Cooking frenzy about to happen

Our "holiday tradition" is to have the family meal on Xmas Eve - so today is the day of the grand cookathon. This year we have a mostly vegetarian menu, chosen by my son and augmented with a few of my own favourite must-have dishes.

As it hasn't happened yet, you're spared the photos. I supply the menu as a matter of record.

While Thomas and I put the finishing touches on the main course, Sarah, Tony and Lisa will be cracking nuts and dipping into a bowl of garlic mushrooms.

Then the table will be spread with turmeric roast potatoes, roast vegetables, a parsnip-cranberry-chestnut loaf, risotto-stuffed red onions, brussels sprouts with caramelised garlic and lemon peel, and two kinds of stuffing balls (one made with sausage meat), and perhaps "pigs in blankets" as a sop to the meat-eaters. Oh, and onion gravy - gotta have gravy!

We decided on the traditional trifle for dessert - it slides nicely down, into any little cracks left after eating all that other good stuff. And it's "a piece of cake" to make (method is below).

Possibly against my better judgment, but because we need a photo to enliven all this text, here is the kitchen BCF - before cooking frenzy.It's not a big workspace, and there will be two of us cooking - but by clearing up as we go, we manage. So the first step today is to put everything away.

The chestnuts have been roasted and peeled, so the worst job is out of the way. Which brings us to this photo, and a salutary lesson -Centre front is an exploded chestnut (the inside of the oven was a mess). You must score the skin before roasting - so the hot gases can escape!

Trifle - a method rather than a recipe

You will need: a "sponge cake" of some sort, or sponge fingers
sherry or brandy (or orange juice) to wet the cake
fruit of some sort - I use a bag of frozen raspberries and two bananas, sliced
a tin or box of ready-made custard
whipping cream

Break up the cake into a big glass bowl. Drizzle with booze or juice - a couple of tablespoons at least.

Tip in the fruit so it's evenly distributed. You can put the banana slices round the edge for maximum visual impace, with a bit of the red fruit glimmering through.

Cover with the custard. Refrigerate for a while so the juice from the raspberries can soak into the cake and blend with the booze flavour.

Just before serving, whip the cream and spread over the top. If you have some grated or flaked chocolate around and want to use that as decoration, feel free to do so.