English guest

party games -- lots and lots of party games!! charades, board games, cards etc. better than tv anyday.

as for food, well we always have hot chocolate, bucks fizz (fizzy wine or champagne with orange juice) Quality Streets chocolates, sausage rolls, roast potatoes, chrsitmas pudding lit with brandy, profiteroles (spell?), trifle, victoria sponge cake!

and my fave is nuts that you have to crack with a nut cracker, sugared almonds, candied peel and cheese and crackers! yum!

my mum is the best cook ever, pm me if you want any recipes.

Originally Posted by fwan

my idea of mushy peas is..... The good brand canned one that you heat up and they are yummy and sweet. very hard to find. Its not very often they turn out great

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Me too - why 'make' them when someone has gone to all that hard work for you and even put them in a tin! We haev 2 sorts - ordinary mush peas and extra large mushy peas! I love them.

Everyones said everything i was going to say, and like MyBabies said don't forget your yorkshire pudding with christmas dinner if you can!

Jenny mushy peas are great!, but they give you wind!

Well Susan - you have your opinion and I have mine! I had a husband who loved them and the smell in the kitchen was enough to turn me off. But I did prepare them for him occasionally, and was tolerant when he brought them home from the chippie. We divorced over other matters!

hmmmm...I think I'll look for the prepared version.

Originally Posted by ComeresMom

How about some nice spotted dick?

Friends of mine from England brought us a can a few years ago. Being american, we thought it was the funniest thing!

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That is a riot! If I could find that I would buy it!

If you'd posted earlier i would have sent you one!.

I didn't even think of it until a few days ago. I got some good suggestions though. Thanks Susan & everyone!

we always have pigs in a blanket, which is the little cocktail sausages wrapped in streaky bacon......very nice

Thanks for all the great suggestions! Does anyone have any more appetizer ideas?

so what did you cook in the end Rockcat?

lol a month and a bit later!!!

lol, i have food on the brain today fwan!

Originally Posted by ComeresMom

How about some nice spotted dick?

Friends of mine from England brought us a can a few years ago. Being american, we thought it was the funniest thing!

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ROTFL!

mmmmm .............. mushy peas I'm a bit of a freak with my mushy peas I like to put sugar on them instead of salt (mmmmmmmmm) and before I moved here I'd never have put cauliflour cheese on a roast dinner but it's fairlyu common around her and tastes delish with gravy.

heheehee I'm so pleased you're trying to make this guy feel at home. Nothing goes down better than roast beef and yorkshire puddings... except maybe an Aberdeen Angus steak and ale pie..... mmmm wow. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. If there's soemthing truly English, it would be scones and strawberry jam with clotted cream. Oh served with afternoon tea dahling of course!

Hope you have fun!

Fancy one of these Emma?!

mmmm Susan - and there was me trying not to eat ready for our usual Saturday night chinese takeaway - now my tum's grumbling and I've got hours to wait!!

I hope I don't dissapoint anyone, even after all of your wonderful suggestions, but I didn't do as well on this as I wanted to.

We don't have a sit down dinner on Christmas because many of our friends have family obligations at different times. I planned food that could be served anytime.

Maverick-kitten suggested bucks fizz (we call it mimosa) which Dave liked. We also had tea, of course. Dave had coffee. (Later on he switched to beer.) Maverick-kitten also said cheese & crackers. We had a good assortment and it went along well with what else we were having.

Jennyranson said split pea or lentil soup. I always make "so-many-vegetables-you-won't-miss-the-meat-soup," but considered the lentil until Dave said - "Are we having your vegetable soup again? I love that soup!" Sooo...we had the veggie, but at least I know he liked it (and he ate 3 bowls).

Flisssweetpea's daughter said opening the stockings at 2AM was her favorite part. Well, we didn't do it at 2, but we had a stocking for him too.

I tried the board games, but no one wanted to play. They were too interested in the toys they got for Christmas. (So what we're in our 40's) They mostly played with remote control cars all day.

So, we had the soup, cheese & crackers, smoked salmon, relish tray (pepperocinis, olives, pickles, pickled cauliflower/veggie mix), spinich-swiss cheese bagels (always a big hit because they look like little wreaths), fruit, and baby brie wrapped in pastry.

I would still like more ideas, because Dave is moving in next door March 1st, so I'll have plenty more chances. (We're so glad he's moving in. He and our neighbor will be roomates. They both LOVE our cats and the cats love them!)I don't eat meat, myself (just fish), but I don't mind cooking it. My boyfriend and Dave love my beef stew. I really wanted to try Yorkshire pudding, but I've never had it before and ran out of experimentation time. I will have to do that!

Thanks so much, again all of you!

How did I miss this thread? I'm laughing about the "mushy peas". While attending Augsburg University, I became friendly with two English girls, one from London, and the other from Birmingham. One afternoon we were sitting around in my dorm room (actually a tiny studio apartment, with a kitchenette and bath), and I was making split pea soup. When it was done, we had some, and the girl from Birmingham pronounced it the "best mushy peas" she'd ever had, and wanted the recipe. All this time I've had the misconception that they were the same thing. One thing I always expect when in England is peas! I'd love to know the annual per capita consumption. We have friends here (he's English, she's German) whom we always give fresh peas from our garden to, because he's just nuts about them, and complains that they're hard to find. This guy makes the best trifle I've ever had.
I've had "Spotted Dick", but what I've always wondered about is "Bubble and Squeak". What is that - a sort of omelet with leftover potatoes and cabbage, or what?