Life is deff. in the fast lane at the moment.
Just finished a boat show which means lots of work and as it is all day followed with late night parties (dont think I am going to miss those do you) we got a couple hotel rooms on site and boy did I burn the candle both ends....
This meant I did not know what state my house is in for the 5 nights I am not here and this year my darling of 40 years stayed at the house with the new pup (driving to the show each day) as well as a couple and a single...ie 3 (of 4)rooms taken...
no sooner had the boat show finished than I returned with a couple and 3 singles in tow....no problem as the singles (all girls can treble up in the HUGE bed and the couple in another room and the single in his room...us, well, yes, we still had our room.
Sounds simple but where one earth does one put all the suitcases and STUFF....havent these girls all lived in their own place and havent they learnt to be TIDY on these mega yachts they work on...kind of like totally relaxing when they get home...
I LOVE IT ALL...still keeping some semblance of order is a must.
Fortunately the freezer is full and so is the fridge so some good meals have come out...been a few comings and goings with bodies these past couple days...waved 3 off at the airport after a wonderful beach lunch with a bottle or two of our fav Clos Bayliss...... and in the middle of this I had 8 of our friends over for dinner....last night.... but suddenly last night when the young ones arrived home we had an extra male??
DD's young man had to bring one of the crew over from another island on the ferry rushing her into hospital, poor darling.
Anyway, I just left the sleeping areas up to them all to sort out....
in the mean time between tidying and making the table pretty and
(OH did I mention we have a puppy and his um...well, there is a shoe here and a bra there and even someone's bikini bottom and then there is the odd puddle or two and)....well, the girls are learning to put things above his level so the counter areas have books and odds and ends as well as pairs of shoes and the bathing gear all looking great amongst the Christmas pretties.....)(as an aside all doors are open through out the house as we need BREEZE as we dont have airco).....
I decided to do a Greek sort of theme for this dinner party and it was truly yummy.....
Piedmount Peppers on a salad with avo and garlic bread on the side
Followed by Feta stuffed lamb and it's jus and sage potaoes and broccoli
BUT having defrosted the lamb I then weighed it to find that I was 2 LBS short of the required 4 1/2 lbs of the meat...so never one to be fazed by cooking problems I started to slice the deboned meat to spread out the roll and promptly nicked my left index finger...loads of blood but so, I bandged it up with the old Band Aid and carried on:
Evoo and red wine salt well patted in to both sides...the salt was a deeper red in places but tasted fine from the bottle so not being quick of wit I quickly carryed on. I layed the riccota and then the roasted, sliced, red and green peppers and topped it with the feta....Yumm and I proceeded to roll and tie...did I say tie....darn nick in the old finger is just where I need to pull the string taught...seems like quite a lot of red pepper is escaping the filling....cant tie tight becuase I have some of the red pepper in my finger....
OH NO that is not red pepper.......and that is not a red stamp on the meat either......
OH MY Proverbial....what to do????
I rubbed and rubbed at the 'red' and it just did not come off, nor could I lift the meat into the pan till I re-bandaged the finger...needs 2 hours of cooking time and here I was with 1 1/2 hours left only
No time to defrost another roll.....no other meat I can use...flapp, flapp, gasp, gasp...
Nothing for it but to stick it all in the oven rolled in an untidy haphazard fashion and with some....yes, sorry,..... some of my blood on the meat.
By this time there was blood everywhere, floor, counter, my shoes and on the pup's white ruff...he was standing under me at one stage hoping to get a smidgin' I think...isn't he too young to be doing that, begging that is....(he is sooo gorgeous)
Well, untidy as it was, the meal was excellent....and not a scrap left. The potatoes were I hit...I smashed them with cream and butter and plated them in ring molds with a layer of finely chopped sage that I had fried lightly...so scrummy
Did not get around to making a pud but had a big packet of pancakes (bought) I was going to use for breakfast) and so these I warmed with layers of cinnamon sugar and butter and then cut the pile into 8 wedges and served that with whipped cream and also Brie, fresh cherries and the preseved figs from South Africa I so love....perfect end to the great meal.
Guests left after 2am and with the early starts these days to put pup out on the lawn...I'm tired, me?, yup, just a walking zombie....
And I have just heard the sweet young crew member is OK but has an ulcer and needs a place to stay with her boyfriend who flew in this afternoon.....I, of course am delighted they want to come here......so tonight we will be at absolute maxime with the beds...
But, we are also decorating the tree (at last) (OH yes...this tree is exhorbitant...for the 4 -5 foot size they charge $75.00???????? and on an increasing scale to $400.00 for a 10'...guess the size I bought!!)
So wine and Christmas songs and good friends and cheer are on tonight...but what of supper???
Chicken tenders how?...they are defrosting, and fingerling potatoes with crispy bacon and avocado YUM.......
