New business ideas

Thinking about a new purpose in life... will wait out 2012 as the upcoming conference and the Dec-Jan trip to India are more than enough for now.
BUT bring on January and I need a better job.

Catering... picnics.... lessons..... demonstrations..... lovely old cups and saucers...... something involving better cooks than me...... illegal stuff, like cooking in my kitchen that's not registered... designer occasion catering... workshops... tastings with beer, or champagne... weird and wonderful party cakes....
Or shall I just go rowing?

Stew's Birthday

Okay it's not really a food post, but we had 18 for dinner and I had work that day so it was an exercise in organisation and relaxation. We shifted the outside table in , covered everything in white cloths and had the simplest meal - a whole fillet on the barbeque, caesar salad, potatoes dauphinoise and a huge chocolate log and apple strudel to finish.

 

Oliver arrived from Wellington

 The Howick chapter pulled funny faces....

 My brother Craig was in town unexpectedly

 Richard enjoyed the beers and food as usual

 Big McWatson got heavy with the photographer,

 Ann captured some of the food (for once it wasn't all eaten before we remembered to take pics.)

 Stew tried really hard to enjoy himself

 The olds made it too...

and as usual, everyone stood in the kitchen while I tried to cook. Pete!

Ray McVinnie classes at Farro

if you've never been, it's worth a visit - 1pm every Thursday, Ray dons the pinnie and presents a new recipe with a few ingredients you may not be familiar with. A good excuse to try something new..

that's Ray on the right....

And then you get to taste it
and then you get to try making it at home...

Tomorrow's Meals delivery

My mum reports that the first order of meals for Nana has arrived, and the presentation is really great. Also the small meals look to be the perfect size: Nana east like a bird unless someone else is cooking and then she eats us all under the table.

This is Nana on the right her with her sister Betty on Christmas Day 2009.

So I'm looking forward to having a look at the Tomorrow's Meals myself when I'm down in Rotorua next weekend. I'll be placing an order for some from Eat Unlimited in Wellington too - my daughter Laura lives there and works such long hours that she doesn't always eat very well.

Here's Laura in January - gosh, there's a bit of a right arm theme here isn't there?