Sigh, such disorganisation...
First post for 2006! (Slack me) Happy New Year everyone, hope your hangover wasn't as bad as mine...
Updates:
Christmas = good. We got given waaayyy too much stuff. Cool things included (but not limited to) one of those little butane blowtorch thingies you use to caramelise the tops of creme brulees, a massive French cookbook, cute little espresso cups, a box of gourmet bits and bobs like squid ink pasta and other weird and wonderful deli items (can you tell that we're foodies?), 14 bottles of wine (thank you njc darling) + 2 more Meadowbank wines from Jim and Pie, which are too good to just quaff so they're going on the wine rack for a while. The pinot especially will probably cellar for 4 or 5 years. Tasmanian pinot, yum. Lots of other stuff too - like I said, we got given an embarassing number of gifts from our families. The Martha Stewart episode I had leading up to Christmas turned out well - most family members got a box of home-cooked items, such as candied orange segments and peel dipped in dark chocolate, an assortment of jams (I made strawberry, apricot and raspberry, and was very pleased that they all set), sweet chilli sauce, mango chutney, chocolate sauce, oranges in brandy, choc-chip biscuits - all with labels I designed myself... yeah, I was busy. But it was totally worth it.
New Years = also good. For the first time in I can't remember how long, we didn't spend it in a club. We went with Jim and Pie, Smiley and SevPsyche up to Meadowbank dam, which is a hydroelectric dam that Jim's family, (along with several other families which make up the Meadowbank Ski Club) have been camping alongside for about 20-ish years. When I say camping, I mean caravans and tents but there's no way in hell those caravans are going anywhere. They have decks and retaining walls and windbreaks and paved areas all around them, they're permanent fixtures (and that's a whole other story in itself). There's also a clubhouse with hot showers, and flushing toilets. So it's like camping, without the rough bits.
And of course, it rained for almost the entire time we were there! :P Jim said it was the worst weather he remembered for about 7 or 8 years. We were just lucky I guess. We stayed dry though, the tent that was lent to us was very effective. The drive back out on New Year's Day was interesting - the dirt road had turned verrry slippery and was quite challenging (especially feeling as ratshit as I did - I think I'll try next time to drink less than 6 different types of alcohol), but I've always fancied myself as a bit of a rally driver, and apart from a slight hiccup when I caught up with Jim who was leading the convoy on a steep hill, and had to slow down, and then losing my oomph and having to reverse back down and start again, I didn't do too badly.
Due to the cruddy weather our plans to learn how to waterski were thwarted, but Jim's lovely and generous family have invited us back during February, hopefully we'll be able to go. I'll have to put in for a couple more days of leave I reckon.
And the Taste of Tasmania - great fun. (For non-Tasmanians, it's a food and wine festival held down on the pier near Salamanca over the New Years period.) We went 3 times, the first time with Jim, Pie, Peter and AJ, meeting up with Timo and dev b later on, and then njc and myself went twice more because we discovered we could taste numerous wines in the Tasmanian Wine Society tent for about $5 each! Considering most of them were quite rare, aged Tassie wines (including several of the famous 2000 Pinot Noirs) we thought this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up.
So after my lovely, relaxing holidays I have to go back to work tomorrow. :( Oh woe.
Updates:
Christmas = good. We got given waaayyy too much stuff. Cool things included (but not limited to) one of those little butane blowtorch thingies you use to caramelise the tops of creme brulees, a massive French cookbook, cute little espresso cups, a box of gourmet bits and bobs like squid ink pasta and other weird and wonderful deli items (can you tell that we're foodies?), 14 bottles of wine (thank you njc darling) + 2 more Meadowbank wines from Jim and Pie, which are too good to just quaff so they're going on the wine rack for a while. The pinot especially will probably cellar for 4 or 5 years. Tasmanian pinot, yum. Lots of other stuff too - like I said, we got given an embarassing number of gifts from our families. The Martha Stewart episode I had leading up to Christmas turned out well - most family members got a box of home-cooked items, such as candied orange segments and peel dipped in dark chocolate, an assortment of jams (I made strawberry, apricot and raspberry, and was very pleased that they all set), sweet chilli sauce, mango chutney, chocolate sauce, oranges in brandy, choc-chip biscuits - all with labels I designed myself... yeah, I was busy. But it was totally worth it.
New Years = also good. For the first time in I can't remember how long, we didn't spend it in a club. We went with Jim and Pie, Smiley and SevPsyche up to Meadowbank dam, which is a hydroelectric dam that Jim's family, (along with several other families which make up the Meadowbank Ski Club) have been camping alongside for about 20-ish years. When I say camping, I mean caravans and tents but there's no way in hell those caravans are going anywhere. They have decks and retaining walls and windbreaks and paved areas all around them, they're permanent fixtures (and that's a whole other story in itself). There's also a clubhouse with hot showers, and flushing toilets. So it's like camping, without the rough bits.
And of course, it rained for almost the entire time we were there! :P Jim said it was the worst weather he remembered for about 7 or 8 years. We were just lucky I guess. We stayed dry though, the tent that was lent to us was very effective. The drive back out on New Year's Day was interesting - the dirt road had turned verrry slippery and was quite challenging (especially feeling as ratshit as I did - I think I'll try next time to drink less than 6 different types of alcohol), but I've always fancied myself as a bit of a rally driver, and apart from a slight hiccup when I caught up with Jim who was leading the convoy on a steep hill, and had to slow down, and then losing my oomph and having to reverse back down and start again, I didn't do too badly.
Due to the cruddy weather our plans to learn how to waterski were thwarted, but Jim's lovely and generous family have invited us back during February, hopefully we'll be able to go. I'll have to put in for a couple more days of leave I reckon.
And the Taste of Tasmania - great fun. (For non-Tasmanians, it's a food and wine festival held down on the pier near Salamanca over the New Years period.) We went 3 times, the first time with Jim, Pie, Peter and AJ, meeting up with Timo and dev b later on, and then njc and myself went twice more because we discovered we could taste numerous wines in the Tasmanian Wine Society tent for about $5 each! Considering most of them were quite rare, aged Tassie wines (including several of the famous 2000 Pinot Noirs) we thought this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up.
So after my lovely, relaxing holidays I have to go back to work tomorrow. :( Oh woe.
posted by liv at 8:55 pm
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