With most of the family home from the annual river holiday the kitchen and garden have gotten busy and some interesting and yummy meals have been prepared...

First and foremost though I feel I should brag a little about the food whilst on holiday... :-) We spit Roast a lamb every new years (well every one for the last 18 years or so!) dad once again did it to perfection! It's quite a process, you see... The coal maker gets taken out and dusted off by the boys (it's a 44 gallon drum that da put a door in the bottom and a grate inside to allow the coals to fall though and transferred to the spit pit with a spade - he's very clever...) next the lamb is tied to a frame (which dearest daddy made too!) and placed 1m above the coals. The cooking process starts early in the afternoon so we're talking SLOOOOOOW roasted lamb here. Dad and uncle Brian are in charge of the carving when the lamb's ready. Whilst it's cooking we make a variety of yummy salads and pot bread in the fire... desert is mom's christmas cake with custard (for those who have a separate pudding stomach - I'm not blessed with one of these!)

The next day is a generally lazy affair... There's an anything that floats race down river at mid day but we didn't compete this year. Instead, we started making dinner! There was plenty of left over lamb (part of the plan) which mom and Susan skillfully and thriftily removed from the bone. The outdoor kitchen turned into a whirlwind of activity and all the veggies in the fridge were sliced and diced for a giant stir fry... It's a tradition in our house but very different every year! We ate lamb stir fry for the next two days and no one got tired of it!!