Gunpowder, treason and plot

Image from the murky depths of Pinterest

Did I ever mention that November 5th is my absolute favourite night of the year? OK, that's a slight exaggeration. I'm also a big fan of Christmas Eve and my birthday, but Bonfire Night is right up there.

I think it's because I still remember a party I was invited to when I was maybe seven, where we played with sparklers and set off fireworks in the back garden of someone's house, and ate oven-baked potatoes with melty cheese and crispy bacon bits. And there were woolly gloves and itchy, stripey scarves. And hot chocolate with marshmallows. It sticks out in my memory as one of those perfect childhood evenings.

The fact that pretty much every Bonfire Night since adulthood has involved either a failed attempt to rally reluctant friends, a lame communal firework display or a bunch of late shifts, with me watching fireworks from the office window, has totally failed to destroy that enthusiasm.

Image from oldsoulswelcome.tumblr.com via Pinterest

Sadly, whilst America is most excellent at providing holidays (Thanksgiving! Independence Day! Martin Luther King Day!) an evening of festivities commemorating the hanging, drawing and quartering of a Papist revolutionary is not on the list.

But neither that, or the minor issue of it being about a million degrees outside will prevent me celebrating in style this year.

And as I'm not sure anyone would appreciate me lighting a bonfire on my balcony, or setting off fireworks from the roof for that matter, my contribution to the anti-17th-century-treason partaay will involve food.

More to come once I've decided what to cook, gone on a stodge-and-sugar shopping spree and finally accepted that a candy thermometer, while awesome, is probably not an entirely essential purchase...