Christmas with Jamie Oliver!

My first week here I saw a advert on the tube line for Jamie Oliver's Christmas Edition Magazine.  I think I may have voiced my excitement over this publication, right on the escalator! (I am so easily amused!)  I looked all over town for it and finally purchased a copy which I took home and showed off to my foodie roomie, Marta.  I enjoyed pursing each page and dreaming about cooking the yummy Christmas menus.  I just love Jamie!

Come the first of December we heard there was a "Winter Wonderland" festival in Hyde Park so Val and I headed off to check it out.  We had no idea what fun we were in for...HORDES of people!  When we first got in we were in the German Christmas Market where there were lots of little cottage looking stands.  The people were selling all kinds of fun things and yummy German treats.  Then we came around to the ride area and I saw it...a gazebo with a giant gingerbread man on it.  As we got closer, I saw that it was a Jamie Oliver Experience!  I told Val, I just had to make a gingerbread man!

We went around and got closer...it was decorated so fantastically.  Everything was covered in lights and there were Christmas trees decorated in cookie cutters and tiny bird houses.  It was so uber me! 

We went up the steps and the lady gave me an apron and set me up to decorate my cookies.  I got one Christmas Tree and one Gingerbread Man.  I had a condiment dispenser filled with icing and an egg carton with little cups of toppings for decorating.  Thanks to Jaime, the cups were filled with natural ingredients like coconut, raisins, and dried cranberries...and yummy chocolate pieces too!

It was such fun to decorate them and I felt happy to do something Christmasy!  I actually don't know that I have ever made Gingerbread believe it or not.  I got the cookie recipe in my take home box and will have to try them next year from scratch. (since they tasted very good!)

A few weeks ago, Val and I were at the mall and planned a special dinner to Jamie's Italian Kitchen restaurant.  Before we headed in we popped into the bookstore to do a bit of Christmas shopping and I found Jamie's book "the Ministry of Food".  I told Val that was apparently my calling!  I never knew I could pursue food ministry!  I was even more pleasantly surprised when I opened my secret Santa gift the next week and found I now own a copy of this cookbook!  (Thanks Val!)  It is great and has the funnest "mission statement" in the introduction.  Jamie asks the book owner to pledge to learn and then teach recipes from the book to others.  I will take the pledge, Jamie!

We approached the restaurant and I was tickled by the ice cream truck out front.  It is totally retro and set the tone for our exciting dining experience.  The restaurant was much bigger inside than I thought and had a nice modern decor.  There were a lot of very "market fresh" elements like cases of pasta and bins of fresh veg.

I ordered the special of pheasant served with a pear puree on mashed pumpkin.  It was lovely!  I had never had pheasant and found it to be similar to the white meat of chicken in it's texture but having a more gamey wild bird flavor, like duck or quail.  The pear and pumpkin were nice additions and the dish was very yummy!

Inside the back of the restaurant, where we were sat, there are large windows all around and they had a beautiful Christmas tree.  It gave such a warm glow and made such a homey atmosphere.  It was the "icing on the cake" for me.  Jamie helped make my Christmas extra special!