Xmas 09

Christmas Eve
This year Christmas was at our place and we decided to try a traditional lunch with ham, turkey and all the fixings. Warwick's not bad cooking up some bacon so he was confident a glazed ham was in him. Plus a few weeks before I successfully pulled off a roast chicken for the first time so I knew I was ready to handle the big bird

Warwick applying the balsamic-honey glaze to the ham and the final product below. A pre-Christmas taste test confirmed it was good enough to eat

Dr Dopey preparing the turkey before applying a thick layer of herbed butter between the skin and breast meat

Christmas Day

The big day and the weather didn't end up being too bad after all. I was up at the crack of dawn to get the final touches to the turkey done and then its into the oven for about 3-4 hrs.

Warwick's parents, Liz and Wal, and my mum and John, enjoying a pre-lunch drink

The final result - turkey, stuffing and potatoes roasted with chorizo. Yum, yum, yum. Have to take a photo.....smile.....tip the platter slightly, thats good......whats that warm liquid running down my leg? Yes a waterfall of turkey and chorizo juices running down my dress, along my leg onto the floor. Never mind, pop the dress into the washing machine, it'll be as good as new, except that someone (me) forgot to check for tissues in the other clothes added to the wash. It wouldn't be Christmas if something didn't go wrong.

Christmas at Voula's

Our yearly company Christmas party was another casualty of the global economic crisis so Voula took upon herself to organise a replacement do at her new place. She had bore the brunt of many jokes from us inner city snobs as we tried to work out the best way to get Voula's, located in Point Cook (known by the locals as PC) about 30 kms to the west of Melbourne. After much discussion we decided to take the train to experience the untamed west first hand and it didn't disappoint.

Kristen, Andrew, Dr Dopey and Paul on the train to PC. It was at this point in the journey that the train stopped in the middle of no where and powered down. Paul, becomming more and more agitated with this unscheduled stop, decided to test whether the train doors do actually open when the power is turned off and yes they do

But the boredom was soon relieved by the power coming back on and the conductor saying over the load speaker: "Sorry for the delay but there was a drop kick on the roof trying to train surf. Some people just need to get a life". The rest of the trip was uneventful and we made it to Voula's in one piece.

Cricket in the backyard with Sam's kids Hamish and Bella

Voula showing off her vegie patch and kitchen

Like all good Christmas parties there was lots of great food, presents (many of them revolving around the Twilight saga).....


Allison looking very happy with her New Moon poster (above) and yes that is a fake smile on Andrew's face (below) though his wife Kristen was thrilled

The evening finished off with an attempt at the Twilight board game, which only lasted for 5 min when we realised it was targeted at the types of 12 year old girls that like to compare there favourite colours with that of Edward the vampire. Followed by a not-so-friendly lego competition between the engineers in the group, Andrew and Paul.

Paul (above) with a distinct disadvantage having to work solo was beaten by the dynamic duo, Hamish and Andrew (below)


Bella, Sam and Voula.....bed time