On the other hand maybe I *do* bring the chaos on myself sometimes…. just occasionally of course.
The prime example might be balancing a rather hefty boom box on top of a much smaller bedside clock on Xmas Eve to provide musical accompaniment while packing presents… and then forgetting it’s there when you drift off to a well earned 5 hours sleep just before Xmas Day.
More on this when I fully regain consciousness.
So I cooked the pork. I’d ordered a leg… but got a shoulder. Couldn’t complain because they closed for the holidays before I found out… yet again the fickle finger of fate pointed at me and laughed it’s socks off. Wiped it down with the lime and garlic infused olive oil, I poked lots of sliced garlic into the cross-hatched skin and away we went.
On a theme… when I picked the meat up I naturally collected the turkey. You might remember that they rang me to let me know they couldn’t get the 12 kilo one I wanted so would two 6 kilo ones do instead. To recap… I said no thanks get me one 6 kilo one and I’ll get a frozen one to make up the difference if I needed the extra meat.
When I went to collect the thing… it was 12 kilos. I now have a ‘spare’ and rather expensive turkey sitting in the freezer awaiting it’s date with destiny that has now been put back some months at least. Hey… maybe we could eat it at Easter!! Please re-run the fickle finger of fate line.
The ham on the other hand was pretty good. skinned, cross-hatched and rubbed down with lime infused olive oil like the pork but speckled with the traditional cloves and baked with a glaze made out of English mustard, honey and Demerara sugar. Simple but effective.
Because it’s going to be cold the only stuffings were sage and onion and sausagemeat, apple and onion. Again simple but effective. Add in some bread sauce and we’re done.
Well not quite done. I also made some corned beef for dinner today, and the wife made a *very* late Xmas cake yet managed to make almond paste *and* ice it today along with a chocolate log, and a coffe log!! The table is looking good. She’s pretty accomplished this woman… and am I glad she picked me to settle down with?? Too right 
So… Xmas is almost here. Most of the food is ready to eat except for the salads and accompaniments which I’ll knock up fresh tomorrow… in my mind I’m already scarfing it down of course. Can’t wait.
Happy Xmas everyone… will be back as soon as. 
Right. Things to do… places to go… people to see… food to buy… and a snowman to put up!!
Back later!
The eldest, eldest daughter from the UK has a nasty looking infection on her leg. I think she was bitten by something a few days ago. Lord knows what took a bite out of here, there are so many nasties over here it could have been anything. Either way the result was a lump… that spread and became inflamed.
She tried the usual remedies… electric shocks… anti-histamine creams… etc and nothing worked. Of course she didn’t get a lot of sympathy from the rest of us here… we’re so used to bites we just ignore them mostly. The response she got when she whinged about it was that she should just have it chopped off and get it all over with.
Eventually she got sick of the ongoing ‘humour’ and off she went to the docs… who diagnosed septicaemia!! He said had she not gone when she did she may well have spent Xmas in hospital on a drip!! Nice!! Oops.
She’s now on antibiotics as well and is wandering around with that air of smug self righteousness one gets when one is proved not to be a hypochondriac after all
Actually it’s a good thing she got sorted out. Apart from the risk of serious complications to herself, she’s feeding the baby so there’d be hell trying to keep her satisfied with her mother unable to look after her! We’d just about manage the boys of course but even that would be hard with all the other stuff we have to do.
If required… I’ll keep you informed of her condition
The Phantom has come down with the lurgy. This seems to be a virus slowly spreading around the world since it’s affecting us here as well. Colds, flu and the like are all international illnesses now and what hits one country hits all others within days or weeks.
Our infections weren’t helped by the grand-daughter arriving with some similar affliction and sharing the wealth with all of us… especially the wife who is the last person we needed to have caught it.
I think the antibiotics have worked on her now and she looks (and sounds) a bit better but we were worried for a while she would be ill over Xmas. I’m still waiting to come down with it… watch this space Xmas Day for news of whether I got away with it
So… best of luck Phannie… I hope you’re back on form for the big day. No doubt your table will be groaning with the weight of your magical cuisine. At the very least I hope you can taste it!
