Christmas Pudding Overload & Setting the Theme
Following on from my 1st instalment of being a first time Christmas Host I’ve now got more in than just stuffing! I’ve got all the accompaniments such as gravy, cranberry sauce and mustard, and the box in the dining room is filled with some other festive treats.
The Box of Festive Food
However, I now own two Christmas Puddings and one Chocolate Pudding. Two? I hear you ask? Well I bought a luxury Christmas Pud and a luxury Melt in Middle Chocolate Pud from one supermarket (remembering that at least one guest at Xmas dinner doesn’t like Xmas Puddings). However, on visiting the In-Laws on Sunday I was given a Finest Cognac Laced Christmas Pudding for Christmas Day. It is massive! There was a slight look of worry on their faces when I said ‘Ooo, can we light this one up?’. So now I have mine as either a back up pudding, or I might just sample it before Christmas day, just in case. After all, I best serve up the Finest one – it would be rude not to.
I’ve also got the Turkey on order from a local farm in County Durham – this is due to be delivered around 20th December; just in time for Christmas and enough time for me to work out what to do with it, as I’ve never cooked a Turkey before.
My Allium Coasters and Placemats
Last month I splashed out and bought our Allium Placemats and Coasters set from Roman at Home. With a nice fauna design and the blue matching our dining room, I’m keen to use this as my theme for the whole dinner. As it’s a set of 6, it’ll be perfect for the 5 of us. So that’s the theme sorted, shades of blue, fauna and white. However, I don’t have anything else for the meal in the way of crockery, gravy boats, serving dishes and table linen.
So, my last week has involved me worrying about cutlery, crockery and serving dishes. Not something we stock currently on Roman at Home, so I had to find inspiration elsewhere. My 1st was a call to a close friend who has a few serving dishes that I could borrow if needs be, but that still didn’t solve my cutlery and crockery issue. You see, I have a lovely Mushroom Blue Denby Everyday set but it’s only a 4 person set, therefore one of us will be eating from the spare cat bowl if I don’t sort out some extra crockery soon, or get a new set for ‘best’. I now see why my Mum and Nan have fancy ‘best’ dining sets for times like this! I’ve had a look online, but I’m not keen on buying a set just for Christmas, in case it’s 5 years before I host another Christmas Dinner and it is near impossible to find blue Christmas dinner services. I can’t seem to find any sets I like, in a reasonable price range. Any guidance would be appreciated in the comments below.
White Serving Dishes
I was in luck when it came to serving platters though. I stumbled upon a great small and large matching 3 platter dish set on the high-street, which looks ideal for Christmas day and to use all year round for dinner parties. Being nice white detailed crockery, with three sectioned off spaces each, it will be perfect for Yorkshires, Pigs ‘n’ Blankets and various vegetable selections. One crockery item off the list then.
My partner did have the genius moment though… he remembered we had a nice white crockery gravy jug tucked away at the back of the cupboard which matches perfectly with the white serving dishes, result!
Next on the List – Christmas table linen as well as Trifle and Turkey recipes! Hopefully I’ll come across some dinner services in the meantime.
