Weekend of Food

My friends and I went for a long weekend in London to attend the Taste of Christmas food festival at ExCel House.  There were hundreds of food stalls and restaurants in the arena and I imagine this is what heaven would be. We ate and drank our way through one stall to another, sampling all kinds of wines, spirits, beers, cocktails, chocolates, pastries, ice-creams, fudges, chutneys, bread, cheeses, etc... I over ate but I guess that's not really a surprise.  Like any other holidays, I must get some souvenirs, and so I did.  For souvenirs, and trying not to sound as if I am an alcoholic, I bought a bottle of toffee vodka which will be delicious for Christmas cocktails; margarita and pina colada mixers; and a jar of Nigella seeds (My friends think that I am obsessed).

After about 5 hours of eating and drinking, we went around Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street for a little sightseeing and to stretch our legs and stomachs a bit before dinner time (yes, you read it right... more food).  For dinner we went to Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italian at Westfield shopping complex.  To start, I had the wild truffle tagliatelle which was just heavenly; freshly made pasta tossed in butter, nutmeg and parmesan cheese and then top with shaved black truffle. 

Next, I had the humongous Burger Italiano made with British beef pattie, with melting fontina cheese, crispy salami, lettuce, tomato salsa, dill pickles and crispy fried onions. Yum.

To end the meal, I had my all time favourite dessert, tiramisu.  This classic Italian coffee flavoured trifle was served with orange mascarpone cream and dusting of cocoa powder...

 

 

I still to be honest not sure how I managed to eat that much in one day...

Every year at work we raise money for a charity and this year we are supporting Movember for the prostate cancer charity.  Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache.... Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days.  Some of the guys at work are doing it but unfortunately, I cannot grow a moustache.  To raise money, my team and I held a bake sale and some raffles earlier and I contributed a couple batches of Nigella's sweet and salty crunchy nut bars which went down like hotcakes! We're gonna have another bake sale and I have to make more of them among other things.

Anyway, enough about me. How was your weekend? It's 19 days to Christmas. How exciting!