After the sojourn to the Ice Rink and saga of the internal squabbling described in the last post, and the fun of finding the pool being wrecked… we finally set out to finish off the shopping and buy ‘little’ stuff.
The first thing we bought was totally inessential… but something we both agreed we wanted. An eight foot inflatable snowman! As pointed out in a previous post our 5 year old one has developed tears and rips in the fabric and looks quite pathetic. This new one was almost $90 but looks to be a suitable replacement. I’m going to get it plugged in soon and have it up and running for the last few days of Xmas. Better late than never I suppose.
Today I’m off out for what I hope will be the last time this year. I’ll be buying the fresh food we need bringing home all the fruit, salads and vegetables for Xmas Day along with the turkey, ham and pork etc that will need cooking. On the way I’ll no doubt see all sorts of other goodies to add to the pile of unhealthy but delicious boxes of treats I’ve collected over the past few months.
This time I’m off on my own. Usually the wife comes with me but I think she’ll be too busy with the last minute packing of pressies and even doing the basic household stiff like washing clothes to be able to come.
Actually that’s quite sad that. I really appreciate these few minutes we have together, especially at this time of year when we’re overwhelmed with doing stuff for other people. Those few minutes alone, even shared with crowds in the supermarkets and shops, are treasured. I can never spend too much time with the wife. Usually just being in the same house as her is enough to keep me happy and contended even if she’s busy doing other things.
Still… it’s only one day and there *is* a lot that needs to be done and we are the only ones who can do most of this stuff so we may as well just *do* it. The kids are sitting around watching ‘Oliver on DVD… old as it is… so they are taken care of.
Before I go I’m going to get the snowman working… so on that note off I go!!
We’ve had ‘political’ ructions at the Sydney Ice Arena recently.
As said on many occasions, the youngest daughter is a competent little skater and goes to the rink at least three times a week spending three hours or more there each time. It’s a bit of a waste of *my* time since I have to be with her ‘just in case’ but she loves it and that’s all that counts in the end. I’ve taken to going to the gym to help use up the time, but the business will be moving to new premises shortly… and that’s another story!
The point is that she all bar lives at the rink and to help keep costs within bounds we’ve been buying her ‘quarterly pass’ which allows her to skate in all the ‘private session’ as well as the ‘general’ ones. The private sessions are for dedicated skaters who need space to practice away from the ‘masses’. Naturally they cost a little extra but it’s worth the cost to get the room to do jumps, spins, lunges and the like.
Obviously keeping an ice rink going in Australia is *not* a cheap exercise. Cathy, the manager, told us it costs in excess of $500 and hour just to keep the place open which isn’t including the cost of staffing etc! With temperatures that reach 40ºC+ it’s not hard to see why the cost is so high, and those costs have to be met.
To help ensure costs are met and the rink doesn’t close, as have so many others, Cathy recently announced a new series of charges for purchase of the quarterly passes. Access to the sessions was to be be ‘split’ and in order for the skaters to gain entry to both private *and* general sessions meant we now had to but two separate passes.
Unfortunately the result was that costs were almost trebled for people who use the rink to the extent some of us do… and we felt it was a little high. To help explain how we felt about the new costs and to ask for some compromise, one of the mothers organised a petition asking that we be allowed to purchase a combined pass for access to private and general sessions. This, it seems, was presented two days ago.
Luckily we weren’t there. From all accounts the ‘meeting’ was a disaster with all sorts of acrimonious yelling going on which resulted in the effective banning of the mother and daughter from the rink and the cessation of sales of *all* passes! Eventually the daughter was allowed back to skate since it really wasn’t fair on her to lose her coach etc because her mother had lost her temper but the ban on selling passes remains.
Some people are still very annoyed by the attitude of the management since the banning of the pass system effectively means we have to pay for each session we attend… which could easily send costs over $3000 a quarter just for access to the ice. However I *do* understand their predicament. This *is* a business not a hobby. It needs to make a reasonable profit just to stay open and how much it costs to make sure that happens is something we aren’t privy to! If the management feel the need to increase prices then that’s what they need to do. There is nothing to be gained by them keeping prices so low the rink closes… nor is there much gain in them raising prices to the extent people are driven away and the rink closes. There has to be balance.
On the other hand *we* as regular dedicated customers and clients are bringing in a lot of business to the rink. We encourage friends to join the groups. We hold birthday parties there. We buy coffee etc there and patronise the ‘skate shop’ to buy equipment. We also fund the coaching system by purchasing training sessions for the kids. What’s more, by winning competitions as the kids usually do they spread the word in the sport that Sydney Ice Arena is where it’s all happening and that also encourages skaters from outside the area to join in. Yes it makes the rink more crowded, but it *should* help reduce costs!
All we need is some compromise so that ‘dedicated skaters’ can have access to the ice at a reasonable cost whilst ensuring the rink stays open to allow the ‘general’ skater to drop in for a fun time without endangering the long term viability of the place as a business.
I’m not sure how this could be achieved… seems the two aims are mutually exclusive. Perhaps there is some sort of government grant available to help cover these sorts of costs?? I’ll have to get the ‘committee’ to make enquiries.
In the meantime the atmosphere at the rink is a little cold and the relationship between management and customers is somewhat frostier than normal… no pun intended.
We went out early to take the youngest to the ice rink for her lesson and to give the coach a small present for Xmas… as you do. We came back to drop her off before setting out to complete the search for presents and such like.
We’d not been in for two minutes when the son-in-law asked us if we knew the spa was empty of water and the pool was filled to overflowing?
Some fast investigation determined her was right. I checked the pool equipment and found the pool maintenance people had been, replaced the old pump exactly where I’d asked them not to, and instead of setting the valves correctly, i.e. to circulate water through the spa back to the pool… *had* set the valves on the plumbing instead to *empty* the spa. Luckily we came home in time to rectify their mistake. Had we *not* been here to do it the pool surface could have been ruined. For some reason never explained fully it apparently has to be kept permanently wet or ‘damage’ ensues.
I’ve not gone into the shop to complain yet but I think they should be informed I am *not* happy with the level of competence displayed by their staff!! The pool cost a lot of money to install and we pay them a lot of money to keep an eye on it.
‘Twas on the Monday morning that the poolman came to call… a couple of Mondays ago maybe… anyway the pump wasn’t working properly so they removed it… kept is for days… cleared leaves out of the impeller (they said)… and replaced it in situ. Two days later it stopped again.
I rang, told them the pump wasn’t pumping and asked them to come and fix it *again* because it’s nearly Xmas… we have 10 people here… and a green smelly pool isn’t really in keeping with an Australian Xmas is it?? Well no it isn’t.
It’s now three days later and they arrived this morning to fix… I assumed… the pump that wasn’t pumping.
Guess what they said?? Right… “Your pump isn’t pumping mate!!”. Well d’uh!!! That’s why I rang for someone to come fix it. The response?? “Oh… ok… we’ll have to come back this arvo then”. Clearly I assumed wrongly!
SwimArt Rouse Hill will be getting an earful if it isn’t fixed before Xmas.
Grrr…….
Xmas is coming and I’m not getting fat… yet
There’s just too much to do for me to keep blogging as much as usual, so for the next few days there won’t be as much happening in here as usual. Apart from the usual cleaning stuff Xmas is just around the corner and the house is full of people so life is even more chaotic than usual.
I have to clean the barbie today… now there’s a job filling me with excitement and anticipation. Up to my neck in rancid grease, and soot and caustic soda… whoopee!! Who could ask for a better start to the day??
And then there’s the kitchen… well what passes for a kitchen… don’t ask… it’s a disaster area. Ten people… one cleaning… well two since the wife fills the dishwasher every evening after dinner… but still… disaster. It’s a wonder we aren’t overrun with livestock!! Ewww…
Anyway – on that note I’m off to make a start. My back is breaking but if *I* don’t do it it won’t get done… so off I go.
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