Week of Christmas and New Year's

Christmas - A very quiet Christmas Day we had. We practically watched TV all day!!! LITERALLY!! We started the day with kids opening presents, then clearing up all the rubbish from opening presents, and then we started watching... Ellen's High School Musical DVD, Lifestyle Food Channel for a few hours and then, I embarked on my quest - catching up with Brothers & Sisters. I stopped watching the series from Season 2 Ep 5 ... I think being busy and all, so it was a massive catchup - 12 episodes of S2 and 10 episodes of S3! My eyes were popping out of the socket by 2am in the morning.

Oh.... what did I get for Christmas? I guess my Cuttlebug is my Christmas present! I gave Peter a voucher to go for a Barista class. He loves making coffee and takes great pride in it. I think the course which will certify him as a qualified barista will make him happy. Ellen got a VTech TV Learning game, Phaedon got a bike. There are lots of other little presents but I won't go into details. Overall, we are all very lucky.

Boxing Day - we went to Big W wanting to buy a BBQ that was on sale. Tried 5 different stores (by phone) before we found a unit available. It's not that we don't have a BBQ. In fact, we have 2 - a Weber Kettle as well as a Souvlaki grill type of BBQ. But those are charcoal BBQs and we wanted a gas one for 2 reasons. In summer, we often get fire ban days where we can't light a fire, BBQs included. Secondly, very often we just want to quickly grill some meats to get the chargrilled taste (and marks), instead of having to pan fry them inside the house, causing lots of smoke and smell, not to mention the 2 hours needed to set up the fire. Peter and I spent the evening setting up the BBQ while getting bitten alive by mosquitos.

27th - we went for a drive to Geelong with Peter's cousin, Ange and her hubby and kids. There was lots of traffic going up to Geelong, and the beach was actually quite filthy for some reason. But we certainly got a good tan that day, and some gas-baggin' amongst relatives!

28th - got invited to Cath and Jason's for lunch, and of course a swim in their pool. Kids had an absolute ball!

30th - invited Ruey, Joseph over for an impromptu BBQ to test our new toy. Ruey jumped on the opportunity so she didn't have to cook! (I would too, lol.) So we just quickly went out to buy some lamb chops and cutlets and some chicken, came home and marinated them. I made a mango salad and a kumato and bocconcini side dish. All the food got polished!!!! Gotta love people who love to eat. If you haven't seen a kumato, it is a tomato variety that has a purplish black skin and just INCREDIBLY sweet as a tomato. The actual variety is called Russian Black tomato, and Woolworths has patented the name Kumato. The only way to savour this variety, is to eat it raw in salads, and spare the dressing. Just lightly salt it, and drizzle some good quality olive oil. We served ours with a bocconcini and basil leaves, salt and olive oil. YUM-MO....

31st - went to Jenny and Lyndon's for a NYE party cum farewell dinner for Lyndon who is going to Singapore to work for 2 years. I am insanely jealous... wishing Peter had such an opportunity so we can go back to Singapore for a while. Sigh.... 

1st Jan 2009, 0149 hrs - HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!! I know, not everyone has celebrated New Year's yet due to time difference, but we have. It's 2009! I'm going to be 39 in about 2 weeks' time! What do I wish for? mmm.... good health to everyone, be thankful and be grateful for what (and whom) you have and happiness will follow you. I wish to speak to Vickie more often and hope to break the ice a little bit more. I also wish for Ellen and Phaedon to have a fantastic year at school, and Peter to have another great year with EMC (hopefully a promotion with a raise!!!). Hope everyone is coping with the economic downturn. And I can't wait for May/June when we move into our new house!

That's all for now. Good Cheers!!!!

Love... mich