I love cooking.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean posh cooking - just fun, tasty, practical things.

TV cookery shows are a must-watch and, of course, I steal some of the chefs’ ideas and make them mine. Shopping for food is fun too and I revel in exploring  the smell and colour of markets around the world.

Back home in the kitchen, I’m not above cheating. Why bother labouring over a sauce for my pies, when condensed soup and a tin of sweetcorn moistens the chicken and gammon without the headaches.

I prefer devoting my efforts to making the prettiest picture on the pastry top when cooking the pies with my older granddaughter – she’s ten.  Her thirteen-year-old brother prefers the old favourite – shepherd’s pie!  Cooking with those two is an absolute hoot. It’s now time for Church-window biscuits again - and smashing the boiled sweets can be lethal.

With their younger cousins, we’ve only got as far as icing gingerbread men. Well, icing some of them. Quite a few seem to disappear, run away. Amazing how they do.

For the grown-ups, I love throwing dinner parties around my glorious table. It’s the first piece of furniture I ever bought and can grow to twice its size.  I love beautiful glasses, so each place is laid with three, with little ones added at the end of the meal .

Lighting is gentle, but just enough to see each other and the food, and a little carefully chosen music in the background helps to complete the atmosphere.

Enjoying your own party is crucial, so I plan the menu starting with something light and pre-plated so relaxed conversation has a chance to unfold promptly. The beef stew can be gently burbling for as long as we want - and the veg pre-cooked and thrust into the microwave. To make it special, I always stir in some redcurrant jelly and chestnuts when adding the mushrooms.

Dessert is likely a selection of cheeses, with figs and grapes waiting in the fridge. And my speciality - those Nutella chocolate biscuits with the lids taken off, a sliced strawberry inserted, and then replaced!

Eating out is a pleasure too and I love to visit a range of restaurants and certainly mull over their specialities and recommendations.  After all, that would be why we chose to eat there!

Whatever you’re planning this Christmas, I do hope you enjoy every mouthful - and every moment.

Love

Jenny