Cottage Recipe book "Bread" by Daniel Stevens.

• Olives (V)

  The olives were bought in the little deli on Newland Avenue.

• Bread (V) and Oil (V)

  I am unsure whether anyone actually did the oil / pepper / bread starter, it is a nice relaxed way to start a meal.

• Vegetable Antipasto (V)

  Spectacular. Delivered on a Willow Pattern platter, and devoured.

• Aubergine Antipasto (V) with Frittata

  This one suffered from coming a tad later than the hungry hordes, but the fritatta was delicious the following day!

Primo

• Vegetarian risotto

  The spectacularly powerful flavour of the blue cheese actually worked very well in this dish, complementing the mellowness of the rice, and with the beans standing up for themselves.

• Trophie al Pesto

  I didn't get to try this one.

• Perch fillets and Risotto

  The creamy risotto perfectly matched the delicate flavours of the Lemon Sole (nearest to perch fillets we could find in Hull).

• Chicken and goats' cheese parcels

  This is a well known combination with the melted cheese making the chicken succulent, and the salty bacon going crisp to give a slightly crunchy shell. Very popular.

Secondo

• Spinach and Feta Cheese Calzone

  The original recipe was for 6 Calzone,but the dough was rolled out to make 12. The Calzone were popular, people thought they were biting into a Cornish Pastie, when in fact they were biting into pizza!

• Vegetable Lasagne

  I particularly enjoyes the texture contrasts between the topping and the layers. Nicely filling.

• Meaty Lasagne

  Very tasty even if 24 hours later than planned!

• Wheat and Egg-free pizza

  Liz and Alan - how were they?

• Pizza dough (for rolling out, topping, and cooking on the spot) (V)

  We didn't make pizza this time, too much pressure on the cooker.

Contorno / Condimento

• Roasted pepper salad (V)

• Provencal Stuffed peppers (V?)

  I didn't get to these before they were all gone.

• Italian Tomato Sauce (makes a good pizza topping) (V)

  Consistently popular sauce, goes with many dishes, or on top of pizza.

• Zucchine, limone e fagioli (courgette ribbons with cannelini beans and lemon dressing) (V)

  I heard comments about how well the lemon went with the courgettes.

• Feta e anguria (feta, watermelon and basil salad)

  This one disappeared fast.

Formaggio e frutta

• Prosciutto and figs

  Quite a bit of this finished up in Ross who said it was delicious.

• Snoopermarket raid planned for Thu 23rd

  Didn't make it to the supermarket, and made do with Newland Avenue. Gorgonzola was reasonably Italian, the Bowland less so. However, by this stage, no-one was bothered.

Dolce

• Tiramisu

  Ah Tiramisu. She came to the party and went to everyone's heart. Light and delightful.

• Rich Chocolate Loaf

  Oh wow. Sticky, dense, rich, black chocolate cake, it needed nothing extra and stood in its own right to be respected and consumed.

• Certosino (V)

  This was pretty special, the cake cooked nicely, but would have benefitted from more grated apple to make it more moist, indeed the cake batter was quite stiff. This was a cake that had internal structure as it also contained flaked almonds, sultanas, and bitter chocolate. The sultanas were marinated in white wine and family members felt that rum would have been more appropriate. It was a great shape for decorating. This was a Nigella Lawson Domestic Goddess recipe and she was right, eat it in thin sices with a glass of Marsala.

• Torta di castagna e cioccolato (Chestnut and Chocolate cake)

  This smooth intense dark black cake needed a spot of cream to be appreciated at it's best.

• Macedonia di Frutta (Marinated Fruit Salad, (V))

  The road to somewhere even hotter is paved with good intentions, this one never made it to the party. We did have fresh strawberries, the Italians would have approved.

• Zabaglione (Light custard)

  This one was living with the Fruit salad.

• Imitation Italian Ice Cream from Sainsbury's

  It was there in the freezer, but not brought out.

Caffè

• Wilberforce Freedom Fairtrade Coffee

  Many thanks to Andy "Some more wine please" Lawrence for the loan of a restaurant standard coffee machine. The Wilberforce Freedom Coffee was great.

• A selection of Fairtrade herbal teas, Chamomile, Fennel & Liquorice, Green, Peppermint, etc

  All available, but most people went for the coffee, or alcohol.

• Biscotti

  Great cinnamon flavour hard dunking biscuit. Must try these in WFF coffee when it's not too late at night.

Digestivo

• Limoncello

  Ever popular.

• Marsala Superiore

  Went well with the Certosino, see above.

• Galliano (Vanilla)

  Very vanilla. Good for a wallbanger!

• Underberg

  Very alcoholic (44%), good job it comes pre-packaged in small bottles with small neck. Great flavour, lots of licourice "notes".

We have supplies of:

• Il Papavera - Pinot Grigio
• Il Papavera - Rose
• Nespolino - Fruity Italian Red
• Fragolino - Sparkling red dessert wine

but please do bring your favourite Italian wine along as well.

There will be a folder containing some printed copies of recipes, you're welcome to let me have copies in advance if you wish. By all means bring your Italian Cookbook along for folks to browse.

Checkout where your folks with your surname were in 1881.

I found my copy of Gioachino Rossini's String Sonata in G Major, very pretty.
But I am having trouble finding the Sophie Ann Mutter fantastic version of the Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi. But I do have a jazzy version suitable for an F cubed event.
Wind, weather and consultants permitting concerto’s by Locatelli, Corelli, Vivaldi will come with Jon and Jan.

It seems we have the makings of a "Kindle Users Love In", the following are all e-book enabled: Lesley, Ross, Luke, Chris, Clare, Julie, Sue, and Jenny.