March 8th 2015 - Pheasant & wine

March 8th 2015 - Pheasant & wine

(apologies for  spelling mistakes explain in post)

This is something I have never tried in my 32yrs of life!  Not sure why, but have never tried it.  That was until tea today.

It all came about when my neighbour asked if we had we a spare shelf in the freezer over Christmas as she had no room.  We said we had and she brought round a few bits.  A few days later she came and got them and brought a few other bits - 1 of which was a pheasant - I generally commented that I had never tried it - she said that in new year she would sort out a date and cook them and we could go round for tea.

Well a few dates were discussed and either they were not available or we wern't or something happened on planned date etc and today ended up as dinner date next door.  We went round at 5pm as agreed and were given beer (me and hubby not kids) - they knew we drank it as had seen in recycling (oops lol!)  Never mind.  We sat drinking and talking whilst the veg finished off cooking.

We then helped serve the food - they were trying to be good hosts by putting all food in serving dishes - I told em to serve from saucepan as it saved on washing up. No point making a dish dirty for no reason is way I see it.

We moved to the lounge where their table had been moved to as more room than in the kitchen.  We had chicken as well as the pheasant (encase we didn't like it) and loads of veg and yorkshires and gravy both meats had been coated in paprika as  it crispens the skin and adds flavour (note for future).  This is where it got messy - we had white wine with the pheasant main meal - it was nice and i'm not really a wine drinker as I don't like the taste of it and it goes to my head.

Well I can safely say I enjoyed the pheasant, it sort of seemed like a cross between chicken and turkey - I can't really say what it tasted like but it was nice, I finished off 1/2 a pheasant to myself.  I was also surprised that I liked the taste of the white wine.  So all was going well.  I then finished off the remaining 1/2 bottle of white wine!

My neighbours had also been and bought cheesecakes for desert (which were lovely) and had bought red wine to go with desert - this wasn't going to end well lol!  The deserts were lovely, we also the cakes I made yesterday and took round as my Mum told me you don't go to dinner empty handed.  And me and my neighbour had 1/2 bottle of red which each - hubby had another beer and the neighbours wife had coffee.  I felt fine and was talking normally, that was until we left and the fresh air hit me, not to mention the spots on my stair carpet moving as I tried to walk down them!  This is why I don't drink wine as it hits me hard!

A good evening, with good food and good company.  I should no by my age not mmix drinks but never mind. lol!

March 7th 2015 - swirl cakes

March 7th 2015 - swirl cakes

Today's pin is 1 I have done before and that is make swirl cakes.  They are very easy to do, using normal cake mix (home made or shop bought) add nothing but what you need for the mix so it is still the creamy/white/lemon colour.  Then add the mixture to cupcake cases as you would normally but before you put them in the oven add a couple of drops of food colouring to ech cake and using a cocktail stick swirl the food colouring into the mixture so you get a pattern.  Then bake as normal.  Once they are cooked you may not see the swirls on the top of the cakes but you will when you bite into them.  I added a couple of drops of the same colours into the icing and added that to the cakes so the red ahve red swirl icing and the blue has blue. (see pics).

There is a reason for my baking and its not a birthday or party (well it is my friends 18th today but thats not the reason.)  Tomorrow we are going for dinner with our neighbours at their house, they are cooking pheasant (which none of us has tried) and a chicken encase we don't like the pheasant.  I was always told you never turn up to a dinner or party empty handed and as I know they are on medication I decided not to go for a bottle of wine but some cakes.  I will take 1 each round there for after dinner.

Heres my pics: