Christmassy things
It didn't really feel like Christmas-time until the weekend. The decorations are up at work, the shops are pushing Santas and the like all over the place, but it still didn't feel like the silly season until Saturday night when I saw the Teacher's decorations all up.
Anyway, to go back to the beginning:
Friday
The Vegetarian came over and we had Indonesian and beer for dinner with gelato for dessert. Yum.
We went to see Dan Brodie at the Troubadour. Which was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing was that Shifter were the support. I haven't seen them in ages and had forgotten how brilliant they really are - they aren't just great musicians (if you like pop-rock, which it happens I do), they're also great performers. They really get into their music and it's entertaining in every sense of the word.
The bad thing was that I'd been told that Dan Brodie is more pop-rock these days, but this gig certainly wasn't. It was the country end of country-rock and I really didn't enjoy it. I'm sure it's very good for what it is, but country is just not my thing and every twang of the guitar had me restlessly looking around the room. The crowd were very entertaining though - they were also the country end of country-rock, down to the boot-scooting style of dance and "just left the farm" style of dress. The Valley tends to allow for pretty much everything when it comes to style - it was more that you don't usually see this sort of crowd outside of the sports bars in the City, and never in these sorts of numbers. I was very amused.
I was also amused by the dress-sense of the band - Dan Brodie himself was 80's cock rock in a singlet, tight jeans and heeled boots; his brother was pure country yockel in a stud-pocket shirt and badly fitting cap; the bass player was 90's grunge in oversized t-shirt and slacks. I can't remember what the drummer was wearing. But it was almost like they were trying to cover all the bases of their fan profile. Actually, I wonder if they were?
Saturday
I haven't been sleeping well lately, so I was very impressed with myself when I slept in until 11am on Saturday morning. I did wake up once, but I went back to sleep again almost straight away. This is unheard of for me!
It did put a bit of a dint into my big plans for Saturday though. I did go into the Valley Markets, but didn't achieve either of the things I went in there for (though I did buy a very funky pair of pants).
Then I shopped for Saturday night's entree - my contribution to dinner. Thanks to QM and Lushlife for their suggestions by the way. I decided to go with the antipasto option. I bought pickled gherkins, sun-dried tomatoes, stuffed olives, red & yello capsicum tapenade, garlic & mediteranean spice cream cheese, a mediteranean salsa-y type thingo, parmesan and pepper bread, and a Turkish bread. I also had a selection of olive oils (including pepperolio and limonolio) and aged balsamic vinegar. It was quite a feast and my mouth was watering by the time I got over to the Teacher's place since I hadn't eaten lunch in preparation for the dinner.
The Teacher had a Christmas wreath up on the door, her Christmas tree complete with lights and presents underneath, and the table was all beautifully done with Christmas crackers and all. I started to wish I could go home to Mum and Dad now and spend the next couple of weeks until Christmas with them just to recapture that feeling of excitement I used to get as a kid in the lead-up to Christmas. I used to love Christmas - I think I was one of those kids that liked giving presents as much as I enjoyed receiving them. I always put a lot of thought into my presents - got people things I knew they'd like or that related to a particular aspect of them, even if my taste was a bit off. And this goes back to when I was 3 or 4 years old, and lasted until quite recently. I still put a lot of thought into my presents and still enjoy giving them as much as receiving them, but that magic isn't there anymore. Maybe because last year was my first Christmas away from my family, and I haven't put up a Christmas tree this year because it's still in storage? I don't know. Something has been missing anyway, but Saturday night got my excitement going again.
Anyway, the main course was turkey and roast veggies, and a creamy broccoli and cauliflower dish that unfortunately I couldn't eat much of because it was far too rich for me. Dessert was put off for a while after that because we were all too full to even contemplate it.
I think it was still the highlight of the meal though - the Teacher has found a recipe for Claret Jelly, ie jelly made from red wine. It was beautiful - obviously still alcoholic (you could really taste the red wine) and a deep burgundy in colour with a thicker consistency than normal jelly. She served it with chocolate covered ice-cream balls and vanilla ice-cream. The combination of flavours was just devine.
Between the beer, the red wine and the jelly, I was in no fit state to drive (as expected) and stayed the night.
Sunday
I got home about mid-morning Sunday and set about doing my chores. T&S came over about midday and checked the place out and their bub is crawling! He started on Thursday apparently - he's not all that mobile yet and is still pretty tentative, but there's definite forward movement there.
After they left, I fell asleep and completely forgot about the Law Student's choir thing. It was also rainy and miserable that afternoon, so I'm sort of glad I didn't go - but I would have made the effort if I hadn't forgotten about it. Anyway, woke up again mid-afternoon and went off to do the shopping I'd forgotten about on Saturday (I wrote out a list, but had left it at home).
I was going to buy this little fibre optic Christmas tree which looked really cute, but they only had one left, which had been on display, and they couldn't find the box for it. It was going from the sublime to the ridiculous, so I decided not to get it and figured I'd look for one this afternoon instead.
I just had to buy a colour cartridge for my printer so I can print out my Christmas newsletter - it cost me $95!!! I can't believe it! I had expected it to cost over $50, but not nearly double that. I still got it anyway - I really want to get this newsletter out and I don't have access to a colour printer anywhere else. Thank god my black cartridge is nowhere near that much.
And that Christmas comes but once a year... even if it does last a month.
