May your days be merry and bright

Christmas: tick.



Over and done with for another year, and in another day it will be 2011 and i will be shaking my head at how the year has flown. I do hope everyone had a great Christmas - we celebrated with friends and family as always, and it was a marvellous, boozy affair. Just as it should be.




But first, some of my Christmas cooking conquests. When it gets to this time of year, I'm always watching Christmas cooking specials. I don't know why. I get strangely addicted to them, and this in turn makes me want to bake. So i did! I made Christmas shortbread cookies, which i sadly burnt (they still tasted good i reckon, and so did Jo, who ate most of them). Here they are:







AND, i made Nigella's Cranberry, Orange and Almond pudding, which came out swimmingly, if i do say so myself. It felt very Christmassy indeed to pour a shitload of cranberries into saucepan and watch them pop....







And the end result looked BETTER than Nigella's, if you ask me. (I know. I too should be starring in my own cooking show. Petition coming soon.)







Our friends Kama and Tony hosted a Christmas booze-up (i mean party), which saw us exchanging hilarious Kris Kringle presents and drinking all manner of Christmas cocktails, my favourite of which was the Christmas in a Glass - prosecco and gingerbread liqueur. I mean you guys! It really IS Christmas in a glass!




She even made EGGNOG. EGGNOG people. Which by the way, actually has egg in it. (What? I was shocked.) Don't let that put you off though, its delicious. Or maybe i was just too "happy" (read: tipsy) to give a rats. Anythings possible. To top it off, they had a real tree - which pretty much crapped all over our fake plastic one.

Kama in all her Christmas glory

Jo and I

Me and my prosecco (and Tony.)

Getting home at 2am was possibly not the greatest idea the night before Christmas Eve, but what can you do. I pressed on and decided the best cure for a hangover was to continue the party. My team at work decided a long lunch was in order (who bloody well has to work on Christmas Eve anyway??), so we took ourselves off to Assiette, a VERY nice restaurant in Surry Hills, and proceeded to spend the next 4 hours drinking ourselves merrily into the afternoon. Back to work it was NOT, not after all those cosmopolitans, so i rushed back home to meet Jo and we headed off to my parents, where we camped ourselves for the next 2 days.

I knew we had to go to a big family Christmas Eve bash, but honestly, there was no way i was fit to go anywhere without having a nap first. Not if i was going to continue to abuse my body anyway, which was (naturally) the plan. Christmas Eve is traditionally celebrated with my Dad's side of the family - a rowdy bunch, and that's putting it mildly, so i knew that the food and drink would be flowing right through to midnight. Jo always says he has to mentally prepare for the event. It's usually at my parents place, but my cousin Frank hosted this year. I have no idea how i made it to midnight, but i did people, i did. Which means i basically endured 48 hours of eating and drinking nonstop. Which is pretty awesome, when you think about it.

The kids had fun with a snowman pinata - funny that when you give someone a stick and tell them to whack the crap out of something, their inner-caveman in unleashed. They actually went schizo. Wild look in their eyes, untamed bellowing...it was all there. When the poor snowman finally fell apart, they pounced on that chocolate like it was the last thing they were ever gonna do. And God help you if you tried to sneak a piece for yourself. I should know.

Max

Jack

Raffael, taking it all very seriously...

Chocolate madness

Christmas day dawned bright and clear and damn hot. Woot! Just the way i like it. We spent it with my mums side of the family at my parents place, and this year we had some old friends join us too, so that made it extra nice. I was well pleased with my loot (not that Christmas is about presents or anything. I totally know that.) Tom Ford sunnies from Jo, a fab Oroton bag from Maria, and cold hard cash from my parents.

Even my brother got me something. Normally his reaction to presents is an unintelligible grunt, followed by an "I forgot". What did you forget?? Christmas?? You forgot it was Christmas?? But this year he actually requested something specific from me, so he must have known there'd be no option but to return the favour.

Jo and my cousin Tony lounging with the dogs

A Christmas kiss from Reggie

My uncle tops the afternoon off with nap

We don't usually go with the traditional ham or turkey at our house for Christmas. Tradition for us is homemade gnocchi - the BEST you'll ever eat by the way, and literally the only time we make them is for Christmas and Easter. But this year we DID have a turkey, cause my uncle got it for free when he bought a new fridge. (*shrugs*. Don't ask me.)

