14.12.08: Festive finger food

It was time to put up the tree, so We decided to get festive and picked up some nibbles to eat while putting up the baubles. Waitrose supplied the treats: mini salmon cakes with chili, garlic and ginger dip; pigs in blankets; mini pancakes (blinis) with soft cheese and basil plus smoked salmon; pumpkin seed and soft cheese smoked salmon canapes; and some low fat crinkle crisps for good measure. Some mulled wine help things go down easy.

SHE SAYS: This was fun, but a bit too rich in the end. I think the nibbles route should stay simple from now on: doubling the pigs in blankets and the amount of crisps would have been good enough. The blinis suffered from bitter-basil syndrome so typical of any store-bought item with pesto in it, and I found the pumpkin thingies a little icky - seeds, cream cheese and salmon combined blew out my fun-fat receptors. Still ate my share, it must be said. Best discovery: Waitrose low-fat crinkle crisps are full of nummy fresh-tater flavour and carry just enough salt to satisfy.

HE SAYS: These treats weren't bad, in fact some were more then okay. I augmented most with the chili and ginger dip that came with the salmon cakes, making them all a little bit more shpesh. Pigs in their bacon blankets were obviously the highlight. The tree looked very good, by the way.