Listening to: Matthew Sweet - Time Capsule
Anyway, to go back to the beginning:
Friday
The Vegetarian came over and we had Indonesian and beer for dinner with gelato for dessert. Yum.
We went to see Dan Brodie at the Troubadour. Which was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing was that Shifter were the support. I haven't seen them in ages and had forgotten how brilliant they really are - they aren't just great musicians (if you like pop-rock, which it happens I do), they're also great performers. They really get into their music and it's entertaining in every sense of the word.
The bad thing was that I'd been told that Dan Brodie is more pop-rock these days, but this gig certainly wasn't. It was the country end of country-rock and I really didn't enjoy it. I'm sure it's very good for what it is, but country is just not my thing and every twang of the guitar had me restlessly looking around the room. The crowd were very entertaining though - they were also the country end of country-rock, down to the boot-scooting style of dance and "just left the farm" style of dress. The Valley tends to allow for pretty much everything when it comes to style - it was more that you don't usually see this sort of crowd outside of the sports bars in the City, and never in these sorts of numbers. I was very amused.
I was also amused by the dress-sense of the band - Dan Brodie himself was 80's cock rock in a singlet, tight jeans and heeled boots; his brother was pure country yockel in a stud-pocket shirt and badly fitting cap; the bass player was 90's grunge in oversized t-shirt and slacks. I can't remember what the drummer was wearing. But it was almost like they were trying to cover all the bases of their fan profile. Actually, I wonder if they were?
Saturday
I haven't been sleeping well lately, so I was very impressed with myself when I slept in until 11am on Saturday morning. I did wake up once, but I went back to sleep again almost straight away. This is unheard of for me!
It did put a bit of a dint into my big plans for Saturday though. I did go into the Valley Markets, but didn't achieve either of the things I went in there for (though I did buy a very funky pair of pants).
Then I shopped for Saturday night's entree - my contribution to dinner. Thanks to QM and Lushlife for their suggestions by the way. I decided to go with the antipasto option. I bought pickled gherkins, sun-dried tomatoes, stuffed olives, red & yello capsicum tapenade, garlic & mediteranean spice cream cheese, a mediteranean salsa-y type thingo, parmesan and pepper bread, and a Turkish bread. I also had a selection of olive oils (including pepperolio and limonolio) and aged balsamic vinegar. It was quite a feast and my mouth was watering by the time I got over to the Teacher's place since I hadn't eaten lunch in preparation for the dinner.
The Teacher had a Christmas wreath up on the door, her Christmas tree complete with lights and presents underneath, and the table was all beautifully done with Christmas crackers and all. I started to wish I could go home to Mum and Dad now and spend the next couple of weeks until Christmas with them just to recapture that feeling of excitement I used to get as a kid in the lead-up to Christmas. I used to love Christmas - I think I was one of those kids that liked giving presents as much as I enjoyed receiving them. I always put a lot of thought into my presents - got people things I knew they'd like or that related to a particular aspect of them, even if my taste was a bit off. And this goes back to when I was 3 or 4 years old, and lasted until quite recently. I still put a lot of thought into my presents and still enjoy giving them as much as receiving them, but that magic isn't there anymore. Maybe because last year was my first Christmas away from my family, and I haven't put up a Christmas tree this year because it's still in storage? I don't know. Something has been missing anyway, but Saturday night got my excitement going again.
Anyway, the main course was turkey and roast veggies, and a creamy broccoli and cauliflower dish that unfortunately I couldn't eat much of because it was far too rich for me. Dessert was put off for a while after that because we were all too full to even contemplate it.
I think it was still the highlight of the meal though - the Teacher has found a recipe for Claret Jelly, ie jelly made from red wine. It was beautiful - obviously still alcoholic (you could really taste the red wine) and a deep burgundy in colour with a thicker consistency than normal jelly. She served it with chocolate covered ice-cream balls and vanilla ice-cream. The combination of flavours was just devine.
Between the beer, the red wine and the jelly, I was in no fit state to drive (as expected) and stayed the night.
Sunday
I got home about mid-morning Sunday and set about doing my chores. T&S came over about midday and checked the place out and their bub is crawling! He started on Thursday apparently - he's not all that mobile yet and is still pretty tentative, but there's definite forward movement there.
After they left, I fell asleep and completely forgot about the Law Student's choir thing. It was also rainy and miserable that afternoon, so I'm sort of glad I didn't go - but I would have made the effort if I hadn't forgotten about it. Anyway, woke up again mid-afternoon and went off to do the shopping I'd forgotten about on Saturday (I wrote out a list, but had left it at home).
I was going to buy this little fibre optic Christmas tree which looked really cute, but they only had one left, which had been on display, and they couldn't find the box for it. It was going from the sublime to the ridiculous, so I decided not to get it and figured I'd look for one this afternoon instead.
I just had to buy a colour cartridge for my printer so I can print out my Christmas newsletter - it cost me $95!!! I can't believe it! I had expected it to cost over $50, but not nearly double that. I still got it anyway - I really want to get this newsletter out and I don't have access to a colour printer anywhere else. Thank god my black cartridge is nowhere near that much.
And that Christmas comes but once a year... even if it does last a month.
Listening to: Matthew Sweet - Time Capsule
posted by OLS |
Monday, December 06, 2004 | 4:12 pm
3 Comments:
What is the picture of OLS? It looks like it was taken overseas.
Yes, pray tell, where was this pic taken?
It was taken in Belfast, just before Christmas last year.
- OLS
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