I'm planning a dinner party and I'm so excited...

Surely one of the best things about being an adult is inviting people over, getting dressed up, cooking up a storm and generally creating a small social slice of heaven in your very own home.

M and I don't entertain or socialise often.  We work long hours in demanding jobs - I know, wah wah, poor us - but the fact remains, despite living in a beautiful apartment less than 2 minutes from the centre of the city and with ready access to bars and eateries for something out and great local produce for something at home, we are actually quite reclusive.  As a life-strategy, it has its benefits: without the guilty joys of Friday night take away and couch time, we might never have made our coffee table:

That's right children, stay home a lot and you too could one day make magnificence like this happen...

Just occasionally, however, I get a real hankering to cook up a storm and have someone other than M (or my mum) say "Mmmmm, that was delicious!" **

So in a fit of pre-Christmas joie de vivre, I wrote out invites, addressed, stamped and sent them. So guests will definitely be coming and now I simply have to make it work. Feeling the fear and doing it anyway, no?

I really love to cook. There are so many things in my life I can't control, yet cooking always seems to work out exactly the way it's supposed to. It's very therapeutic - I know some senior execs who run marathons to relax after a busy week. Me, I take pictures like this:

French-style classic tarragon roast chicken 

And make this happen:

Mmmmmmm....

I don't have a full menu planned for our dinner party yet. It's set for the weekend after I come back from Chicago, so that's going to be a fun week to prepare for including jet lag and catching up on work *sigh* It will absolutely be worth it though: dressing up, catching up with our beautiful beautiful friends, sharing great food and great wine and celebrating the end of another year.

Happy Monday everyone :) xo

**Having your partner say your cooking is great is really nice, no question, but it's also a bit like your mum telling you you're great at singing and going to audition on X factor - your mum's opinion just might not be totally objective, know what I'm saying?