This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

Current mood...

We may be back at our desks after a few weeks of holidaying and total relaxation but hey, it's Friday and that means the weekend's within sipping distance... So, to help hurry along the last couple of office-bound hours, we'll whizz you through the week's goings on and then we'll set you on your merry way in search of your very own Champagne-soaked Johnny Depp... Until then, this week, the Mice have mostly been...

Getting into the festive spirit by snuggling up with a kindleful of Christmassy short stories in the form of Rachel Joyce's A Snow Garden.

This collection of seven interconnected short stories are each set at Christmas spanning from a Boxing Day Ball in the sixties through to a modern day nativity scene on Christmas Day at the airport. Each story gives a bittersweet snapshot into complicated family relationships and manages to be heartwarming without cloying cliche. Perfect pre-Christmas cheer. 

Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving - an excuse to eat roast turkey, heaps of potatoes and calorific sweet treats a whole month early. We figure that in the name of multiculturalism, we should give the American holidays just as much calendarspace as our own, so last night saw feasting in epic proportions.     

Because Brussel Sprouts have momentarily replaced avocados as our current food obsession, we thought a Thanksgiving banquet was the perfect opportunity to concoct a new dish of sprout-tactic deliciousness. 

Say hello to Brussel Sprouts  with crispy prosciutto, sage and brown butter...

You will need:

• a couple of handfuls of sprouts (bottoms cut off, outer leaves removed and sliced in half) 
• a couple of shallots (peeled and quartered)
• a small bunch of fresh sage
• a good glug of olive oil
• a couple of slices of prosciutto (snipped into slithers)
• a generous knob of butter
• salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 180 C while you prep your sprouts and chop your shallots. Whack the sprouts and shallots in a roasting tin, drizzle with the olive oil and add a generous few grinds of salt and pepper. Pop in the oven to roast for 12-15 minutes (we did ours a little too long but they were still scrumptious!). While your sprouty-shalloty mixture browns away pull a dozen or so leaves from your sage bunch and snip up the prosciutto. Add a chunk of butter to a frying pan and fry the sage leafs and prosciutto slithers in the pan until the butter turns pale biscuit coloured and starts to smell nutty. Pull the Brussels out of the oven, spoon onto your plates, sprinkle over the crispy sage and ham and finish off with a drizzle of buttery goodness.

And ta-dah - the best damn bowl of sprouts you've ever eaten...

Digging out our best boho festival looks and gearing up for a weekend of Clockenflap. Yup, Hong Kong's ridiculously named arts and music festival has rolled around again and we plan on spending the whole weekend chain-drinking cider while listening to set after awesome set. If you're headed over to West Kowloon Cultural District this weekend too, here's what's topping our line-up: 

Clean Bandit - Rather Be (feat. Jess Glynne)

Broods - Bridges

Rocky A$AP - Everyday (ft. Rod Stewart, Miguel, Mark Ronson)

And, that's that for another week! Have a great one!

x

The Mice