Thursday 22 December 2011

Friends and Celebrations

Last night was the Christmas Dinner for the teachers and secretaries from Supernova, the academy I work at.  Some of us finished a little earlier than others so we met in the local Sidreria (Cider bar) for a drink before going to the restaurant next door.  Now for those of you that don't know Cider is one of my favourite drinks - a nice dry scrumpy type cider- which is exactly what this bar sells and all for just €4 a bottle.


Dinner in the restaurant next door was a refined affair- yeah who are we kidding. We ate drank and made plenty of noise and enjoyed sensible (one or two) and silly conversations. I so love being part of a team,especially when I can say that I know that for the most part they are all supportive and right there when you need them. I might even go as far as to say I love my colleagues! Enough of the mushy we had a great time and I was a little sorry when it was home-time.

This morning I felt slightly fragile- half a bottle of cider and half a bottle of wine is not my usual alcohol consumption of an evening, but I drank a load of water and got on with the day. And when I say I got on with it.- I really mean that. I swept through the house and mopped. Tidying things away or throwing them away as I went. I then did the same in the garden and on the roof terrace. I planted out some pansies, put out three lines of washing, wrapped some presents, replied to pile of e-mails and all this before lunch.

Tony made a delicious pumpkin soup for lunch- I'll pop the recipe in a newsletter soon, and then he went off for a siesta, just as the doorbell went- it as Inter-flora. The lovely Michelle had sent me a bunch of winter tulips in a delightful bouquet. Now I know they hadn't come all the way from Australia, but the thoughts with them had, and I was really touched - A big thank you to Michelle for whenever you read this. Now I'm guessing some of you may be thinking I've had a change of principles as I don't usually have cut flowers in the house, but no I haven't - these have been sent graciously with love and I am happy to have received them.


This afternoon I made our Christmas pudding - it's a frozen one- Jamie Oliver's recipe -a bit like a cross between summer pudding and an Arctic roll. IT has candied fruit inside that I soaked in brandy.  I'd soaked a  little too much fruit so Cuddy and I shared the leftovers, but I think she had a little too much as she then took herself off to her basket for most of the evening until....

.......D&P dropped in to drop off Paolo's Christmas Duck for Sunday - another thing I don't normally have in the house. However it's in a tin and all I've got to do is reheat it so I'll manage that. All other preparations are well under way. Tony's going to the market tomorrow for the last minute fresh veggies whilst I whip up a few selcet items for our starters and we'll be set. On Saturday we'll be able to relax a little and enjoy some 'Us' time, and then Christmas day morning it'll be all systems go....

1 comment:

  1. What a wonderful Festive Celebrations post, Mark ... will certainly jump on board with LIVING gifts in the future! Love and hugs to you and Tony for Christmas Day!

    ReplyDelete

Please leave me a comment: