BACK IN THE SADDLE

 Yee ha!

The Old Girl is officially on holiday for a week or so and I'm allowed back into the study where I can use my trusty iMac for important computer things.*

I've packed up the laptop and the other stuff from the dining table (yes, it did come under criticism for making the lounge untidy) and am now all set - at least for a couple of weeks.

"You can stay in the study even when I'm working Matey." she said "You'll only have to move when I'm on a conference call."

We'll see how that works out!

Christmas Day up here is overcast and a bit windy - surprisingly not like me as I was circumspect on Christmas Eve and we only shared a bottle of Deutz Rose. She was tired and went to bed early and I watched the last two episodes of The Crown. It's good and we'll have to wait until 2022 for the new series. The inbred idiots get a fair hammering from the writers and that simp Diana, I'm pleased to say, so far hasn't been given that silly reverential treatment.

We are going to have lunch soon - corn fritters and chicken 'bacon' rashers accompanied by a bottle of that excellent Pol Roger Champagne. We might follow that with a pool challenge.

Dinner is in the long process of preparation:

• Potatoes and golden kumara par-boiled ready for roasting.
• Pumpkin cut and ready for roasting
• Large chicken is in crock-pot for initial cooking before roasting.
• Fruit custard flan has been made which will be accompanied by creamy Greek yoghurt.

My input into this?

Nil so far.

This trusty crockpot must be 40 years old and still is better than the modern equivalents.

The Old Girl's fruit and custard flan - delicious

 

Dinner will be accompanied by a bottle of Rockford Sparkling Shiraz

This unique Australian wine style is a must for Christmas dinner as the rich flavours counterbalance any rich food that it is drunk with. It goes well with both savoury and sweet dishes. Yummy.

We used to buy and drink E&E Sparkling Shiraz and Leasingham Sparkling Shiraz years ago but these brands became casualties of the collapse of BRL Hardy after purchase by the American company Constellation. Another example of the stupid takeovers and mergers that decimated the Australian (and in a smaller way the New Zealand) wine industry.

We discovered this in a Wellington restaurant (Noble Rot) and found out where to buy it online.

How's your Christmas day going so far?

* Including blogging