Last night was the first time in about two years that my seven friends from home and I had all been free to do something (shocking!) As we all go to separate unis we have differing holidays, and as well as that when we're home we have family and boyfriends to see, and a few of us have jobs as well. It's often like fighting a losing battle trying to organise things to suit everyone.
So with it being such a momentous occasion, as well as it being near Christmas, we decided to have a festive feast, and luckily one of my friends offered up her house for us to invade bearing goodies. We each chose something that we could take along, and basically sat around a big coffee table with it all spread out, having a natter and indulging in lots of yummy nibbles!
I took some home-made mini roast potatoes, that I decided to make after I saw a recipe on one of the many cookery shows on at this time of year. You just use normal new potatoes (the type you would use for potato salad) and cut slices in them about 5mm apart that go halfway through the potato. Then you place them all into a roasting tin and douse in olive oil, rolling them around in it until they are fully covered. The next bit depends on personal taste. I chose to sprinkle
rosemary and rock salt over them, but you could use chilli or garlic flakes, pepper or another herb of your choice. You could even experiment with different combinations and flavours. Once you have seasoned them, then you put them in the oven at a high heat (about 220 degrees) for thirty minutes or until they have gone brown on the outside, and are fluffy and soft in the centre. Because of the slits in the potatoes, when they cook they open up like fans for a more quirky look. As it was a buffet style meal we were having, I placed them all in a red bowl (very Christmassy!) and suck cocktail sticks in them so that they were more like 'finger food'. They are not difficult, but the little bit of extra effort really makes them look more special, and they were received very well!
As well as my mini potatoes, we also had pate and crackers, pigs in blankets, stuffing balls, pretzels, nuts, crisps and dips, goujons, spring rolls, chocolate fingers, mince pies, yule log, chocolate covered strawberries and amazing mini fish fillets with a splodge of mushy peas and a chip on top to create little fish and chip bites! Of course, it didn't all get eaten, but we did a very convincing job of trying! We watched Toy Story 3 afterwards, and I had a couple of glasses of tasty rose wine as I wasn't driving for a change.
Not only was it lovely to see everyone together again, but it was a great chance for a good ol' chinwag to catch up on each other's lives. With this being the last year of university for some of us, I'm sure in the future it will only become worse to try finding time when we are all available, so I certainly made the most of it- and the food!
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