Marguerite
Active Member
G'day, people.
Well, we just got home from mother in law's. Yesterday's preparation went well, it paid off today. We got to sleep in a little then grabbed our stuff and headed to mother in law's. I drove to the shops first to re-stock on milk, flake chocolate bars and extra cream. At mother in law's, I did the vegetables and loaded them into the roasting pans. Then I whipped the cream and smothered the birthday cake with it. Broke up the flake bars and coated the creamy cake with flaked chocolate. We were just about to put the food in the oven when husband's cousin rang - they were just leaving, "We'll be there in an hour." They live two hours' drive away. So my plans for an early lunch went out the window. mother in law wanted me to wait even longer, give people a chance to sit and have a drink or a cup of coffee for a while when they arrived, before lunch. But I've been down that road before - if we do that, we don't eat until 4 pm and then people are anxious to get away. So with mother in law increasingly frail, I got to choose when to put food on to cook.
As it was, the kids arrived at 12.30 pm, cousin arrived at 1.30 pm. We had dinner on the table at 2 pm.
I put a brioche in the oven to bake as we took out the roast. So immediately after the main course, I brought out the hot brioche with jam (my own strawberry jam) and cream. Filled people up on that, then brought out the birthday cake.
Cousin brought her husband and a special guest, second cousin from Scotland who has been working in Australia (west coast) for the last year.
Then just as we were about to sit down to eat, cousin's son and daughter in law arrived. Luckily we'd cooked a lot of food! A day ago, I was planning a family party for just us, eight people. It rapidly blew out to 13! But it was lovely to see people. On one of my quick trips back home for supplies, it was beginning to rain. I parked my scooter in mother in law's garage and noticed her 'residents' (two brushtailed possums) were sleeping there, so I brought second cousin out to have a hands-on experience. He was blown away by how tame these things are - until he touched the nearest one and it got annoyed. It glared at him then curled back up in a ball. I took a photo of the possum to send to second cousin's dad (another cousin of husband's) in Scotland.
After the extended family left, we sat and played games for a while, watched a movie. difficult child 1 & daughter in law left then. I cooked a quick risotto for dinner (using leftovers from lunch) and it seemed to be just what people needed, after a big lunch. An hour or so later, easy child 2/difficult child 2 & SIL2 left, we followed soon after. A earlier night for us tonight.
I need it!
We have some cake and brioche which were completely unused. They are now in the freezer, ready for the next family visit (in a few weeks' time, I believe).
What a day! But it was good. It's also good for mother in law to have a house full of people, she loves it. But she will sleep tonight, as we will.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Marg
Well, we just got home from mother in law's. Yesterday's preparation went well, it paid off today. We got to sleep in a little then grabbed our stuff and headed to mother in law's. I drove to the shops first to re-stock on milk, flake chocolate bars and extra cream. At mother in law's, I did the vegetables and loaded them into the roasting pans. Then I whipped the cream and smothered the birthday cake with it. Broke up the flake bars and coated the creamy cake with flaked chocolate. We were just about to put the food in the oven when husband's cousin rang - they were just leaving, "We'll be there in an hour." They live two hours' drive away. So my plans for an early lunch went out the window. mother in law wanted me to wait even longer, give people a chance to sit and have a drink or a cup of coffee for a while when they arrived, before lunch. But I've been down that road before - if we do that, we don't eat until 4 pm and then people are anxious to get away. So with mother in law increasingly frail, I got to choose when to put food on to cook.
As it was, the kids arrived at 12.30 pm, cousin arrived at 1.30 pm. We had dinner on the table at 2 pm.
I put a brioche in the oven to bake as we took out the roast. So immediately after the main course, I brought out the hot brioche with jam (my own strawberry jam) and cream. Filled people up on that, then brought out the birthday cake.
Cousin brought her husband and a special guest, second cousin from Scotland who has been working in Australia (west coast) for the last year.
Then just as we were about to sit down to eat, cousin's son and daughter in law arrived. Luckily we'd cooked a lot of food! A day ago, I was planning a family party for just us, eight people. It rapidly blew out to 13! But it was lovely to see people. On one of my quick trips back home for supplies, it was beginning to rain. I parked my scooter in mother in law's garage and noticed her 'residents' (two brushtailed possums) were sleeping there, so I brought second cousin out to have a hands-on experience. He was blown away by how tame these things are - until he touched the nearest one and it got annoyed. It glared at him then curled back up in a ball. I took a photo of the possum to send to second cousin's dad (another cousin of husband's) in Scotland.
After the extended family left, we sat and played games for a while, watched a movie. difficult child 1 & daughter in law left then. I cooked a quick risotto for dinner (using leftovers from lunch) and it seemed to be just what people needed, after a big lunch. An hour or so later, easy child 2/difficult child 2 & SIL2 left, we followed soon after. A earlier night for us tonight.
I need it!
We have some cake and brioche which were completely unused. They are now in the freezer, ready for the next family visit (in a few weeks' time, I believe).
What a day! But it was good. It's also good for mother in law to have a house full of people, she loves it. But she will sleep tonight, as we will.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Marg