A Wonderful World: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Follow the page on Twitter here

Check out the page on Google+

So for the past month my blog has been pretty empty but rest assured there has been a good cause – Christmas!

I’ve been to Christmas markets, Christmas meals and Christmas concerts galore.

Here are just a few of my stand out preparations for the big day.

I started the season off at the end of November in the midst of Birmingham’s Christmas market. It stretched throughout the centre of Birmingham and adopted a cosy German theme.

There was German Brätwurst (German hotdogs), mulled wine, chocolatiers, toy shops, gift stalls, and Christmas decorations all hosted in beautiful log cabins and covered in twinkling fairy lights. We wandered round all afternoon but would have needed another day to really appreciate the scale of it all. I bought a lovely Christmas decoration (below) and some deliciously crumbly fudge.

We finished the visit in a restaurant called the Piano & Pitcher. I chose a delicious mix of chicken, wholegrain mustard, bacon, tomatoes, and olives on a bed of leaves – it was lovely, simple and a perfect end to the festive visit.

On a smaller scale, I also went to St. Albans’ Christmas market (a small town just outside of London). Despite the smaller scale of the stalls, there was still plenty of choice with original British beers, farm cheeses, scarf stalls, wooden carvings (including cute ducks on ice skates), floral scented Turkish delight (which tasted like a bath soap!), an Italian deli, freshly caught fish, homemade decorations and table cloths as well as a whole range of dog leads, coats, wellies and walking boots. I was absolutely spoilt for choice but ended up selecting a lovely silver bracelet and some scented candles – spiced with cinnamon and Christmas tree pine.

Just before the day itself I had the absolute delight of going to see a show at London’s Royal Albert Hall hosted by BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing stars, Anton du Beke and Erin Boag (“Anton & Erin’s Christmas Cracker”). The concert incorporated a brilliant display of classical ballroom routines from foxtrots to the jive, the waltz to the charleston. All were accompanied by beloved Christmas carols including Silent Night, Santa Clause is Coming to Town and White Christmas as well as a whole sing along to the 12 Days of Christmas with Erin and Anton conducting us with our own dance moves for each section. It was an absolute joy and truly embellished the Christmas spirit.

To finish this wonderful evening, we went to “Brown’s” in Covent Garden – a large sophisticated brasserie that sublimely mixes classy and classic with cosy and comfy.

I started with “Crab & avocado stack English mustard & crème fraîche dressing and a chilli, coriander & cucumber salsa” (£8.00)*. This was a wonderfully light starter. The crab was tender and rich, perfectly balanced with the fresh cucumber, chilli and melt-in-the-mouth avocado salsa.

I then had “Roast rolled rib eye of National Park lamb and grilled cutlet Samphire, chestnut mushrooms, fondant potato, red wine sauce” (£17. 25)*. The rolled lamb was exquisite – very tender and really packed in the rich, powerful flavour of the lamb. The cutlet was a great addition to the dish and, combined with the buttery fondant potato, rich sauce and samphire, the dish was rich, delicious and perfectly balanced.