Christmas is around the corner. 58 shopping days left by my calculation so if you have not started to panic, now is the time. Before you get too carried away in the retail festive season spare a thought for those less fortunate. Last night I was involved in a production line of elves wrapping shoe boxes for Santa’s Shoebox charity drive at The Studio. They will be distributing 26000 gift boxes to children across South Africa who would otherwise not be receiving anything.

This year we chose the Goedgedacht charity and will be sending 24 gift filled shoe boxes for the children in their excellent care. Now on to matters culinary, those of you who are familiar with my wrapping skills will realise that I was invited to participate as the live entertainment and to provide sustenance to the elves (they did let me cut a bit of sellotape though). Not to be outdone I rummaged in the bottom of the fridge and dug out a bunch of asparagus spears and a packet of prosciutto. Wrap the raw asparagus with a piece of prosciutto, drizzle with a little olive oil and grill for 5-10 mins until the asparagus are just cooked and the ham starts to crisp. Squeeze a little lemon juice over it and voila – an instant delicious snack. Unfortunately they were devoured in such a short space of time I was unable to get a pic to show you.

Many thanks to Caroline, Janet, Rebecca, Justine, Debbie and of course the court jester, Nicholas who can make a mean chicken wrap but that’s a story for another time. Thanks also to all those who donated gifts for the boxes so generously.

“There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone’s life” – Sister Mary Rose McGeady