D is for dips

I am old enough to remember a time before dips. Yes dips. Stuff you "dip" biscuits or bits of cut up celery or carrot into and offer to your guests as a kind of starter.

I can remember when having friends over to eat was always called a dinner party and it was a very stressful undertaking. The only thing you dipped then was something impaled on a skewer into a fondue pot!

In fact, just the act of dipping or dunking before eating (as perhaps done with a biscuit into a cup of tea) was considered altogether uncouth.

These days dips (even ones straight from the supermarket) are perfectly acceptable - even considered healthy - and I am grateful.

I am grateful for not having to cut cheese into cubes to put onto toothpicks with brightly coloured pickled onions to serve on half an orange or having to attempt to make 'angels on horseback' that I think had something to do with prunes.

I am grateful that my friends don't expect stuffed eggs or seafood cocktails however the demise of mashed potato rolled in devon is a little disappointing as I could "do" that one.

I am not a dip specialist by any means. Particularly as my food processor hardly sees the light of day. If you have a never fail, simple dip recipe I do hope you'll share it here. I'd be ever so grateful to wow someone with it!