Happy week -end everyone......
Just finished a boat show which means lots of work and as it is all day followed with late night parties (dont think I am going to miss those do you) we got a couple hotel rooms on site and boy did I burn the candle both ends....
This meant I did not know what state my house is in for the 5 nights I am not here and this year my darling of 40 years stayed at the house with the new pup (driving to the show each day) as well as a couple and a single...ie 3 (of 4)rooms taken...
no sooner had the boat show finished than I returned with a couple and 3 singles in tow....no problem as the singles (all girls can treble up in the HUGE bed and the couple in another room and the single in his room...us, well, yes, we still had our room.
Sounds simple but where one earth does one put all the suitcases and STUFF....havent these girls all lived in their own place and havent they learnt to be TIDY on these mega yachts they work on...kind of like totally relaxing when they get home...
I LOVE IT ALL...still keeping some semblance of order is a must.
Fortunately the freezer is full and so is the fridge so some good meals have come out...been a few comings and goings with bodies these past couple days...waved 3 off at the airport after a wonderful beach lunch with a bottle or two of our fav Clos Bayliss...... and in the middle of this I had 8 of our friends over for dinner....last night.... but suddenly last night when the young ones arrived home we had an extra male??
DD's young man had to bring one of the crew over from another island on the ferry rushing her into hospital, poor darling.
Anyway, I just left the sleeping areas up to them all to sort out....
in the mean time between tidying and making the table pretty and
(OH did I mention we have a puppy and his um...well, there is a shoe here and a bra there and even someone's bikini bottom and then there is the odd puddle or two and)....well, the girls are learning to put things above his level so the counter areas have books and odds and ends as well as pairs of shoes and the bathing gear all looking great amongst the Christmas pretties.....)(as an aside all doors are open through out the house as we need BREEZE as we dont have airco).....
I decided to do a Greek sort of theme for this dinner party and it was truly yummy.....
Piedmount Peppers on a salad with avo and garlic bread on the side
Followed by Feta stuffed lamb and it's jus and sage potaoes and broccoli
BUT having defrosted the lamb I then weighed it to find that I was 2 LBS short of the required 4 1/2 lbs of the meat...so never one to be fazed by cooking problems I started to slice the deboned meat to spread out the roll and promptly nicked my left index finger...loads of blood but so, I bandged it up with the old Band Aid and carried on:
Evoo and red wine salt well patted in to both sides...the salt was a deeper red in places but tasted fine from the bottle so not being quick of wit I quickly carryed on. I layed the riccota and then the roasted, sliced, red and green peppers and topped it with the feta....Yumm and I proceeded to roll and tie...did I say tie....darn nick in the old finger is just where I need to pull the string taught...seems like quite a lot of red pepper is escaping the filling....cant tie tight becuase I have some of the red pepper in my finger....
OH NO that is not red pepper.......and that is not a red stamp on the meat either......
OH MY Proverbial....what to do????
I rubbed and rubbed at the 'red' and it just did not come off, nor could I lift the meat into the pan till I re-bandaged the finger...needs 2 hours of cooking time and here I was with 1 1/2 hours left only
No time to defrost another roll.....no other meat I can use...flapp, flapp, gasp, gasp...
Nothing for it but to stick it all in the oven rolled in an untidy haphazard fashion and with some....yes, sorry,..... some of my blood on the meat.
By this time there was blood everywhere, floor, counter, my shoes and on the pup's white ruff...he was standing under me at one stage hoping to get a smidgin' I think...isn't he too young to be doing that, begging that is....(he is sooo gorgeous)
Well, untidy as it was, the meal was excellent....and not a scrap left. The potatoes were I hit...I smashed them with cream and butter and plated them in ring molds with a layer of finely chopped sage that I had fried lightly...so scrummy
Did not get around to making a pud but had a big packet of pancakes (bought) I was going to use for breakfast) and so these I warmed with layers of cinnamon sugar and butter and then cut the pile into 8 wedges and served that with whipped cream and also Brie, fresh cherries and the preseved figs from South Africa I so love....perfect end to the great meal.
Guests left after 2am and with the early starts these days to put pup out on the lawn...I'm tired, me?, yup, just a walking zombie....
And I have just heard the sweet young crew member is OK but has an ulcer and needs a place to stay with her boyfriend who flew in this afternoon.....I, of course am delighted they want to come here......so tonight we will be at absolute maxime with the beds...
But, we are also decorating the tree (at last) (OH yes...this tree is exhorbitant...for the 4 -5 foot size they charge $75.00???????? and on an increasing scale to $400.00 for a 10'...guess the size I bought!!)
So wine and Christmas songs and good friends and cheer are on tonight...but what of supper???
Chicken tenders how?...they are defrosting, and fingerling potatoes with crispy bacon and avocado YUM.......
Happy week -end everyone......