Showing posts with label Wine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wine. Show all posts

December 12, 2010

A Weekend Visitor

My gorgeous friend F has been up from The City.  We have had a lovely weekend.  She bought me these pretty Christmas tea towels as a present.

Pretty Christmas Tea Towels
We drank lots of coffee and spent lots of time chatting and catching up.  F has been living overseas for a while so it has been a long time since we have been able to spend a decent amount of time together.

I decided that she could be the "blog star" today.  Here she is enjoying our evening drinks.

F With Essential Evening Equipment
F was worried because she thought being a blog star sounded a bit like being a porn star.  I told her it was OK as it is actually more like being a rock star.  She was happier after that.

She had to spend lots of time with The Farmchildren doing very important things like jumping on the trampoline and colouring in pictures of Ben 10 Aliens.  I have been reliably informed by The Farmchildren that she is a very good "colouring inner".

She was also required to read "The Night Before Christmas" to The Farmchildren.  The Farmer  has read this story so many times that he has become a bit bored and has come up with a version that involves Indian takeaway which he reads in a terrible Indian accent. (As you do...)  In it Santa gets to have mango chutney and papadums.  Poor F was very confused when The Farmchildren kept asking when she would get to the papadum bit.

One thing F did mention to me was that she had commented on the blog.  I have never received her comments, so if this has ever happened to anyone else feel free to email.  The address is on the side bar.

F has just left to drive back to The City.  We miss you F, come again anytime!

December 7, 2010

Utes, Rainy Days and A Very Rich Cake

We are well into Christmas Party Season here at The Farm.  Before I got married and moved to the country, December consisted of high heels, marquees and way too much champagne. The social whirl that is Christmas Party Season on The Farm is no less taxing.

We kicked off last week with Farmgirl's child care Christmas Party.  It ticked all the boxes.  There were things like red sausages and cupcakes.  Santa came and everyone got a bag of lollies.

Santa arrived in our local fire ute.

Practical Transport For Santa
(For those readers who are not Australian, what we call a "ute" is usually called a "pick up".  In Australia a "pick up" is what a single young farmer is trying to achieve when he heads to the pub on a Friday night.)

A ute is an excellent transport choice for Santa.  Practical, all terrain and reliable.  I know from personal experience that you can do lots of kilometres in a Landcruiser Ute, no worries at all. This a great feature if you are planning an around the world trip.   A good ute is also a comfy choice.  They even make ones with air con, which would be a handy extra if you were wearing a red, fur lined suit.

We have several more parties to come, including The Official Farm Christmas Dinner for all our staff.  It will be held at a local restaurant.  Then we will have my work party.  Same restaurant. (It is only a little town...)

Our harvest is held up at the moment by the weather. There was a cool change and it rained yesterday  It was a glass of red wine rain. When our crop is wet it can't be harvested.  Today has dawned bright and clear however, so hopefully things will dry up quickly.

Fortunately the rain doesn't look to have done any damage.  Many farms in NSW and Victoria have lost their entire crop to rain.  This is a so sad.  It is awful to get your crop so far into the season and then lose it (and any chance of a profit) right at the end.

A Soggy Fence Post, On Our Currently Soggy Farm

Farmgirl and I have been holed up in The Farmhouse so we don't get wet.  To fill in time we made Ree Drummond's Chocolate Sheet Cake.  It turned out beautifully.  I wimped out on the icing though.  I thought it would already be very rich.  So I just dusted the top with icing sugar.  Sorry Ree, I just couldn't do that much butter.  It was still amazing though.  I would recommend making this cake - let me know how the icing goes if you do.

Ree Drummond's Sheet Cake, Minus Icing
It would be super yummy as a pudding if you just warmed it up, added some icecream and some berry coulis.

Enjoy your day everyone.

November 1, 2010

Sunday Evening aka Harvesting the House Paddock

Evenings are often my favorite time on the farm.  This is because I can take one of these outside.


And enjoy the view.