Nimmitabel: A Work in Progress: Hot Christmas Party & Mum's birthday 19 & 20 December 2015

Hot hot hot!

Summer is here with a vengeance

It was hot for my work Christmas party on the Friday, but there was a slight cool change in the evening.

Justin and I were originally going to leave for Inglewood after the party, but we decided to leave early on Saturday morning instead.

And early it was, just after 7am, as I had wanted to be there by 9am to start in with the highly anticipated sausage making with Terry & co.

Justin thought it better to stay behind and paint the little yellow room's window with the top coat (already had an undercoat)

I arrived at Terry's around 9.30, and the 2 of us got started. He had about 8kg of a pork/beef mixture which he had already ground up with garlic. He then divided it into 3 bowls, and added minced rosemary and fetta cheese to one lot, and I ground up some cumin seeds and black pepper and added it to another batch of meat. We thought we would make chilli sausages with the 3rd lot, however he had some home made rather dark chilli sauce which he tasted a smidgin of. Just about blew his head off, it was that hot. So added in some homemade sweet chilli sauce instead, but that was too subtle, so we did end up putting some of that head blowing chilli in it!

Even though it was so hot (temperature) he had the wood stove on, as that is the only way he can get hot water. Cooked up some small bits of the chilli sausage mix to see if we'd got the chilli mix right, thee was a little kick at the end, so that was good. We figured that people could always add more heat to it afterwards.

And then the fun began - with the actual making of the sausages

I was the pusher - pushing the meat down the chute so that it would get in the skins, Terry was in charge of the skins, making sure that that they filled properly and telling me when to stop the flow. June was the sausage twister, and Mum who came later kept up the supply of meat to me. We were a well oiled sausage making machine - definitely a 4 man job

a fab new Kenwood

a rather skinny 1st sausage

here they come

I enjoyed it, but must admit it was a demanding job, as pushing down on the meat for some hours with pretty much full strength started to take it out of me. And I felt vindicated today when my triceps felt a bit sore.

And yes, we made sure that we kept the 3 different types separate, so that we could tell them apart.

Finished around 12.30, and went home. Terry had invited us to stay for lunch, however Helen had already made up her famous tuna and corn sandwiches, so we had to go home for them. We were also supposed to have had the 3rd? annual Op Shop Ladie's afternoon tea, but they piked it! Shame on them. Essie was the only one who was still free to come, and she told Mum & Helen that it would be a waste to just have it for her, so it was cancelled.

Maybe we were a little relieved that the afternoon tea was cancelled, as we all had an afternoon nap, which seemed a lovely indulgence. Felt refreshed afterwards. Helen, Mum and the kids went to the pool, and Justin and I moved the furniture back into place upstairs so the red room and the little yellow room have been re-set up.

Then went back downstairs and just read the paper on the bed, too hot to do anything else. Was apparently 45 degrees here on Friday and same again on the Saturday. Helen came back to see if we wanted to join them at the pool around 4.30pm or so. This time I did come, but the weather wasn't very pleasant, Yes it was HOT, but very blustery, and mainly overcast. Stayed til close to 6pm, and then went home for a longed for gin and tonic, not on the veranda, rather in the dining room.

We were all very surprised when it started raining, and the wind really came up and was swirling dust around from the building site across the road at the Town Hall. It was really awful, and we certainly wondered what dinner on the village green was going to be like.

The weather calmed down after 7pm, so we assembled all of our gear - chairs drinks, Helen made a baby spinach & parmesan salad, and I brought dips, chips and crackers (shame on me for not making anything, but I'll say it again, it was just too hot!) Had thought about making an onion tart, but Justin easily talked me out of it

There were a few people there already when we arrived - David and Maile, Lee & David, Ann & Phillip etc. We were all supposed to be dressed in Christmas type clothes also

Maile and David certainly were

Mr & Mrs Claus

We were in red shirts which Mum had gotten us and I'd also dug up an old pair of Christmas socks that I'd been given years ago

Christmas red shirts #1

Christmas red shirts #2

well, one of us was in pink

And then, there was the moment of truth when Terry started cooking up the sausages...

starting the cooking

look just like store bought

Justin & sausages

Success!!! Everyone thought they were delicious. So job well done.

Flies and other insects proved to be very thick on the ground/table/air - detracted a bit from the atmosphere

lots of insects

even more...

The other food - salads and desserts were likewise delicious, and the wind did die down enough so as not to blow our chips away, nor bring any gum tree branches crashing down (some people were worried about that)

Got home around 11.30 or so, and it was around 30 degrees in the house, but we all managed to sleep.

I was 1st up on Sunday, and took over an hour watering my poor parched garden. Justin had come out to help me, but then hurt his back moving the tub that had the ice in it from last night. Poor thing. He had to move very carefully for the rest of today, and it's still sore today (Monday 21/12).

Didn't do too much this morning. Had a birthday game of scrabble with Mum, did a light fitting audit (have 8 light fittings that we could use - 3 from Alex, 3 from Tooronga Rd, 1 from Frank, and 1 that I'd bought from Camberwell Market a while back

Camberwell Market light fitting

Michaela reading on the gout stool

Given that it was Mum's birthday, Justin suggested that we go out for lunch somewhere nice. He thought Bendigo, but I suggested the Spotted Cow in Maldon where I'd been before with Karen & Merrill,

So we packed up and went there. Great choice. Delicious food, and the same droll waitress as last time. Helen, Mum and Michaela had the wild mushroom gnocchi, Justin & Xavier had the fish and chips, and I had calamari. All beautifully presented, and very tasty. I also told the waitress that it was Mum's birthday, so they brought out her gnocchi with a birthday candle in a small piece of fried bread.