She picked me up at the Greensborough station and we drove to Inglewood (didn't miss the Calder turnoff this time!)
Arrived before 7pm, unpacked and walked down to the pub for dinner. Margie wasn't there (was sick)
Had a pleasant meal, and then someone put on the jukebox, and before long - The Devil went down to Georgia was blasting out again. And yes, it was the same people who put it on as when I was there last. Had a laugh about it
Back to the house, and upstairs with a bottle of wine, and a card game Karen had brought called Cards against Humanity
To bed, and a bit of a sleep in
Brought Karen a cup of tea in bed on Saturday morning (I'd already had breakfast) and then off to Terry's for 9am with Moby her dog in tow
Given that Moby is well behaved, he was allowed to stay inside away from the cooking action, and he was allowed on the couch.
Karen and I were on jam/custard tart duty (tarts making tarts!). I made up the pastry in the food processor, and then Karen rolled it out, cut the circles, and put them in the tins
I then filled the first lot with jam, and then made up an egg custard and filled the next lot with custard
Meanwhile - Arlene was cooking up 2 big pots of goulash - with a bottle of red in each pot
Terry, June and Dermott were kept busy with other tasks
After the tarts I chopped lots of herbs and made up 3 lots of different herbed cream cheese for our different hors d'oeuvres, and made the gremolata
Terry as usual made us a marvellous lunch - eggplant parmigiana - which we had outside with a crisp glass of white and some salad. It was a glorious day, so was very pleasant
Back to the house after lunch - and Justin and Fraser were already there
Justin and I had been talking about a building a rotunda in the garden, so I had called up a company, and they had requested that we take photos of where we wanted it, and also provide them with a photo of the house - so they can see what style it is
We think we want it roughly where the hay bales are - ie in line with the dining room window
And, as you can see - the trellis posts have been cut down, and a cap put on the top (and Gordon has poisoned the peripheral weeds). Bit of a puddle next to the little apricot tree. That leak needs to be fixed.
I also planted the 5 x kiwi fruit plants - so hopefully they will do well here
The garden continues to embrace Spring - with pink peach blossoms
Penny arrived around 3, and Alex and Sarah around 4.30 - Justin would have preferred earlier - as he wanted some more time to practice....
No matter, Karen and I were in the advance guard up to Kingower - to be there at 6pm, as Terry had wanted us to assist in the set up
And I had organised for Denise & Steve, and Pauline & Jerry to come to the house at 6.15, so that they could follow Justin and co to the church, as they hadn't been before, and were unsure where it was exactly. I'd sent Rachel a photo of the church, as she would have been going backwards to come to our place first
Karen, June and I handed out the appetisers - and what a hit they were.
Spinach blini filled with herbed cream cheese, roast capsicum and jalapenos, and then cut into bite size pieces like a roulade
Salmon crostini with herbed cream cheese and capers
And cucumber rounds with different herbed cream cheese crowned with a chilli slice
These were all very popular and delicious
And then we served up Terry's fabulous sausage rolls - which Fraser declared to the best sausage rolls he's ever eaten (so obviously better than mine!)
Justin and co were up first, and I was even invited up to assist with Tumbling Tumbleweeds
Then main course - the goulash, mashed potatoes and gremolata on top - delicious, and just perfect for a cold evening
Then some more musical acts -
David, Mark and friends
and Dermott
June piped some cream onto the jam tarts, and we had other delicious desserts too made by Jan. I must admit I was a little bit disappointed with our tarts - I unwittingly made the short crust pastry with self raising flour (and was surprised when the dough did rise), and then the custard for some of the tarts seeped into the pastry - leaving not much custard to be enjoyed...Oh well, still tasted quite nice, and there were some better ones where there was enough custard
And a good time was had by all
I stayed up for a little while, but then went to bed, as I was tired. The others stayed up later.
Sunday, and Karen brought me breakfast in bed, which was fabulous! Justin declined the breakfast.
Karen left before lunch, and Alex, Sarah & Penny after our antipasto lunch of smallgoods and cheeses etc
The day was a cloudy and overcast, not at all like yesterday's beautiful day
I did some more work in the garden, watered some plants, weeded etc
Caught Fraser in the garden
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