Sunday, April 02, 2006
Hectic With The Family
The good weather returned yesterday (Saturday). While I like the rain, it makes a nice change to be out in the bright daylight again. It helped when I nipped into Leith during the afternoon to get some ingredients for a meal I was cooking the next day for my parents visiting. I took Laura and we had a bit of a carry on as we walked through Leith Links. I'm teaching her all the words to the Madness songs for the concert at the end of the year. We're also planning an outfit for her to wear - Madness gigs aren't just concerts - they are EVENTS.
I got an email from the Madness mailing list saying all the gigs this year had been cancelled. I showed it to Laura and she was gutted. Then I reminded her it was April Fool's Day. Oh how we laughed (it fooled me at first, too).
I made part of the dessert for tomorrow's meal and then the rest of the day was spent getting the house tidy and ready for tomorrow.
In the evening, in order to celebrate my bonus from work, we had a big family take-away meal - Indian! Lots of Dupiaza, Tikka Masala, Nan bread, Pilau rice, pakora and kebabs - wonderful! I could hardly stand by the end of it. It was so bad I couldn't lie on my stomach in bed and had to lie on my back all night.
I was up early today (Sunday) and finished up cleaning the bathroom and kitchen. I nipped out to get some wine and a newspaper then got to work on the rest of the dessert. One is a reliable pudding (pineapple cake) and came out a treat, the other - a new one - had a meringue topping and when it rose nearly filled the entire oven, then deflated to a sad state. It tasted nice though when it was served.
For starter we had Gail's Carrot and Coriander soup then for the main I cooked lamb in spices and white wine and served it with baby sweetcorn, mange tout, new potatoes and fried baby mushrooms. It was a new dish for me but it worked a treat and everyone liked it.
It was good to have my parents over, the first time would you believe, almost a year. It's funny when you think about it; I see my in-laws almost every day but seeing my own parents you could count on one hand for a year's worth. Familiarity ~ Absence ~ Chinese proverbs spring to mind.
My Dad brought five fish over for me plus some new plants for my aquarium. I got 2 new Clown Loach, 2 Ramerizi and 1 Red-Tailed Black Shark. (For more on this go to my Colly's Fishes website. My Dad used to keep an aquarium himself and because he can't have one back home, he loves the fact that me and my sister's fiance both have one. We got the new fish into the tank then went down to Leith Docks to take some photographs with my Dad's old Pentax SLR he is trying to sell.
We drank coffee after the meal and talked about things. I relaxed more once the meal was out of the way and by the time I went to bed I was pretty tired.
All in all, it was a good day and a good weekend.
For more information about Fringe Fantastic, please go to the website: http://fringefantastic.colingalbraith.co.uk
I got an email from the Madness mailing list saying all the gigs this year had been cancelled. I showed it to Laura and she was gutted. Then I reminded her it was April Fool's Day. Oh how we laughed (it fooled me at first, too).
I made part of the dessert for tomorrow's meal and then the rest of the day was spent getting the house tidy and ready for tomorrow.
In the evening, in order to celebrate my bonus from work, we had a big family take-away meal - Indian! Lots of Dupiaza, Tikka Masala, Nan bread, Pilau rice, pakora and kebabs - wonderful! I could hardly stand by the end of it. It was so bad I couldn't lie on my stomach in bed and had to lie on my back all night.
I was up early today (Sunday) and finished up cleaning the bathroom and kitchen. I nipped out to get some wine and a newspaper then got to work on the rest of the dessert. One is a reliable pudding (pineapple cake) and came out a treat, the other - a new one - had a meringue topping and when it rose nearly filled the entire oven, then deflated to a sad state. It tasted nice though when it was served.
For starter we had Gail's Carrot and Coriander soup then for the main I cooked lamb in spices and white wine and served it with baby sweetcorn, mange tout, new potatoes and fried baby mushrooms. It was a new dish for me but it worked a treat and everyone liked it.
It was good to have my parents over, the first time would you believe, almost a year. It's funny when you think about it; I see my in-laws almost every day but seeing my own parents you could count on one hand for a year's worth. Familiarity ~ Absence ~ Chinese proverbs spring to mind.
My Dad brought five fish over for me plus some new plants for my aquarium. I got 2 new Clown Loach, 2 Ramerizi and 1 Red-Tailed Black Shark. (For more on this go to my Colly's Fishes website. My Dad used to keep an aquarium himself and because he can't have one back home, he loves the fact that me and my sister's fiance both have one. We got the new fish into the tank then went down to Leith Docks to take some photographs with my Dad's old Pentax SLR he is trying to sell.
We drank coffee after the meal and talked about things. I relaxed more once the meal was out of the way and by the time I went to bed I was pretty tired.
All in all, it was a good day and a good weekend.
For more information about Fringe Fantastic, please go to the website: http://fringefantastic.colingalbraith.co.uk
Colin 3:37 pm