In no order whatsoever...

MOJITO

This actually made me go 'brrr'. It was served in a glass made of ice, at the Ice Bar in London. It wasn't the best mojito I've ever had (that would be in Cuba, and there were lots of them!). However, sometimes it's all about the location. It's a beautiful place, made entirely of ice, with an ice bar, ice tables (but no ice chairs, thankfully). Book a 40-minute slot and you get a thermal cape with gloves (which you'll be glad of; it was -7° when I was there for DFDS's Christmas party), plus a personal ice 'glass' with the cocktail of your choice. My top tip? Wear trousers, not tights - I had a skirt on and I was freezing. The hidden bonus was that the night air on Regent Street felt very warm when I left!

BEETROOT TEA LOAF

Pretty and pink, this is yet another Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe. It's a suggested substitution for pumpkin. It's a fatless loaf, and is given its rising power by beaten egg whites. I was convinced mine would be a flat flop because when I was separating the eggs, a splash of yolk fell into the whites. Having always believed that those egg whites would be doomed never to be fluffy, I set about hoiking out the yolk on some kitchen paper, as I didn't have any more eggs. After mixing the rest of the ingredients, it was time to whisk the whites (by hand; I don't have a mixer - Santa, are you listening?) and I needn't have worried. The finished loaf rose like a soufflé and was delicious, studded with sultanas and tiny pink swirls of grated beetroot. Spread with butter it was the perfect partner for a cup of tea.

BEETROOT RISOTTO

And while the loaf was baking, the other beetroots (there were four in the pack) were roasting with olive oil and thyme. After an hour, I cut them into cubes and added them to a risotto. It would have been ideally finished off with some crumbled goat's cheese and walnuts on top, but we had to make do with some rocket leaves on the side.

Love beetroot? See all of our beetroot recipes

MULLED CIDER

I'm a big fan of cider (and I don't mean the recently introduced bandwagon beverages trying to hitch a ride on the rich heritage of properly made cider). In the past, I've helped make and serve mulled cider at Middle Farm in East Sussex, home of the National Collection of Cider & Perry (hello, Rod and Helen! You can download their recipe for mulled cider here). This week I made my own, adding cloves, cinnamon sticks, allspice, ginger and nutmeg to three litres of perfectly drinkable supermarket cider. Bring almost to the boil, then turn down the heat to let the spices add their flavours, but don't let it boil or the alcohol will disappear. Once cool, pour back into the bottle, then pour a mugful at a time, and sweeten to taste. You could add a shot of Calvados for more of a kick.

BAKED POTATO

So simple to cook, there's just one thing wrong with baked potatoes, and that's the fact that you need to know in advance that you want to eat them. Don't tell me you can make them in the microwave; I know that technically it can be done, but they're completely different - and inferior. I like mine cooked for so long that the skin is really crisp and the flesh inside is starting to pull away from the skin. This week I had a late dinner of a baked potato with butter and baked beans, but just butter, salt and pepper is pretty good on its own.

The five best things I ate last time

What have you enjoyed eating or drinking this week?