Bull and Last Day of the Year

I hate New Year's Eve.  I decided to get it out of the way early so on the 30th I went and ticked the following NYE boxes:

• Got drunk
• Ordered unnecessary Jagermeisters (although aren't all Jagermeisters unnecessary?)
• Ordered friend to buy double coffee Patron tequilas all round (a joke, sort of, but he took me at my word)
• Smoked verboten smokes
• Had a little fight in the street
• Had another little barney with a hot bouncer in a terrible Mayfair members' club, over which toilets were allowed for povs like me vs. which toilets were reserved for trust-fund-babies
• Ended up in random home of trust-fund-baby, fending off advances and playing the name game (no, Putin is not a female pop star, yes, Pacman is alive, sort of, well, till the ghosts get him.)

Job done.  Which meant I could go to a lovely gastropub on New Year's Eve and not worry about having to find some teenage kicks.   So to the Bull and Last, near Highgate, which has some of the best food in London.  

It's at least as good as The Harwood in Fulham, but for my money is a far more relaxed and enjoyable experience, and the service is great.  We started with amazing canapes: 

Goan chicken pasty with cucumber raita, pig's head dim sum (more like slow cooked shredded pork cheek in a beautiful light pastry with sesame seeds on top), braised shoulder of venison kromeski (basically a croquette), and this lush beetroot and vodka cured gravadlax on home made soda bread:

For starters I had chicken and cep orecchiette (anyone who reads this blog will know that I never say no to pasta.)   

Very delicate oricchiette, more baby's ears than normal oriccchiette, with a very earthy almost-broth like  sauce, and perfectly tender chicken thighs.  Friend had scallops, Jerusalem artichoke & Alsace bacon:

For mains I had char grilled beef sirloin, creamed ratte potato, cavolo nero and trompette mushrooms.  My photo does no justice to it, but suffice to say it was immense - perfect execution with quality ingredients.  

I've had such a year of soils and foams and deconstructed sea-vegetables and all I ever really want to eat is beautiful simple delicious food like this.

For dessert, chocolate mousse, roast William pear and hazlenuts:

and then a course called 'Sweeties' which was actually four amazing petit fours:

Amaretti nougat, salted caramel truffle, lemon parfait sandwich, and blueberry marshmallow!

And a glass or two of champagne, just because...

HAPPY NEW YEAR indeed, 

xx

Stuff I loved this year

I didn't do nearly as much cultural stuff as I'd have liked this year, but below are some of the things I loved (and a few that I didn't) in 2011. 

Best Films

Bridesmaids

Kristen Wiig is a genius.  I still think back to the wedding dress shop scene and laugh out loud. Comparing this to the Hangover is like comparing 30 Rock to Two Pints of Lager.

The Skin I Live In

Weird, insane and no less brilliant because of it.  I can understand why it isn't everyone's cup of tea - the man I went with was too disturbed to speak afterwards - an added bonus.

True Grit

Coens back on form after the totally over-rated A Serious Man.  I didn't think I could love Jeff Bridges any harder, post-Lebowski, but he's almost as brilliant as Hailee Steinfeld.

Films I missed but wish I hadn't

We Need to Talk About Kevin
Senna

Drive

Films I saw but wish I hadn't

Potiche

Contagion

Midnight in Paris

(By the way, how sharp is this interior at the new Everyman cinema in Maida Vale?  When I first started going to the cinema, you were lucky if they had loo roll in the bogs.  Now it's like walking into a double page spread in Elle Deco.)

Theatre

Jerusalem

Mesmerising, extraordinary, moving, hilarious and brilliant.  I had no idea how exceptional Mark Rylance was.  As good as the reviewers said.

TV

The Killing - Season 1

I loved the fact that at the end of every episode I was convinced I knew who the killer was.  And I'll have you know I was right the first time (but not the following 18 times...)  Season 2 a disappointment, though I could watch Lund forever.

The Crimson Petal and The White

Beautiful, evocative, brilliantly cast.  Romola Garai was exceptional.  Chris O' Dowd was so good in this, I could almost forgive his Oirish accent in Bridesmaids.

30 Rock

Alec, Alec, Alec, Tina, Alec, Kenneth, Alec, Tracy, Alec.

Music

Adele - 21

It really annoys me when blokes I know say this is an average album, just because it's hugely popular and mainstream.  The reason it's so popular is because it has heart and soul and passion and honesty and rawness, and just because something's mainstream doesn't necessarily mean it's cack.  On a separate note it seems that everyone I really love this year is female (other than Daniel Craig.  Oh, and I guess Mark Rylance.  And Alec.)

Books

A Visit from The Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan

Original, funny, clever, moving, brave.

The Illumination - Kevin Brockmeier

Original, sad, clever, ambitious, brave.

The Cure - Rachel Genn

Original, intelligent, poetic, wise, brave.

Ms Marmitelover's beautiful Boxing Day brunch

I was lucky enough to get a space at Ms Marmitelover's Scandi-inspired Boxing Day brunch yesterday.

She is my new favourite person.  She loves the things I love (Nora Ephron, Charles Bukowski, food,) and I am nothing if not a narcissist.  But she is also a fantastic cook:

Knows how to make the perfect potato salad with divine home made mayo, dill and red onions:

And how to make eggs look spectacular:

That premium yellow caviar is from Kalix in Northern Sweden; Ms. Marmitelover can tell you more about it here.

How to make beautiful creme fraiche and sour cherry ice cream, in home-made crispy cardamom cones

How to make berries look pretty:

And bake lovely spicy gingerbread biscuits in festive form:

And these pussy-cat inspired Swedish rolls.  How cool are they?

But more importantly, along with being super-talented in the kitchen and a fantastically hospitable host, she is totally sharp and hilarious and entertaining.

Thanks also to her delightful assistants, the very talented blogger Bellaphon, and Ms Maritelover's lovely and very smart daughter, The Teen.

Ms Marmitelover's brilliant book, Supper Club, is on every Top Ten list of the year.  Buy it for yourself as your post-Christmas perk-up, and make a New Year's resolution to go to one of her events in 2012.

London Marathon 2012

Does a 30 minute walk around Regent's Park offset this lot?

5 rib 4rib

Skirt now too tight.  Will my mother kill me if I remove it at the dinner table?

How about my tights?

True that

Stellar cheese

With packaging like this it's rude not to.

 The-damage-is-already-done -***-it denouement...

Earrings now officially too tight.

Thank you to my wonderful, generous, talented hosts for cooking an amazing lunch, for allowing me to take photos of everything, and then letting me have a little lie down immediately thereafter.

Christmas presents all on brand!

Family are going to town on the pear theme this year.  Merry Christmas everyone, hope it's a good one.