vilakins | 'Tis the season to be piggy

Yum, it's that tempting time of year again. Yesterday I had my first local seasonal treat: a mince pie.

Um, that probably needs translation; after all, the café I bought it at labelled it as a 'Xmas tart'; and the Chinese owners starting looking in the meat pie area when I asked for a mince pie. It's biscuit/cookie-sized: minced fruit and nuts in a short pastry casing which can be left open, fully encased, topped with latticework, or in the case of the one I had yesterday, a star. It was a six-pointed one too, covering two festivals in one go, though probably unwittingly.

And tonight Greg's company is paying for us to have dinner out seeing we can't go to his work year-end party because he'll be away. It's at Molten, a restaurant so popular and trendy I had difficulty booking which is why we're going on a Monday night. Their menu is to die for. Mmm-mmm, espresso crème brulee...