We're going to be spending Christmas in a log cabin in Devon this year. I'm hoping to have internet so I can chat to everyone but we may need to play it by ear a little.
Anyway, I'm trying to get everything organised before we go and I want to make those cute little Christmas Puddings that Nana and Mum make.. I've found a few recipes on the internet but I want the fail-safe/tried-and-tested variety.. and I thought you guys might like it to.
So, Mum (or Lisa?), could you please put the Mini Christmas Pudding recipe in the comments to this post?
I'm sure I've had the recipe in the past (I must have, I made them 2 years ago and Bruce's Dad liked them - which is why I want to make them again)... but I can't find it now.
Well we're back in London today, after a 7 hour (!!) train ride last night - we were delayed for over two hours, 30 minutes out of London, so by the time we'd caught our bus back home it was almost midnight.
Luckily we'd prepared: in Glasgow we bought dinner for on the train, and upgraded our "cattle class" seats to first-class for the princely sum of £15 a pop. So we sat in relative comfort in the (actually too-warm) cabin, snug and safe from the ice and snow outside, and eventually we rolled into Euston Station.
It's been a fun couple of days. We arrived in Irvine (on the Scottish coast, with views of the Isle of Arran) late Thursday night, and Andy and his dad "Rab" (Robert) met us at the station. A short but treacherous walk along icy streets - Dee took a tumble just metres from the door - and we were in the Melrose apartment.
Robert and Dorothy, Andy's parents, looked after us like we were family - delicious food, silly conversations (the "craic") and plenty of the ol' Christmas cheer. We had scallops, Christmas roast, "square sausage" & IRN BRU and even found time for a traditional British curry at an old Scottish pub somewhere in town. We got presents! "A selection for the wains," said Rabbie, handing us each a Cadbury's selection box. "The wains always get a selection box." (I have no idea if that's how you spell it!)
We had a couple of walks while we were there - down to the frozen beach front, past a pub that is older than white settlers in Australia, and into a shopping plaza nearby - but mostly stayed inside (too cold!). We watched a lot of football! (Soccer to us antipodeans.) They really are the nicest people, and of course we invited them to come visit us in Australia...
This weekend is Christmas #3 - now the pressies for Dayna and Bruce have arrived!
Great to see Damien, Cheryl and Oscar this afternoon. Nana was here so she had a cuddle. After dodging illness for the year at kinder, last night the gastro wog hit me so I kept my distance. Hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow. Tonight is a BBQ for our Christmas work function so I'm not happy to be feeling queasy. Also had a visit from Janet and Kevin. Uncle Ray is deteriorating so they were called up yesterday. On a happier note, the Probus dinner on Monday went well as did the Rotary one on Wednesday. Santa visited two more kinder groups on Tuesday and Wednesday. He did a great job despite the heat 38 on Wednesday. Today Dad went for the ultrasound. He still has pain but will now have to wait for diagnosis and treatment options. Congratulations to Carolynn and Jared who both received awards from school.
It's about time for an update.. I know there's a few trips I've not mentioned yet.. I'll get to them soon.. *grin*.
Christmas didn't really feel like Christmas this year.. probably a combination of it being cold, no decorations at home (I still don't want to buy too many 'non-essentials' - though I did buy a stick-mixer to make soup today.. but that's another story), no pressies to unwrap (I bought boots from Nana and Mum and Dad They're great! *big hugz*) and we didn't have a real Christmas lunch. Nevertheless, there were sparkly Christmas lights in both Manchester and Budapest, there were some pretty Christmas trees in Budapest (including the one to the right which had HUGE decorations!) and it snowed on Christmas Eve in Budapest so I got to have a white Christmas. *grin*
Budapest was good. I took a LOT of photos, so I've got the Highlights set with 111 photos and the Everything set with 257.. I think I need to cut down the highlights some more. There are comments on most of the photos, so if you view the pics as a slideshow, put the cursor over a photo and click the "i" to see them.
Highlights of the trip:
Snow the night we arrived - I know this picture looks fake but it's not!
Very sweet hot spiced wine (it was mostly white wine - I'd only had hot spiced (mulled) red wine before)
Entertaining Hungarian guide who showed us around the Royal Palace and told us good stories
The post-Christmas Christmas market (I bought a hat that makes me think of Dr Seuss - blue and black on the top right)
Beautiful buildings and churches
Lowlights of the trip:
"Hungary doesn't do vegetarian" muttered the Concierge when we inquired about where we might go for food on Christmas Eve..
Chapped lips and bad skin from the cold (-5 degrees Celcius)
There wasn't enough time to see everything.
Overall it was a great trip - lots of fun and definitely somewhere I'll return to... sometime.. (possibly when it's warmer. *grin*)
It was good to hear from everyone and great to see the photos of Aussie Chrissy. *big hugz*
Ok, this is mainly for Dayna, Glenn and Dee.. I've posted some photos up on Flickr here and also a couple of videos here. The trin_foxy.avi is well worth watching if a little bit gross :)
In other news I've been pretty sick - I had a stomach virus that hit me Wednesday night. I'm getting better but still feeling a bit dodgy... Cheryl stayed home Thursday to look after me, but neither of us really got to enjoy our "day off". We got our new kitchen table and chairs and a bookcase delivered on Thursday too, and i've already filled the bookcase... but i still have boxes labelled "books".. whoops.
We're looking forward to Mum and Dad visiting next week, hopefully the weather is nice so we can drive to the beach or over to McLaren Vale (since it's quite close to us now).. there's also a Hardy's Winery just on the corner near us. I'm going to try to clear out the spare room this weekend so they don't have to share the space with all our boxes.
Ok, that's enough from me. I hope you enjoy the Christmas pics.
