Yesterday… I did next to nothing. In fact it was another quiet sort of day. Went for a walk with kids and dogs, kids rode bikes, dogs didn’t.
We took back to Aldi the wireless booster I’d bought a month or so ago. It wasn’t suitable for the router I have but I’d mislaid the receipt so had to search for it before I could return it. Luckily they are very good about returns and refunded the cost without question. It helped of course that it hadn’t been opened.. well ok it *had* but I’d been careful repacking it. 
The kids seemed to have fun out in the cold afternoon sun and so did the dogs! When I’ve walked that route with them in the summer they’ve arrived back at the house all bar collapsing – the dogs that is, not the kids! In fact the Labrador (Stupid) actually *did* collapse one day as it happens, just opposite the house, and we had to carry him into the swimming pool where he lay for an hour cooling down and recovering!
It isn’t actually all that far but it’s a nice way to stretch the legs a little. We pass four parks on the circuit of the estate, but as the dogs can only be let off the lead in one of them they can’t run around so really shouldn’t build up such a head of steam they overheat. Also, water *is* available for them in each place. Anyway, this time all was well as we arrived back safe and sound with plenty of time to make dinner and relax.
Dinner? Boiled ‘corned’ Silverside with new potatoes, peas and parsley sauce. Sadly I can’t say I like my parsley sauce overmuch. I’m leaving something out but I can’t put my finger on what. Currently I just make a basic sauce (butter, flour, milk) add seasonings and as much parsley as I can stir in Two tablespoons is never enough… half a cup or more is better in my opinion. I wonder if running it through the food processor might help? Hmm… or maybe a few drops of lemon juice? Or maybe make a Hollandaise and throw parsley in that?? Never tried that before oddly enough… might be worth a throw
Anyway, the corned Silverside is thrown in a pan, covered in water containing a cup of vinegar, dessertspoonful or two of Demerara sugar, a dozen or so cloves and maybe some black peppercorns if I remember (I forgot both cloves *and* pepper yesterday!) Cook it for… about an hour per kilo and either serve hot, or leave to cool in the liquid then refrigerate. Scrumptious! I never knew what real corned beef was til I got to Oz. In the UK, corned beef comes in cans from the Argentine via Fray Bentos 
Of course, even if you leave the windows open the house stinks of vinegar etc for a while afterwards… but that’s a minor thing compared to the taste of the meat.
Also available is corned mutton and corned pork. Strangely, in all the time we’ve been here, I don’t recall ever having tried them… but bearing in mind the similar processes they go through before reaching the table I’m not sure there’d be much variation in the resulting flavour? Actually… I might try them just to find out
So really, apart from walk, talk, cook and eat we didn’t do much of anything. Kids will be back in school next week… and the routine will revert to the usual daily panic trying to get each to their various activities on time and manage to pick them up from two different places at the same time. It isn’t gonna be as quiet and easy… but I think I’ll manage
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