Yesterday was my friend's 40th birthday, and oh boy did we celebrate in style? She decided to have a dinner party and I'd offered to make soup as a starter so she didn't have as much work to do. To this end, I left work early to cook and get myself sorted for the evening.

We had a great night, and I've taken so much away from it I'm not sure where to begin.

The thing that strikes me most is that I managed to not get terribly, horribly drunk. This is new territory for me, and I'm proud of myself for buying 4% beer instead of my usual 5-5.5% premium, which definitely helped keep me on the level. My soup went down an absolute treat; it's the first time I've cooked for more than two or three people for many years. That was incredibly fulfilling and not only was the meal warm and comforting, but the positive feedback about the dish filled me up too.

I spent time with my favourite group of people, supported a good friend and had a great laugh too.

When I got home after 3am I was finally sozzled, helped along merrily by a smoke after everyone else had made their way home. I wasn't tired in the slightest, so I tidied daughter's shelves and put all her jewellery and hair-bands away, fixed a few bits and bobs, played Grand Theft Auto for a while and finally rolled into bed around 5am.

I awoke only four hours later and couldn't see myself getting back to sleep so I got up - feeling pretty bloody rough after two late nights in a row - and made ready to welcome daughter home for a week.