A Dry Run for Christmas...

So my starter from last night was Carrot, Coriander and Halloumi Fritters with a lemon sauce.  I didn't serve them as a stack and I didn't add the extra slices of halloumi.  I served two fritters each with a rocket salad using the rocket that I have growing in the garden.  It was an absolutely scrumptious starter and I have added the recipe onto my food page.  Easy to create and even easier to enjoy!!!  I shall most definitely be making these again and maybe as a main course.

It was another lovely start to the day and Mum and Dad were coming up for Sunday lunch so we had a bit of clearing up to do from last night, although not that much as I always like to deal with it on the night no matter how squiffy I might get!  I wanted to get ahead of the game with the meat and veg so that there wouldn't be a mad panic - this was going to be my dry run in readiness for Christmas - I don't think I have used the oven since then!

It was a beautiful day and Dad was surprised by the amount of sunshine we had up here in the hills because it was better than it was in Paphos!!  We know that Mum and Dad like to eat outside - it was probably just a little too cool for that - plus we none of us like cold food - so we shuffled the furniture round in the conservatory and squeezed in the dining table and chairs from outside.  It was bloody warm eating under the glass!!!

I managed to roast the pork and get everything together all at the same time without burning anything!!  We had roast pork, roast potatoes, roast onions, stuffing, carrots, green beans and peas with Yorkshire puddings!!  All in all it was not a bad meal and we had enough left over to plate up and send back to Emba with Mum and Dad for their tea tomorrow.

Mum and Dad also like to have a proper napkin when eating and although I have plenty I can never remember whose is whose - different serviette rings would help but failing that we decided to fold them differently, Mums is the one with the pointy end poked through, mine is the concertina, Dads is the neatly folded and John is the randomly shoved into the ring!!!

We enjoyed a couple of very good natured games of Noms with massive penalties on the Miz hands so that John finished up with a minus score well into the hundreds!

Mum came with me to feed the feral cats up the road whilst Dad checked the inside of his eyelids in the late afternoon sun.  John settled down to watch the Manchester Derby on the TV.

Thought you might like to see my Rose which has at long last settled down and produced flowers which are progressing beyond the bud stage.  It is looking a real picture.

As the light began to fade Mum and Dad made their way back down to Emba - when they are not staying over we like them to drive back in daylight - full darkness does not come here until about 5.00pm so they don't have to rush back straight after eating.  I hope my Christmas lunch turns out as well as today - fingers crossed.