Since we don't usually have one, i can't say we're entirely familiar with how to cook it. My parents solution was to just sort of shove it in the oven and hope for the best. When it came out, they spent 30 minutes arguing about how best to carve it. And then, my Dad wanted to throw out the stuffing. Say it with me people - WHAT??? THROW OUT THE STUFFING?? Everyone knows the stuffing is the best part! My Dad's attitude to food is this - if he doesn't eat it, no one should. Luckily, i stepped in and gave him an earful about not being selfish on Christmas, thereby saving the holiday for ourselves and for all mankind.

And that, folks, was Christmas. A few card games and lots of beer later it was all over for another year. Thankfully i haven't had to go back to work this week, so I've spent lots of quality time with the TV - I've had a stack of books on my shelf which i told myself i would absolutely get to over the holidays, but lets face it - an MTV marathon of 16 and Pregnant totally beats reading.

New Years Eve is tomorrow, but i don't make resolutions. I know i won't stick to them. I change my mind about things all the time, alas. I DO know that 2011 will be a huge and exciting year - lots of change, and lots of adventures. And it all beings very soon, so I'm going to bed, or maybe to watch more 30 Rock re-runs. I hope everyone has a great start to the new year - as my brother would say, go hard or go home. See you all next year!

Another cup of....?

Right. I'm way behind in my blogging, i know, but life has been terribly busy as it always is at this time of year. Still, here i am, raring to tell you all about my kitchen tea (that happened over two weeks ago. I'm nothing if not fashionably late.)

We spend the whole weekend before cooking up a storm, so everyone could enjoy stuffing their faces with all manner of delicious things, as per below:

Speaking of guests, they came from far and wide for the event - some as far as New Zealand, like my mother in law (who provided the bunting for us to hang. If you don't know what bunting is, look it up.)








Maria and I were in a decorating frenzy. Garden party perfection was the goal. I will say right now that she's the worse perfectionist of them all - the kind that has you running around looking for mini-pencils your whole lunch break, but that's another story. In this case, her perfectionist ways paid off (even if i was left with that slightly dazed, just got hit over the head with a jackhammer look on my face).

There was, as you can see, food-a-plenty. Mini everything - strawberry tarts, scones, cannoli, pies, quiches...believe me when i tell you i was eating red velvet cupcakes for days afterwards.

Obviously you can't have a kitchen tea without games, but we decided against such classics as "make a wedding dress out of toilet paper", and stuck with easy things like a quiz about ME (and Jo, but who cares about him). And we had a lucky door prize - everyone got a piece of 1950s housewife advice when they arrived (which included such pearlers as "Don't greet him with problems or complaints - count these are minor compared to what he may have gone through that day." BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) and later in the day i read out a piece of advice and whoever had the same one was the winner of the prize!

I know. Are we genius's or what?

Here's a few snapshots of my peeps:

Susie, Sylvana and Max in his wife beater.

The gals, Linda, Krisha, Kama, moi, Melissa and Sonali

Me (in my fab apron which i guarantee i will never wear in the kitchen, ever - thank Mel!) and Mum

Mel and I. That glass of pink champagne was full mere moments earlier.

Me, Rom, pukes and thats baby number TWO in her belly.

Ladies, including one of my awesome bridesmaids Christina and Aunty Margaret, both of whom came from Adelaide for the affair (thanks guys!)

Double trouble my arse. These boozeheads were trouble to the power of three.

Me and the lady that made it ALLLLLLL happen, my other awesome bridesmaid Maria

Z remained unimpressed by the days events

And then it was over! Just like that. All the planning and stressing and cooking and hoping for good weather....over in a flash. Which is exactly what the wedding is going to be like - all over before we know it, so i suppose i better enjoy the drama while i can. Once everyone left, we cracked into the serious alcohol - cosmopolitans all round, several times over - while i opened all of my gifts - THANK YOU anyone reading this who came, though i am, i promise, getting around to contacting you all personally. So generous, and my kitchen is now very well stocked.

