Refresh

I am slowly renewing the blog.. frankly I am completely and totally unable to read instructions and have spent hours trying to get pictures into the side. and NOW all the links are funky... *rolls eyes* Please excuse my odd blog until I can work all this out.

I woke this morning to unbelievable rain. In a drought.. rain is rare anyway.. but.. HOLY RAIN BATMAN! It was just pouring.. living in a replica we have a metal roof which made it all the louder. I got up and went to check the windows. Then the back deck occurred to me. OH NO. I ran out in my Pjs.. to find rain coming in over my head (not bad for a reasonable size deck with a full roof! It was coming in and lashing above the french doors.. I had to cover the day bed and rocker and get back inside... ew.. wet!

Given I was now awake and the house was quiet I got caught up on ALMOST all my emails and enjoyed a peaceful coffee. I even braved the rain to go to the farmers market.

I am now a full fledged trolley pushing member of the farmers market..LOL Having spent $25 on a lil fold up trolley thing.. I went up and down the aisle in the rain gathering fresh produce.. ahhhh SO nice to have so much fresh stuff..

Tomorrow we are celebrating Christmas with friends. I am looking forward to a houseful of people and children playing.. of lush food and good company. :) We are all contributing a starter, main and dessert.. everyone's family favorite/special recipe... and each year we will be rotating the hosting.I am hosting this year and I am all set :) - lets hope the rain holds off and we can use the deck!

I am doing a cheese/dip/cracker/fresh fruit board.. with a roast pork (OH SO LUSH) and Shrek cupcakes for dessert (I figure i can look after the kids!) I found a packet cake mix complete with green gel icing and little shrek ear shaped lollies.. CUTE!

The pork dish is a Jamie Oliver recipe.. and is DDDDDivine!

You put the roasting pan on the stove top (we have gas so it works well).. and heat/seal the pork in the roasting pan. Once it is all sealed, you add leeks, onions, fennel etc and then... pour 2 cups of wine over the top.. wet some baking paper, cover the pork, tucking it in. Cook for about an hour or so depending on the size of the pork.

I promise you have never ever ever had such wodnerful moist pork EVER.. and the flavours from the greens (I also add rosemary and garlic but forget if it was in JO's recipe or not?) I will be serving it sliced on a bed of sage leaves...

I picked up several bunches of flowers..and made two pretty vases.. I wanted flowers on the table.. but.. nothing toooo formal or structured..these were perfect.. They would be equally perfect for my birthday dinner next week. (but wont last).. I wonder if I should just buy the same again!

And I have a few blue and brown baubles left (not yet on the tree).. and cream table cloth with a couple of brown runners to add horizontally.

We also voted today.. Australian Federal Elections... Looks like a change of govt coming in. Of course Lochie was wondering what on earth was going on and I explained someone had to be the boss and we were going to write down who we thought it should be. He pipes up with. I think it should be you Mummy. hehe.

I also ducked into get some prints from Harveys, and they had a Santa there for photos. Lochie was vary wary and wouldnt go to close. Whilst waiting for prints I got him to come and sit with me and watch Santa.
He was a lil nervous but decided this was the real Santa.. the real one from the North pole..not the man in a bad suit he had seen last week!

He got brave and went and sat next to Santa (love that they had a wide chair and he could have his own space). They took some shocking photos.. which of course I bought! LOL Lochie knew it was the real santa and so a photo of this big occasion was a must. Being a really quiet store.. (with voting and the rain) lochie had a big chat to Santa for about 7 - 10 mins. They covered eating MOST of your veges but not all, the possibility of a neighbours dog barking at Santa, the weather, the potential toys, the door key, the suit, the reindeer, the elves and how old they are and what they were up to. How best to decorate a tree and what Santa likes to drink with his cookies. It was a fabulous conversation :)

I baked some cookies this afternoon. Don't tell anyone but they taste awful! LOL The main thing is tho that they were cut into a star shape in various sizes and all stacked up made a christmas tree shape. awwww
a nice lil add in to the festivities tomorrow. Just dont eat them..LOL

Looking forward to tomorrow.. and if any of you are enlightened about typepad lists and getting lists (done in HTML) under images - Let me know!

Comments

[emily]

so gorgeous!!! i'm lovin the look...the doodles on the sidebar are so cool!!! and those stack of cookies--divine and yummy...lol. :)

[Kylie Clark]

I'll give you a hand with your sidebar tomorrow Lanne if you like! (Monday arvo!)Looks great so far! LOVE the flowers:)

[kathyp]

love this idea! very creative and festive. i need to get some different sized star shaped cookie cutters for sure! :)