Family Get Together

Most weeks I try and marshal everyone together for a family meal at least once, and today was the day, having seven people for dinner makes it worth putting in a reasonable amount of effort as well, so it’s more fun for me.  This afternoon I made 3 smoothies, cherry scones, roast chicken, a large fish pie, sausages, steamed veg, roast potatoes and lot and lots of Yorkshire puddings, we also had fresh pineapple and cheese cake in the fridge already, quite the spread.  Preparation took most of the afternoon, mostly because it was my first time for the fish pie and scones and I generated  way too much washing up, but next time will be much more streamlined.

I slept well and woke up at around 6:30 but snoozed until 7 and then rushed around to make it to Caffe Nero by 7:30.  I spent a couple of hours there and then went for a walk along the prom and then through the dunes, before heading back into town to do the shopping for the ingredients of today’s meal. Walking through the Dunes, it was nice to see extensive use being made of old Christmas trees to help grow the dune system, I’m not a fan of live Christmas trees but at least this way they are being put to very good use, although I suspect only a small percentage are being recycled in this way.

Back home I cleaned up, did the washing, vacuumed and watched a TED talk over lunch and then started dinner.  Half way through prep, Tess comes down stairs and tells me that she, Anna and Thom are going into Preston and won’t be home for dinner, if that’s ok, well I guess I showed my disappointment, because those plans quickly got modified slightly and everyone was happy.  I’m not sure the girls really understand the impact on the logistics of feeding them, when they change their plans at short notice!  Mid way through the afternoon I had to pop back into town so get some more potatoes, as I was taken by surprise by just how many the fish pie ‘consumed’. 

The dinner itself went down very well, we had, Debbie, Tess, Ann, Jen, Thom and Jon and we spent a very enjoyable 90 minutes around the table, after all that effort it’s very nice to be relaxing now, listening to Jon and Jennie doing the washing up and knowing the Anna will be doing the putting away later.

I think it cost about £15 to make tonight’s meal, which is perhaps a quarter of what it would have cost to eat out, assuming my time is free, and it’s just as much, if not more fun, at least for me.  Since I’ve retired it makes sense to eat at home more, although we still enjoy going to Toby’s every now and again.

Tess had some really good news today, she’s been invited to interview at Brighton University, on the 17th of September, unfortunately Debbie and I aren’t able to take her, but I think Thom and Anna will go with her, and I will pay.

Debbie and I will be watching TV!