Monday, December 8, 2014

Monday, December 8th - anothe successful dinner.

Conditions at 5:30 am: -9 that feels more like -14 with the wind, and a light dusting of new snow on the ground
Expected later: mix of sun and cloud and a high of -5'

What a great weekend!
It all started with pizza on Friday night with the VanGaals. They were going to New Brunswick for the weekend for a family Christmas celebration and Brenda wanted to try making a cake that I've made a couple of times in the past and she really enjoyed. I had all the ingredients we needed at my house so we picked up pizza on the way home (she was in town on Friday afternoon and needed a ride back) and we all converged at our house for wine, beer and pizza. What a great way to start the weekend.

Lloyd had taken Friday night off so there was no rush for him to go to bed. After eating, Bernie went home and Brenda and I started in on the cake. It's not a difficult recipe but a bit time consuming so as we waited for our filling to chill, and the cake layers to cool, we watched some TV.
Once final assembly was complete, and the cake was put in the fridge to set overnight, she was off home.

Saturday morning I was up early with a bit of a to-do list. Lloyd was also up early and we set to work. I had more to do than I had expected and it was great that he was here (I always underestimate home long things sometimes take). One thing added to my list was baking rolls - 7 dozen to be exact. I had come across a recipe to make yeast rolls in half an hour. Sounded impossible so I tried a test batch first thing and they actually worked out well. So that took up a bit of my morning that I hadn't planned for. But it was all good and Lloyd  had time for a short nap and I had time for a quick hot bath before we had to leave. Then it was time to load up and head to the fire hall.  The vegetables were all peeled and chopped, thanks to Lloyd who did all that on Friday afternoon. The stuffed pork roasts were ready to go into the oven at the fire hall and the turkeys were roasting in the oven at home.

After unloading everything at the hall, and dragging it all upstairs, Lloyd returned home to debone the turkeys once they were cooked, and pack the meat into a large roasting pan, and make the gravy. I tended to the veggies, coleslaw and rolls. Brenda arrived shortly after I got there and we got everything organized.

Everything went very smoothly and the guests all thoroughly enjoyed their meal. We served Sticky Date Pudding with Toffee Sauce for dessert and a number of people asked "What was that dessert - it was absolutely delicious".

Guess we might get this gig again next year!

It was cold out when we got home, but not frigid, so we left everything in the car and the back of the truck. Brenda had tea with us and picked up her cake to take with her in the morning.Sunday morning we set about bringing in all the dirty pots and pans and trays, from the car and truck and washing them all up and putting everything away. Once that was done it was time for something to eat.  Fortunately for us, there was lots of leftovers so no amount of cooking need be done this week.  We sat and watched a Christmas themed movie while we ate, then Lloyd headed out to the garage to work for a while. I used the opportunity of him and the dog being outside to wash the kitchen floor that had gotten pretty grungy over the previous two days. When he came in he headed up for a short nap and I tidied up in the living room area and put some stuff away that had been hanging around in piles on all the horizontal surfaces around the place - books, magazines, pieces of paper, etc.

When he got up from his nap, we pretty much spent the rest of the day and evening reading. Then a light supper, some more reading then off to bed. A very relaxing day after a fairly hectic week - just perfect!



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