New Year's Party 2002/3

[mattp]

was once again at my place. dineleeeee, snowyowlofdoom, poisonlipsterar, mynameissmurf softfruit, ruth_sedina and 3 others (non-LJ users, the heathens ;-) were in attendance. T'was a shame not to see kingginger, mhw, Ian, Paul and John.

I cooked a cheese fondue and then we feasted on a load of chocolate cake.

1. Peel a large clove of garlic and halve it.


2. Grate 500g or so of cheese which melts well (e.g. cheddar and emmental make a nice combination).


3. Add to this 3 table spoons of cornflour.


4. Wipe the exposed sides of the garlic from step (1) all over the bottom and sides of a large (3L or so) pan.


5. Add about a third of a bottle of white wine and gently bring to the boil.


6. Slowly add the cheese, about a fistful at a time, ensuring it has melted well before adding the next.


7. Add pepper, nutmeg and paprika to taste. About a spoonful of each should be fine.
   
8. Serve immediately. (It thickens on standing).

Possible rescue tip: if you find the cheese isn't dissolving then it means you don't have enough cornflour in the cheese. Make about 25ml of water-cornflour paste and stir in a little at a time until the cheese starts to dissolve.

It works best with crusty bread, e.g. a baguette, but this evening I used diced chicken, cucumber and cherry tomatoes. I think I used too much emmental and not enough cheddar because it was a little gritty but *shrug* people seemed to like it, so I was happy.


To count the new year in I played the U2 Best of 1980-1990 album, with "New Years Day" timed to start on the stroke of midnight ;-) We wandered outside and watched the neighbours' fireworks.

Some time after midnight a cat wandered in the open door. It took immediate liking to mynameissmurf's mini remote control car ;-)

Around 2am people wandered back, so softfruit, ruth_sedina and I stayed up spodding and chatting.

Looking back, 2002 has been a fantastic year. I've been happy, for the most part, and progressed far on a personal level. Let's hope 2003 continues in a similar vein.

Comments

[mhw.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had a great time, sweetie. I've spent most of it in bed with the cold I picked up while doing the Grand Tour of the relatives. The fondue sounds like I would have enjoyed it a lot :)

Many hugs and kisses as always.

[mhw.livejournal.com]

Actually, thinking about it, I remember you enthusing somewhere in your LJ about that sweet and sour thing I knocked up when I came to visit. Fancy doing it again, and I'll take notes this time?

See, I really am one of those 'well, you get a handful or so of this, and you chop it up and sling it in a pan with a bit of oil and let it sizzle a while' cooks, so I hardly ever have recipes for anything unless I mentally reconstruct them, and Kay's sweet and sour is so multifarious I really can't remember what I did for it - except no seafood: you don't do seafood, right? I'm learning :) and you didn't like the okra, so no okra.

Eh, I do so like cooking for the people I love... makes me all happy just to think about it.

[softfruit.livejournal.com]

rah, was a vair good party *bounce*

[dineleeeee.livejournal.com]

4 years ago! wow!

someone just reminded me of cheese fondue, and i managed to find your recipe again :)

thanks for putting it in your livejournal memories, i'll try and make some fondue now according to your recipe :)

[mattp.livejournal.com]

Heh. With you having now commented on this entry, I've corrected a typo :-)

I keep meaning to put the recipes in a separate site, away from my journal. Probably sometime around the 23rd of Septembruary ;-)

It doesn't seem like 4 years ago. A shame I had to move out of that house, as I liked it so much.