Here we are drinking our first cocktail of the evening....(don't worry, there were other, non-drinking adults there to supervise the devil *cough* i mean Jack)....

Aaaaaaaaand here we are after the tenth. Eleventh. Whatever.

I really have to shout out to Maria who, despite her slave-driving ways, totally made the whole day happen. It was perfect and i loved it and i couldn't have done it without you. AND, to Christina, who flew in from Adelaide and spend the next three days doing what i told her to and not complaining once. She even put a table together. Cause Lord knows Maria and I can't even look at a screwdriver without breaking something.

More of a roundup on the last couple of weeks soon, as long as Christmas doesn't get in the way.

Neglected

I know, I've been neglecting this thing a bit lately. It's always like that in winter though - less stuff happens generally. I spend most of my time hibernating on the couch, waiting for it all to be over. My brain shuts down and i have nothing intelligent to say beyond "Pass the chips" or "Lets watch Glee" or the ever popular "I'm booooooored..." (repeat in whiny monotone over and over again for maximum irritation to those around you).

Nothing much happened this week except that i finished two books. The first is called Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe by Jenny Hollowell. It's about a woman called Birdie, who runs away from her pastor husband, Evangelical parents and small town life, and heads to L.A, to really BE someone (cause we all really wanna BE someone. Like I really wanna BE Betty White). Several years later though, her life in Hollywood isn't what she thought it would be. This book was beautifully written, and i mean really. The prose is poetic, and sort of drifts along, just like Birdie does. Worth it if you like that lyrical sort of novel with a tragic heroine, if you can call her a heroine - she kinda annoyed me to be honest.

The second is called The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. This book book BLEW ME AWAY. I cannot stop raving about. It was written over 20 years ago, but sometimes a book finds you in a time in your life when it's going to have maximum impact - that's how it felt with this one. The story, essentially, is this - sometime in the near future, the United States is overthrown by a movement known as 'The Sons of Jacob', who create a totalitarian, Christian regime, where men rule and women are totally stripped of their rights. Hierarchy orders society - women in particular are divided into various classes from which they can't deviate or escape without risking death or deportation to the 'colonies'. The colonies are areas of the former United States where labour camps have been set up to clean up radioactive waste resulting from nuclear plant disasters etc, which have also caused mass infertility. With birthrates on the decline, one class of women, called Handmaids, are there specifically to breed. The novel is narrated by one such Handmaid, called Offred. Offred's real name is never clearly revealed - like everything else, this has been taken away from her. Her new name is literally Of Fred - Fred being the man to whom she belongs, for breeding purposes only of course - and is another way of ensuring she is completely owned by in new, patriarchal society.

As you can see, i could go on and on about this book. Don't take my word for it, go and read it yourself. There were times i actually got chills reading it, not just because you feel so much for Offred, but because the writing is so authentic that you actually believe what you're reading could be a reality. The particular cruelty for Offred is that she's forced to live in this new regime while still remembering what it used to be like 'before'. As painful as it is, she struggles to keep those memories alive - the moment she forgets who she was is the moment she ceases to be.

Read it, read it, read it and then tell me what you thought. There's so many things i would love to discuss - so I'm making my friend DT read it next to make sure i have someone to talk about it with. Cause I'm awesome like that.

Our weekend, in brief - our friends Kama and Tony came to dinner, cooked by yours truly to much acclaim, and we had a great night. Tony and I usually enjoy banding together in all of our Mediterranean glory, while Kama and Jo, the resident (read: boring.) Anglo's (just kidding. i love Anglo's), make feeble attempts to...stand a chance. Ha! Never! But hey, its always nice to compare cultural notes.

On Sunday, Faatasi came over to talk WEDDING. The goal for the day was to get some music in order, but we spend most of our time laughing at the songs we wouldn't be using instead. Jo's suggestion that i walk down the aisle to the Jaws theme song, for example, was not considered helpful, nor was Faatasi's suggestion that our first dance be to Smack my Bitch Up. It was the opportune moment for me to let him know that i required him and the rest of the bridal party to prepare some sort of choreographed dance, preferably a recreation of Don't Stop Believing a la the Glee club at regionals (there's practically enough to them to make up the numbers, so. It should work.) He said he'd see what he could do. Fingers crossed it all works out right?

