Our
annual Christmas decorations of a small artificial tree with golden
balls and tinsel and a string of twinkling lights went up a week ago
and Polly immediately brought down the tree, scattering (plastic)
baubles and tinsel across the cabin. By yesterday the novelty of
pulling it over had passed and we woke up to tree still in place and
sun shining outside. However, while Polly held herself back from
attacking the tree once more a breakfast time rain shower developed
into rain which became a downpour for the rest of the day. Where was
the sun we'd ordered?
The
only boats out today were the dive boats taking guests out to their
wet adventures. Of the five yachts in the bay, not one dinghy was
seen moving – we were all inside eating, reading and watching TV.
For
the first time ever in my life I prepared something near to
traditional English fare; I'd made mince pies (a first on the boat),
created a trifle (a David favourite) and bought turkey, cranberry
sauce and Brussels sprouts. The turkey was the smallest bird
available at the supermarket, only 8lbs, but with cooking time an
estimated three hours in a regular oven, our small oven would
struggle to do it in four hours and in an already hot cabin we got
radical and cut the frozen bird in half. Half was left out to thaw
for today and the other half went back in the freezer. Cutting a
tedious story short, I sweated (literally) over my first roast
turkey, got roasted myself, and then enjoyed our meal with a bottle
of Australian red wine (not a first).
Was it
worth the effort in this heat? Probably not, in previous years we've
feasted on sushi, salmon and prawns with a bottle of something cold
and sparkling to quaff and with less rain. Perhaps next year....
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