Category: Meals in

Sometimes we like the food to come to us !

Wesley Memorial Church Party

Like many other social activities the Wesley Memorial Church party, normally held in January, had not taken place since 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Having decided it was time to resume the tradition they kindly invited Phab.

The evening began with socialising and a quiz, involving identifying a range of people, each famous in their own way, ranging from John Wesley to Little Mix, from pictures posted on the walls of the John Wesley Room.

This was followed by a bring and share meal in the Hall, where church members had made a variety of tasty salad, and brought little sausages, crisps and other snacks. This was followed by range of desserts and fresh fruit.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, and while a stalwart team in the kitchens laboured over the clearing up, we played several games of Beetle.

Christmas Dinner 2022

For many years Oxford Phab has joined together for a traditional Christmas Dinner, to which we invite people who have been particularly supportive, or have some special connection with the club. Due to Covid we had not been able to do this since 2019, which made this one particularly special.

A team of volunteers peeled potatoes, parsnips, made stuffing, cooked the turkey joints, laid the tables and prepared the feast for the arrival of members and guests.

  • Mary collected turkey joints early |
  • Mass vegetable cooking

As the diners were arrived they gathered in the hall, and chatted and tackled the Christmas Quiz, with questions ranging from ‘Where was baby Jesus born ?’to ‘What is the most fragrant real Christmas tree ?’

We all moved into the John Wesley Room, and enjoyed a delicious meal, with turkey and all the trimmings, or a vegetarian pie, followed by home made Christmas pudding, or fruits and meringue (or both for those who still had room !)

  • Kelly’s cake

We were also pleased to be joined by Kelly’s family, who had brought a cake, as this would have been her birthday,

Pizza Night !

Activities involving food are always popular, and tonight was no exception ! With a team in the kitchen making pizza bases our members could add toppings of their choice and return them to the kitchen for cooking.

We had a wide selection of toppings to choose from so each one came out different. Almost a metaphor for Phab, in that they are all different at first sight, but built from the same base, and all valued as individuals !

Fish and Chip Night

Fish and Chip Nights are always popular, although they do require a lot of organisation behind the scenes, researching possible chippies, getting menus and taking orders and money before the night. It is good to find somewhere which can deliver a large order – we tend to be in the upper twenties for order numbers – to the city centre.

Despite some complications everybody ended up well fed, but also not overwhelmed with excessive quantities of chips, which in a time when people are more aware of the issue of food waste, is a good thing.

Christmas Dinner 2019

Preparing Christmas Dinner for over 30 people involves quite a bit of preparation, planning and shopping for ingredients – even before the day of the meal. This year some of the items I won in the box of Christmas goodies which was second prize in the raffle at the Six Counties Kidney Patients Association Christmas meal could be put to good use.

The red box on the right contained stuffing and gravy granules which we used.h

We went to Wesley Memorial Church after lunch and got stuck into the preparation.

  • Tables set up in the John Wesley Room
  • Parsnips being peeled
  • Christmas puddings steaming
  • Some of out turkey rolls ready to go in the oven
  • What is Christmas Dinner without Sprouts
  • Crackers and table decoratoins
  • Stuffing ready for the oven

When our members and guests started to arrive Penny kept us entertained with game of Higher or Lower.

While the entertainment was happening in the Hall, the kitchen team were busy (in both kitchens), doing the final preparations.


We had turkey – supplied by Hedges Butchers, who not only gave us a good price, but provided cooking advice – pigs in blankets, bread sauce, roast potatoes, parsnips, sprouts, carrots, peas, and vegetarian options.

The main course was followed by real Christmas Pudding, or strudel, Viennetta, mixed fruits etc.

It was a lovely way to close the year for our members, and to say thank you to our guests who have supported the club in many ways.

Party and Disco with DJ Lee

Robin has been coming to Phab for many years, and we value his contributions in the form of the quizzes he arranges, the cups of tea he makes and his concerns for the smooth running of the club.

We also love a party, and although we can not dedicate a club night to every birthday, or we would never do anything else, Robin had just had a significant birthday, and Kelly’s brother Lee was available to do a disco for us.


We prepared food

Kathryn made coffee and chocolate cakes, Kelly’s mum make fairy cakes, various members brought contributions
There was enough food to go back for a second round
  • Phab members discoing in the dark
Simon, posing as DJ !

We are grateful for the support of Robin’s parents, who joined us for the evening, to Lee for the disco, and to all the members who contributed both food and to the general party atmosphere.

Christmas Dinner

Thanks to the efforts of the kind people who spent much of the day shopping, preparing and cooking, the Oxford Phab Christmas Dinner was a great success.

Many of our members went to town on the Christmas theme.

Let the feasting begin !

 
We wish all our members and the many people who have supported us a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Noodle Night

Having taken orders beforehand – complicated by having had the previous Phab cancelled due to snow, a delegation went to collect our order.
The previous Noodle Night, and the one before that, our order had been very neatly labelled, but we must have picked a busy night. The boxes had been marked with numbers from their menu, but many of the numbers had not survived the journey to the church, leaving us with some detective work to do !
Fortunately we got them right and everyone enjoyed their meal.