Entertaining the Troops

In three days' time my entire department is coming over to my house for a Christmas lunch. There are about 35 of them, I live miles away from the office but they appear willing to trek across London for the event and so I need to make it worth their while. Actually just being able to have a glass of bubbly somewhere where you can kick your shoes off can be reason enough to trek across London for a corporate Xmas do. Let's face it. Most team Xmas lunches are dire. Overpriced, lukewarm, indifferent, canteen level meals at androgynous suit and tie bars that offer a deal which mysteriously ends up costing you fifty quid for all that crap booze you ended up quaffing just to try to anaesthetise yourself as much as possible from the experience. Going to someone's house goes a long way to pretending that it isn't a work do. It's a book club, an encounter group, a musical soiree, you just popped over for a cup of tea. It also means you can duck out without a conscience. Restaurants trap you, but if you can pretend you're popping in, you can just as easily pop out again too. Except that in my industry most people live South and I live North so if they are going to come this far to kick their shoes off, I need at least to feed them well. With cake. Lots of it. It's four days to go and I've clocked up a rack of brown sugar spelt cookies and a tray of double chocolate meringues. A damp, rich raspberry poundcake cools on the sideboard.I've popped out for lemons to create a glazed lemon tart. Two cheesecakes are on the list after that - a pumpkin cheesecake with butterscotch sauce, and a Nutella cheesecake wtih hazelnut shards.  If there's still fight left in me after that lot I'll pull off a tray of white chocolate flecked brownies. And what will the main course be? Well, I will probably poach some salmon, stuff some baked potato halvves with a mustard, cheddar and chive filling, maybe do some ricotta and tomato tartlets, a pasta dish and a salad. But let's face it, with desserts like that I could probably serve horseburgers and we'd all be happy. Number one rule for any dinner party - sort a beautiful dessert first. That way you know whatever happens, dinner will end on a high. Christmas lunch for 35 work colleagues? Same principle on a grander scale. Bring it on.