Only a matter of time before the “Big Five” plan their own breakaway “Super Eurovision”.
I love the idea of Bill Bailey representing the UK next year though. At least we’d have a laugh about it.
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Just like those Big Six in the Premier League, where two of them didn’t even qualify to play in European Competitions. In the words of Alanis Morrisette, isn’t it ironic…
Eurovision back this saturday, and with a bit of luck we won’t have any reason to be isolating for Covid so can actually get back to having folk together for it.
Started using it as a way to learn about food in other countries and expand my knowledge of recipes.
I had one year where i did just a mixture of different foods from lots of the countries competing but that got a little out of hand very quickly, though i did a lot and it was really nice - it was just too much.
After that it was focused on planning all the food around just the host country
So we’ve had things like:
Open sandwiches on gorgeous rye bread with a selection of toppings and some pastries when Denmark hosted;
Gravadlax, palt, meatballs, buns for Sweden;
Schnitzels and strudel (i think) for Austria;
Shakshuka, falafels, houmous and a few other things for Israel
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Italy hosting this year so time for me to finally try my hand at home-made pasta
(practice run of sun-dried tomato and mozzarella ravioli)
If there’s enough people coming to justify it, the plan is to make 3 batches of pasta - 1 with a wild garlic & lemon sauce or pesto (depending on the whether my friends with egg and dairy allergies come), 1 with carbonara, 1 with a tomato/bolognese sauce to give the green, white and red presentation.
As soon as she saw who the winner was my daughter’s suggestion was “Pizza! Job done! Easy!” - only slightly missing the point. Not gonna deny her pizza though, so going to make some wee mini-pizzas. Can always leave the bases for people to top themselves too - to help with managing allergens present and give kids some engagement.
Antipasti selection of olives/sun dried tomatoes/peppers/meats etc (double use as pizza topping options)
Possibly make a minestrone soup
Finish off with a tiramisu - easy to make and probably the best trifle in the world. Even if i scoff the lot myself this one’s pretty non-negotiable (i rarely make/eat desserts, but this is definitely one of my favourites)
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This is an impressive amount of effort! I hope the pasta turns out well 
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Pretty much everything should be able to be prepared ahead of time, so should be pretty stress-free on the night.
Fresh pasta and the pizza dough should be able to be made ahead of time and frozen, same with the tiramisu. Pasta sauces can be made ahead and chilled/frozen except the carbonara.
So i’ll be able to do most of the work pottering around in the kitchen through the week.
If i make the pasta the same shape it can all just be boiled together and then separated to be tossed in the different sauces.
If i make the soup, that can be bubbling away in the slow cooker to keep the hob free. (can use the soup to use up all the off-cuts or less successful pasta attempts too)
That should pretty much bring the work on the night down to reheating some stuff and making the carbonara which i think is the only last minute job
Been practicing making egg pasta (after using a rolling pin i may need to see about borrowing my father in law’s pasta roller), but i’m going to give a water pasta dough a try today - cut out that egg allergen if i can
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You are my kind of person! Food looks amazing
Due to some horrendously poor planning I’m away this weekend with friends who don’t like Eurovision
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2 out of 3 pastas turned out quite well - didn’t think i did a good job of the carbonara, and doing a lemon sauce would have worked better with tastes of the other 2 as well. Lesson learned
Tiramisu turned out MUCH better.
And so did the pizza
Thought we’d try some peach belini too
Got to have the daughter helping with the prep making the tomato and basil sauce and pesto; and she loved helping to construct the tiramisu -a nice fun activity to do together. Added benefit to making one of my favourite desserts
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Iceland was robbed two years ago.
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Technically, they changed the song mid-contest, which is a no-no.
I was more a fan of Volcano Man myself.
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