Hello at last!! It's becoming a bit of a habit this once-a-week writing!! I suppose part of it might be down to the rather mental race to get Christmas done and dusted in time plus all the usual sturm unt drang of everyday life and a few high points as well!!!
First of all though I can at last release the photo of "the quilt" and very much appreciated it was too! We had a lovely day with Irene (all the way from Seattle) in Oxford last Saturday. Injun territory for me, being more of a Cambridge girl, but some of that architecture is truly beautiful and amazing. (We are offering a return match complete with punts and tea at Grantchester Meadows.) Lunch was really good and lasted three and a half hours at Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant followed by a wobble down to the Grand Cafe for afternoon tea with scones and Earl Grey tea. Irene and I had 25 years to catch up on and probably completely overwhelmed poor Rowan. He'll live!!! Pressie were swapped (including "the quilt") and we drove home very happy indeed.
Since then I feel I've been able to focus on Christmas and Tuesday saw the first of the festivities with the AGM of my quilting group followed by a bit of a party. We have a crafty secret Santa (no more than £3) and a posh raffle too with lots of yummy nibbles to keep us going. Less than half of our membership turned up, but we did have a good time. My secret Santa turned out to be an incredibly useful magnetic pin box (no more picking our way around the rug to avoid impaling our tootsies!!) and my offering of 6 metres of festive ribbons disguised as a Christmas bauble was much appreciated too. Wednesday evening brought a tutored wine tasting session at the local golf club. Very nice it was too, though a couple of reds left a little to be desired there was a truly gorgeous tawny port, a lovely fresh Champagne and it all finished on the most delectable dessert wine - we'll probably buy some of that! It's a good excuse to dress up a bit and get my posh winter coat (red wool, double-breasted) out of the wardrobe!
Tuesday was also the best day of the week with a crisp frost and bright sunny day so I hauled my sorry ass up a ladder and put up the outdoor lights. The night before I had sat on the floor surrounded by a tangle of not-that-old icicle lights trying in vain to get them working properly. After a while we realised the irony of what I was doing - we were also watching a programme about global warming. We took one look at each other and one look at the pile of wire and bulbs and shook our heads. SO this year we have Roxy the reindeer (who will be a regular until she shuffles off the electric coil) and a set of five 6 metre strings of fairy lights that suspend from a central star. Once they die we'll not replace them, or at least not like-for-like. I'm still sewing too (another secret) amidst the pile of chores and much needed coffee mate dates. The whole house is an utter tip and I'm not sure how it'll get straight in time for Christmas, but I guess it WILL happen!
There have been cards to write and parcels to wrap for the last international post today, more cards to be written for friends who we'll see this weekend for the last time before the holidays and rather a lot of shopping to be done!!! We had a great time in Cambridge today buying the last presents and eating out. Another lovely day and everything went very well, including a certain small boy who behaved impeccably at lunch and only started messing about after six hours of shop and drop - can't blame him really!! My legs are killing me now and I still have two dozen Caramelised Onion and Goats' Cheese Tarts to make for tomorrow!! Easy recipe:
One red onion, finely sliced
Knob of butter
Teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
teaspoon dark brown sugar
Finely chopped rosemary
Pinch of salt
Sheet of puff pastry cut into 12 or 16 squares
150g soft goats cheese
An egg, separated
Tablespoon double cream
Fry onions gently over a low heat in butter with vinegar, sugar, rosemary and salt until very well cooked and dark, but not burnt!!! Leave to cool.
Roll out and mark out pastry sheet.
Beat cream, egg yolk and goats' cheese together until smooth.
In the centre of each pastry square dollop an equal amount of red onion and cover with a dollop of the cheese mixture.
Brush pastry edges with egg white and bake at 200C for about 15 minutes or until golden. YUMMY!!!!!!
I guarantee there won't be a single one left. ENJOY!!!
The very grateful quilt recipient was overwhelmed and all to whom it was shown were greatly impressed! I have not made any intelligent documentary statements about the trip until this point, however, came home to durm and strang and a script to finish -- so I'll come up with something intelligent at some point --- Since I now have a computer for the bed (literally) I'll be more vigilant from now on -- hopefully. I still can't get over the fact I started a fire in the chimney and met four handsome firefighters all on christmas day while opening presents.
ReplyDeleteIsn't life endlessly interesting? Happy Holidays and after and THANK YOU for my best day in England. Irene