Jo jamming yesterday

My dinner. Cause i can can can, and cause my it's my Dad's birthday tomorrow and he makes damn fine cured meats. Love ya dad!

OK, I'm gonna go watch some of the American cheese that is the Emmy's. Makes my stomach churn, but i can't stop eating.

Well hung.

So the big election was a big letdown.




We haven't had a hung parliament for something like 70 years, which the newspapers call "historic". I call it boring. I'm not ecaxtly the most politically minded person in the world but i do get on the election-fever bandwagon, and now i just want a result. Alas, this hung parliament business means we probably won't get one for days, or even weeks. I think England had one earlier this year, and they were in limbo for 3 weeks. Hopefully the Labor Party has better negotiating skills then they do campaigning skills, because if Tony Abbott become our next PM I'll be horrified. Which probably gives you a good indication of my preferred party, and I'm no swinger on these issues. The man's ears are enough to bring the nation to shame, let alone his policies.




So, onto the rest. Work's been pretty quiet the last couple of weeks, which makes for long, slow days. Most of this week's been spent gazing longingly out the window into the sunshine. Our office overlooks Hyde Park, and the warmer weather had everyone out to play - dogs, kids, British backpackers...everyone but ME! Curse you, consumerism! Why must I be driven to work so i can buy things? Can we not barter, like the old days? Bah. BAH!




Luckily the weekend produced some very fine weather, so at least there was that. Blue skies and white clouds - can't ask for more. Well, i can. But i won't.








And there's no better way to spend sunny weekend mornings than with a book on the balcony. My books, as you can see, are piling up. I have a ton of stuff to get to, which doesn't stops me from ordering more. I've always had a weakness for buying books, but i was recently introduced to this website, www.bookdepository.co.uk, which has cheap books, often ten bucks or less, and FREE shipping - its really too easy. Set up an account and with one click all the books you desire are yours. It's dangerous i tell you. Dangerous.








Anyway, this week i finished a fantastic book called Fingersmith - I've heard lots of good things about its author, Sarah Waters, but for some reason i've never got around to reading anything by her yet. Fingersmith is set in Victorian England, and tells the tale of an orphan called Sue, who is raised among thieves, or fingersmiths, until she becomes embroiled in a plot which could earn her and her adopted family thousands of pounds. Sent to the country in disguise as a lady's maid, her new charge Maud appears the perfect innocent, easy enough to swindle - or is she? There are twists and turns galore in this book, and i didn't guess any of them. The author's writing is really atmospheric, so there's a great sense of place established wherever the characters are, plus you really actually end up liking them, even the bad ones. Throw in some unexpected lesbian love-fests and you've got yourself a winner. A+ from me.





There are signs of spring everywhere - and i for one am ready for August to be over. Apart from voting yesterday, i read, and read, and read some more before Daniel and Romina came over for pizza and red wine, and to watch the live election results, cause we're geeks like that. As you know, our dedication remained unrewarded. But that meatball pizza was gooooood.

Blooms! Spring! Yay!

Sunday morning bliss - again. Those are scones with blackberry jam by the way. And they were freaken awesome.

We headed into town today to run a few errands, and ended up walking through the rocks for a beer at the Lowenbrau, an old favourite haunt, who serve a very refreshing beer with a lemon flavoured drink thingy...that's not the technical term for it of course, but the name escapes me at present. All i can think of is pretzels, and can you blame me? The weather got a little chilly, but we walked right around the harbour anyway, cause it sure is pretty out there, for shiz. I'm suddenly starving, so I'm off to snack on Italian cheese and bread and wine and my dads homemade salami. Can you imagine a nicer dinner? Here's some pics from today to finish you off.

Jo brushing his teeth with his ice cream.




Me

What can i say. Been reading too many vampire books.

Fame and fortune find me at last

A PASTA brand bearing my name??? The irony is too much. Behold people, and suck it! I apparently use organic eggs, but the price tag shocked me. Almost $20 for 4 cannelloni. Pfft, who the hell do i think i am?




