On Boxing day DD1 and family went to her in-laws and we went to have a grown up day with DD2. George says this is a silly photograph. Well yes, but it was Boxing Day and you are allowed to be silly.
We had a very light and elegant lunch - these are balls of prawn risotto deep fried with a caper sauce - I think they were called ancini - does that sound right? Anyway, this was followed by smoked salmon steaks and asparagus with a whole bottle of wine in the sauce and then mulled wine jelly with crystallised ginger cream - another bottle of wine in that! Delicious. DD2 is an exceptionally good cook.
We had a very light and elegant lunch - these are balls of prawn risotto deep fried with a caper sauce - I think they were called ancini - does that sound right? Anyway, this was followed by smoked salmon steaks and asparagus with a whole bottle of wine in the sauce and then mulled wine jelly with crystallised ginger cream - another bottle of wine in that! Delicious. DD2 is an exceptionally good cook.
She has a large collection of Dutch candle houses mostly collected from the antique market in Rotterdam (I have got about a dozen) and here she is lighting some of them
and this is what they look like when they are lit.
After lunch we sat and watched Mamma Mia because George had not seen it and they have a huge TV set so it was almost like being at the cinema. It is a real feel-good film and ideal for postprandial viewing. Then we always play cards BUT Pim decided that we wouldn't play the traditional game we would learn an old Dutch game called Klaverjas which was SO complicated! If a suit is trumps then Jack is highest followed by 9, then Ace, 10,King, Queen , 8, 7. But if it is a non-trump suit then the ranking is Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9,8,7. As if THAT isn't hard enough to handle the scoring is totally illogical - trump jack scores 20, the 9 is 14 and the Ace 11. But - oh no, I cannot go on it is just too difficult. We never did get on to bonus points or points for runs etc but we did play until long past midnight and I think if we play again soon it just might begin to sink in. Pim was very gratified by our progress. He started playing as a schoolboy and it is played in every Dutch brown bar. Well, what can I say.The day after Boxing Day DD2 always drives me down to Brent Cross where we hit the sales, we just love Fenwicks and we both manage to find something which is a bargain. We are leaving the men in charge of an 8lb piece of topside which hopefully will be ready to eat when we get back at 7. We have to keep on ringing to tell them what to do next!
(DD stands for Dirty Daughter - don't ask me why!)
It sounds like you had a very busy Christmas Mavis. Your flowers in the church were beautiful and that lunch sounds divine. Hope your shopping trip was successful. I couldn't bear the idea of going to the shops!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a lovely Christmas, and very busy!
ReplyDeleteCan I just nosily ask though - does your DD2 work/used to work at Hinxton? She looks very much like someone I used to see in the DiNA when I worked there, and whose last name (hyphenated) is the same as yours ... If so, then it's a small world!