boxing day…

Unlike most other people, my Xmas day wasn’t the big celebration because this year my extended family decided that our Christmas get together was going to be held on Boxing Day…. Given that my mother was just out of plaster I decided to pitch in and do my 5 cents worth by making salads and desserts… Boy did I ever throw my heart and soul into that activity! Rather ambitiously, I chose 3 Salads (Potato, Pasta and Impoli salad) and 3 desserts, Tiramisu, Marble Christmas Cake and Almond Toffee Bark. Whew.

I stumbled out of bed at 5.50am to begin my cooking foray… by 7am I was at the Supermarket picking up goodies for the desserts and by 8am I had pots of potatos, eggs and pasta boiling away on the stove.

I found a lovely Tiramisu recipe on the net (from some food network guru) and then added a few of my own ingrediants to give it a distinct flavour and after a few dummy spits about my good presentation bowl being at my mothers house and her reluctance to give it back… I finally had the first dessert made. The cake was pretty simple. Mix it up and bung it in the oven. I ran around and around the kitchen like I was mildly possessed and I got hot and tired and a wee bit stroppy (because everyone else was sitting around like whale watchers on a sunny day), but I finally had 6 rather fantastic looking dishes.

We then raced over to Mum’s and laid the goodies out on the table. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Everyone had brought something lovely, from more salad’s to a large bowl of seasonal berries in Cointreau…. We had Turkey and Ham and all sorts of delicious food! It really was very nice. I saw my relatives and cousins and friendsof my parents that live interstate so it was a lovely, large gathering. My Tirsmisu was a massive hit and walked like i’ve not seen a dessert walk before. I even had people fighting over who was gonna scrape the bowl… lol. I think my extra splash of Brandy was the ‘it’ ingrediant. Twas very very yumm-o!

I decided in the late afternoon to go on a walk with my aunt… We kind of felt stuffed full and needed a walk to aid the digestion… Well… being slightly fitter than myself she races along while I plodded behind… *grumble* My foot started absolutely killing me halfway through the ‘sprint’ and we decided to stop and sit in the park while the kids ran around and played on the equipment. I rested enough to make it back to Mum’s house, but only ‘just!’

I was so knackered by last night that it was all I could do to collapse on the recliner and watch Trauma TV.  Mike tried to sit with me but got a little too quesy at some of the procedures so retired to the bedroom.

Then there was a knock at the door. Who should be there??? LAURA. Man that girl likes to surprise me! She’d flown in from Perth that morning on the red eye and wanted to stop by to say hello!  We had a bit of a chat and she told me that she’s excited that I’m coming over in April etc etc.

After Laura left I crawled into bed and went straight to sleep… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Today is one of those blah days. It’s 36 degrees, hot as all hell with no wind and a sun beating down like you can’t imagine. My house is a sauna and the kids have already had 3 cold baths, 2 runs under the sprinkler and they’re about to disappear out the back for another go. I just need to get them into their hats and off they gooooo. I might have a run around under it too, i’m boiling hot!!!

Summer lovin’…

Vee