The Gregarious Gringo

As far as I'm concerned, the New Year proper - in terms of work, at least - hasn't started quite yet. So, apart from dipping my toe in the murky commissions water in as much as I spent some part of the last three days chasing a horse-drawn taxi around Bath city centre (and still, the driver's not available for interview yet!), I don't intend to go back to the commerce keyboard until tomorrow...which means I'll make that first deadline day of the year bright and early on Monday. But cooking isn't work, is it? Which is why I'm happy to spend most of this afternoon preparing a Mexican feast of vegetarian chilli, proper nachos,  paprika smoked potatoes and all the trimmings (guacamole, sour cream, refried beans - you know the score) for six guests, including two teenage girls who are about as far from being annoyingly genre-stereotypical as you can get (but still, I'll slide a pizza in the oven too, just in case).

As I write, the chilli is bubbling away on the stove, wafting the most gorgeous, warming flavours all over the house (there's even a bit of dark chocolate in it, for proper authenticity). In about an hour's time I have to whip cream for the top of a very traditionally British trifle (you just can't beat trifle when it comes to putting on a spread for friends at home), and before I went to bed last night, I left a tray of balsamic vinegar/fresh garlic sprinkled tomatoes gently roasting on the very lowest oven setting overnight, which means that this morning I woke up to three layers of caramelised, ruby red nuggets of savoury deliciousness, perfect for untraditional salsa. 

All that remains to be said is Wish You Were Here! But seeing as you probably won't be (unless you're one of the aforementioned teenage guests, checking out this evening's menu in advance), I hope you're having some Not Quite New Year Proper fun of your own.