Mince Pie Mountains

Jo and Chris, Oscar and Flo came over for a visit pre-Christmas. Probably the last visit before they emigrate to Australia (or return home in Chris's case) next year. It was the weekend we were having a Mince Pie and Mulled Wine Open House for neighbours and friends. I thought you couldn't go wrong making mince pies - one jar mincemeat - one pack ready made pastry. Hmm, well turns out you can, and after a couple of disastrous batches Malc did a rescue trip to Jim's British Mini Market, and bought up boxes of mince pies. We did manage one succesful batch of "home made" mine pies in parallel. We later did a taste test. Turns out, once I'd mastered the fact thay you did actually need to grease the tin, and cook them for half the designated pastry time, they tasted much better than the shop bought ones. Oh well. It's mid January and we're still working through the shop ones. Didn't take any pictures at the actual mince pie event as the house was so full of people, including about 100 marauding kids I didn't have time. Was a good afternoon though, with the small exception of the drunken, smoking, neighbour who looked like an extra from Lord of the Rings (and not the Elf variety)...