If you cast your mind back you might remember I mentioned that we and two other couples on our road were doing a "Come Dine With My Neighbour" competition. Round 1 was back in April, followed by Round 2 last month.

Saturday night was the third and final round and it was my turn to cook. Thanks to a couple of practice runs I was confident it wouldn't be a complete disaster and I'm happy to say I came a respectful second place with 42 out of 50 points. Rob, who won, beat me by half a point with 42.5. Even then, it was only because his wife gave him 10/10, which maybe she really thought he deserved, but it stinks of favouritism to me. If Karen did the same then I'd have won but there's no chance she'd have done that.

The Menu

Here's a copy of the menu we posted through our neighbour's doors on Friday night. It's the norm to roll it like a scroll and tie with ribbon. You have to go all out to impress if you want the points!

The main course is something I've watched Karen do in the past and the risotto recipe is off the back of the packet. The starter is dead easy and can be prepared in the morning. Same goes for the pudding, which is out of a food magazine.

The cake was a definite winner. So easy but so nice. Here it is before it went in the fridge to set:

All in all I was very pleased with the food and would have given myself (were I voting for me) an 8/10 based on what I'd given the other two men.

One thing that did occur to me is how nerve-racking it must be to do it for real on TV with 3 strangers sat in your dining room and a film crew following you round the kitchen. No thanks!

The Entertainment

The fun part of the evening was the after dinner quizzes. First up was what I thought might go down like a lead balloon but everybody seemed to really enjoy -- "Jake's Dad's Gedling Quiz" (Gedling being the part of Nottingham we all live in). The questions were fairly obscure but were mainly multiple choice, such as:

In the early c14 (before land enclosure) do you think there were ever areas of Land or features of land that "abutted" to Gedling with the names: The Brende, Leylonglandes, Brodwong, Drilandes, Wulfhowe, Bernispit, Esthauwenock, Wodeyierd, Galkindaleouerhinde.

For this question there was a box to say how many of the listed places you thought existed. Each couple put in a range answers from 0 to 4. Nobody the correct answer, which was 8! Nor did anybody get the tie-break of "How many names are on the war memorial round the corner?" Answer ranged from 50 to 200, but the correct answer is none!

After the Gedling Quiz was the Mr and Mrs quiz (questions here) which proved enlightening. Not least that Rob thought his partner of 10+ years had brown eyes when in fact they're green. Oh dear, oh dear. Karen got a scary 100% right about me, which made it look like a fix, but it wasn't.

All in all much fun was had.

The Setting

Maybe we should every time we have guests for dinner, but on Saturday we went the extra mile and really decked out the newly-finished dining room with all the bells and whistles -- including (lit!) candles and fully matching place settings.

Leaves you wondering why people don't make the same amount of effort all the time.

Next Round

After we've all been out of a "winner's meal" in which all three couple go out for a meal, but the winning couple don't pay, we'll no doubt be planning the round in which the ladies cook. That's when the claws will come out no doubt.

Try It For Yourself

If you get the chance to then I suggest you give it a go. It doesn't have to be with neighbours. Friends or work colleagues would do. You could even do it with strangers I guess (ad in Loot maybe?). If you have any questions on the "rules", just ask.