A few weeks back I went to an event by friends of glass and really had a lovely time. Friends of glass are an organisation who are committed to promoting the use of glass in homes. I am so inspired by recipes in glass that I have started collecting a selection of glass bottles and jars to store my food in. Just when my jar obsession was calming down, lo and behold I got another invitation by friends of glass to attend their Christmas event at Cactus Studios -Michel Roux Jr's cookery school, where Saturday Kitchen is filmed. I am not complaining I was rather pleased that I would get to learn some more ideas for Christmas using jars.
On arrival I had a lovely surprise as I met a fellow blogger friends Choclette who blogs at chocolate log blog. As we entered we were greeted with the most wonderful and welcoming Christmas setting of candle light, Christmas tree, innovative decorations in glass bottles, carols playing and glasses of warm mulled cider. Whilst getting to know all the other guests we mingled over shot glasses of red pepper soup with pesto. Followed by warm brie with cranberries all served in pretty glass jars and breadsticks for scooping up the creamy brie.
After the nibbles we watch a cookery demo by chef Bridget Colvin and BBC TV presenter Cherry Healey . They made spiced parsnip soup with pesto and parsnip crisps which we sipped whilst the second demo of pies in the jars was demonstrated. For the vegetarians there was Butternut squash jar pie and for the non-vegetarians Bridget showed a honey & mustard ham rock jar pie.
Whilst the pies were cooking in the oven ready for our dinner we were shown how to create Cointreau clementines in jars. We enjoyed the lovely hot pies with delicious wine and then it was hands on deck as we each created our own jars of the boozy clementines. We had to pay extra attention to the caramel as it can burn in a jiffy. I was really pleased that my caramel did turn out perfect and there was enough to share with a friend whose caramel turned just little too brown.
The evening ended with a lovely arts and crafts demonstration by Amanda who showed us how to let ourcreative juices flow by filling a jar with hot chocolate powder, chocolate buttons, and marsh mallows and all beautifully decorated with ribbons and bows. Of course we all attached a miniature bottle of booze to the jars to make the hot chocolate in the jar just that little bit more special.
The evening was awesome and really fun and interactive. We all left with all our lovely gifts and an additional surprise of a jar chutney by Rubies in the Rubble, who create all their chutneys from unsold fruit that otherwise would go to waste.
I would like to thank friends of glass for a wonderful evening. It was most enjoyable.
You can read about Choclette's experience at friends of glass event here:
Some great ides here, I've been making chilli jam and lemon curd as gifts this year x
ReplyDeleteIt looks and sounds like you had an amazing time, how lucky are you xx I would never have though about putting a pie in a glass like that, love it.
ReplyDeleteThese look so beuatiful but not as hard as I had expected to put together! I especially like the Cointreau clementines, delicious!
ReplyDeleteThere's definitely something nice about glass. This looks great - I love the idea of shot glasses of red pepper soup with pesto - yum!
ReplyDeleteIt was a lovely evening Nayna, I really enjoyed it and I was glad you were there too. Thanks for linking to my post.
ReplyDeleteI envy you, so many events you are able to attend :) Maybe next time I am in London should keep my eyes and ears open for food related events.
ReplyDeletegreat ideas, love some of these!
ReplyDeleteThese look wonderful. Catherine
ReplyDeleteThere are some beautiful gifts and ideas here - thanks for sharing x x
ReplyDeleteThere were lots of glass gifts at our craft fair yesterday and the sold out instantly
ReplyDeleteMmm... parsnip crisps, Cointreau clementines... yummy! This sounds great!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great evening, I love how the products are packaged, well the food I should say, makes it look so interesting.
ReplyDeleteThese look wonderful, anyone would love to receive these for Christmas
ReplyDeleteParsnip soup and crisps sounds delicious. The gifts in glasses are so pretty, they will make wonderful presents.
ReplyDeleteGlassware can really add something to food gifts. Last year I gave people some home-made chutney in nice glass jars, and a couple of people said they were the nicest gifts they'd received.
ReplyDeleteLovely. It is such a great idea to share with friends and family something much more personal than just shop bought gifts... DIY all the way :-)
ReplyDeleteHad never though of making a pie in a jar! Love the hot chocolate idea, and you can't beat homemade jams and pickles.
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