It was great to start December in the convivial company of a bumper crowd of saloneers. We had returned to Hemma for the festive season and they welcomed us with festive glogg, the Nordic take on mulled wine.

We had a packed programme, which started with Vincent Guerin, from L’Institut Francais d’Ecosse, who told us about the recent Budding Chefs trip to France. He was accompanied by some excellent photos that brought the trip to life for the audience.

Next up was Anna Hamilton, the talented woman at the helm of bespoke dining specialists Alright Treacle. She outlined the motivations that brought her to Edinburgh and talked about her upcoming events, which sounded highly impressive.

Amy Shepherd from Angels with Bagpipes rounded things out. She told us about the upcoming Hidden Wing event, on 6 December. She’d come armed with some delightful canapes, too, which proved extremely popular with our guests.

I then reminded everyone that we would next be back on 2 February, after a little winter break. One other thing to note was the return on the regular #ScotFood Twitter chats on the first Monday of the month at 9pm.

Finally, all that was left was to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and an enjoyable start to the New Year. See y’all in 2015 for our first anniversary shindig.