I am desperately awaiting the weekend. This whole week has been so....MEH. I can't think of a better way to describe it. Just meh. I have, however, just finished a wonderfully racy book called The Crimson Petal and the White, by Michel Faber. It's set in 1870s London, and it's heroine is a 19 year old prostitute called Sugar. Beware, this is not for the faint-hearted. First, its 800 pages long. But it's incredibly readable, unlike some historical fiction, and the characters are varied and very much alive on the page. Second, i wouldn't recommend this if you're a prude. Sex, swearing and violence are regular features (so a triple thumbs up from me), and if that's not enough to tickle your taste buds, i don't know what is. The writing is superb. Really. The era has obviously been meticulously researched by the author - it's incredibly detailed, and altogether an excellent read, if you dare.

Best roast in town

But before i get to my latest cooking antics, please see below for the cutest new kid on the block, Luca. Daniel and Romina are settling into parenthood VERY well indeed i think, despite suffering from "He's so smart. No really, he's seriously smart, and I'm not just saying that." syndrome. (It's OK. I forgive you, and I'll never get sick of hearing it. Truly. O_O)








Secondly, a new ritual - Saturday morning pancakes on the balcony. I like it.

But, onto the roast. I am not a roast-cooker, mainly because its a lot of food for two people to eat, and also a lot of carbs, and also i can't be bothered. But my good friend Turnsie recently got it in his head that he wanted to cook one, because he never had before. And when he gets an idea, let me tell you, he will not let it go until its carried out.

The conversation went something like this:

Turns: "You ever cooked a roast?"
Me: "Nah man."

Turns: "Let's do it man!"
Me: "Bah, OK. When?"

And lo, a Sunday afternoon roast was born. We trundled over to Turnsies place and immediately went shopping. After spending at least 15 minutes arguing about what KIND of roast we wanted to make (pork? beef? lamb?), we finally settled on the pig and moved on. The vegetables caused more problems. For a start, I picked up a sweet potato and was concerned when Turnsie didn't know what it was. Then i had to battle Jo for the beans. "Well what greens do you want?" i asked. "Broccoli." he replied promptly. "Broccoli!" cried Turnsie in outrage, "You can't have broccoli and roast!" Etc etc. (The beans won in the end, to my relief. You really can't have broccoli and roast.)

We made it out of there without killing each other, and then it was on to phase 2 - preparation. This was my favourite part of the day, because it meant i could be bossy, and i do love being bossy. As i detest peeling vegetables, i happily delegated this job to Turnsie. I'm sure, despite his weary sighs, that he really and truly enjoyed this very important job. No really. He enjoyed it. I helped too. Like, I unwrapped stuff. And oversaw DTs work. Oh and I put everything in the baking dish! All equally tedious and tiresome tasks. (What? They are.) Also, i will just say this about Turnsie's pantry - it is a scary, scary place. Salt that expired in 2004? Half used bottles of unidentifiable stuff that's leaked and soaked through the label to the point that you can't read what it once was? I was frightened to put my hands too far in. Anyway - i present to you....

Our roast, pre-cooked.

Have a go at that! Our ready-to-eat-roast, and it was SO good!

Jo eating his yummy meal, which he did not lift a finger to help make.

Turnsie and I enjoying the fruits of our labour

And that wasn't the end of our feasting. For dessert, apple crumble using the Turner family recipe. We did have a small problem with the oven which may or may not have been my fault (I admit, i shouldn't have experimented with all the knobs, OK? I'm sorry. Sheesh.), so that the first attempt at baking the crumble resulted in a blackened outer crust that i refused to eat. Not deterred, we scraped that off and tried again, and round two turned out just fine.

Our crumble with ice cream

Me enjoying the crumble

Turnsie doing the cleaning up - onya turns, love the pink gloves. Very razzle dazzle.

So thumbs up for roasting, but thumbs down for being sick - Jo and I have spend most of the week coughing and sneezing, and last weekend was spent almost entirely on the couch doing nothing, but I'm happy to report we're on the mend now. We've had a very busy weekend which I'll tell you all about during the week because Relocation Relocation is on and i really must watch. Before i go, join me in a cheer - Boo for Mondays! BOOOOOOOOO!