Hockney-esque tree

A long, much needed lie in this morning was followed by a day spent largely in the kitchen being a domestic goddess.

Inspired by Nigella (having watched one of her programmes this afternoon and deciding that I have a lady crush on her - what a wonderfully voluptuous, beautiful cook she is!).

So my boys have have fresh tacos for lunch, a full roast dinner for tea and I have also managed to find time to make my own mincement from scratch for mince pies and my own pastry.

The pastry was inspired by the Hairy Bikers, who I love watching on tv. The mincemeat was heavily influenced by the bikers and by Keith Floyd - extremely alcoholic.

Have just taken a batch out of the oven and they are scrummy. I used fresh orange zest and juice in the pastry (instead of water) and plenty of port and brandy in the mincemeat. Delicious, flaky pastry and moist, alcoholic fruitiness inside. All washed down with wine.

Oh, and we put the tree up. I suspect the cats will have pulled it over by morning.

The collage, badly executed, was inspired by a programme we watched last night "Hockney on Photography" - was very interesting.



Night night xx