food food food.........

I'm hungry....food.....foooooood! Mmmmmmmm! Fooooooooooood!

I'm interested in how you did your stock Lee?

Threw a load of chopped carrots, celery, onion, smoked bacon, several chicken wings, bay leaves, sage, rosemary and a few anise stars in to a huge roasting tin, baked it for an hour before mashing it up and adding water and a little flour before passing it through a sieve. I made and froze it a few days ago based on a recipe I saw my cousin use when I was in Australia this time last year. And I'll tell you, it has certainly impressed this year's crowd - some even calling it the best turkey gravy they've ever tasted.

Everyone loved the dinner and I really can't remember the last time I personally enjoyed a Christmas dinner as much, even if I say so myself. I seriously deserve a pat on the back. My first attempt as well.

Anyway, time to open (another) bottle of wine. I hope everyone here is enjoying themselves! I'm having a great time.

I finished the night by eating a mass variety of cheeses, and loads of it plus crackers and apple slices

With good ol' red wine? Love that combi!

A single glass of port is good with desert, but after that, I just get naseous.

Port and red wine!? How's the liver? *He says as he sits there still suffering a bit from last night's drinking*

Family induced booze up more like. (Various aunts and uncles and distant relatives that I only see on Christmas day, plus a few annoying little children. Thankfully it wasn't at my house!)

I know what you mean. I've often used these big family gatherings as a "vorspiel" for going out later; i.e. already starting my boozing at that point.

I drink port as apéritif. And then I move on to wine with dinner.

I can't wait for you guys to reach a certain age when you start to appreciate your family a bit more and the relation and history it is of you.


I must say I have a small family. Not really close with my aunts and uncles but I see them a couple of times a year. I started to appreciate it more when I got older and I saw the same thing happen to people around me reaching a certain age. And, when you get children yourself you suddenly see family in a really different way too!

So, talk to you in 20 years.

By the way, I think it's really lazy to complain about a boring party while you don't do anything to make it more fun... perhaps there are more people who don't enjoy it but don't have the guts to make a change?

You neglect the power of habit, Bregje: most of such parties (especially in large gatherings of family, although it'll happen within small nuclear families as well) are dominated by a strong sense of tradition and any change or addition is -in my experience- frowned upon if not rejected outright.

Be more grateful I would imagine.