Christmas lunch

Not fancying the idea of cooking Christmas lunch with my limited kitchen utensils, nor knowing where to find a turkey, we decided to eat out again this year. I'd heard of a restaurant, Cafe Oz, which was advertising a Christmas lunch menu. Rod and I went to check up on the menu on Tuesday because, well because it's India! It looked so promising, as we went down the Middle Lane of upmarket Khan Market. Cafe Oz had a sign on the door saying they were having a Christmas buffet, booking advisable. So we climbed the stairs and asked if we could see the Christmas Menu. Yes, they assured us, they would have a special Christmas Menu. The waiter didn't know what it would contain, but it would be special. He was sure of that. We asked if there would be turkey. I don't know Ma'am, he said, but there would be salads and fish and other things. We told him we needed to be certain there would be turkey. If there wasn't turkey we did not want to eat in his establishment. He said he'd go and check with the manager. I was hoping the manager would know whether they were going to serve turkey at Christmas or not, what with it being three days before Christmas...

The waiter came back with two A4 sheets of paper, outlining the menu. We scanned down, past delicious sounding salads, cheesy ravioli, and the traditionally festive lemon pepper sole (?), and found turkey breast and cranberry sauce. Further still, plum pudding, rum balls, tiramisu, icecream. We were happy. Can we reserve a table, says Rod. We can, the waiter tells us, and smiles. Do you want to get the reservations book?, suggests Rod. The waiter looks a little bemused. I don't think they have a reservations book. I'm so pleased "bookings advisable" was on the door...So Rod wrote on the sheet of A4 paper, confirmed table for six, Fairweather, and got the waiter to sign it. The waiter gave it back to Rod. So we had a confirmed booking for six...we knew it, but the restaurant didn't really...

So on Christmas day, armed with our sheet of paper showing we thought we had a confirmed booking, we stepped into the Middle Lane of upmarket Khan Market.
It looks even more upmarket in this picture, because you can't see the broken manhole covers... The waiter recognised us when we got there, and had to make a table of six for us. Weren't we glad we'd booked ahead! But the food was lovely, and plentiful, as was the wine. And we didn't have to cook or wash up afterwards! Result!

I did take one of my Christmas CDs with me, just in case they had Boney M on a loop, but thankfully it wasn't needed.

Christmas Eve

My baby's nine! It's hard to believe. When I asked him how he got to be nine, he looked thoughtful, and replied "I've been alive for nine years". So there goes it, the philosophical musings of Keir! Being born on Christmas Eve, Keir has never been able to have his birthday party with his school friends. So we held that party after school at the beginning of December. 100 helium balloons and 100 regular ones filled the house. The helium ones didn't stay up very long, but we've still got a few straggler regular ones. Very useful for balloon throwball.
Fast forward to Christmas Eve... The request had been for yoghurt cakes, so I got baking. Candles were tricky to source, as they had been last year, but given the choice between relighting ones (we so don't need any help in burning the house down) and these ones, well, these ones won!

We got all crafty after that, with a couple of Christmas ornament making kits. Thalia and I made planets...

and Claire made shooting stars.

We won't say what Aaron made!

Twilight Zone, or just crap stuff?

Ferret has suggested maybe I live in the Twilight Zone. Unfortunately, I think I live in the manufactured (badly) in India zone. As an example:
This is the inside of a power board, the kit that turns one power point into three or four. This is the one that had our fridge and washing machine plugged into it. As it had to deal with heavy duty appliances, we chose the most expensive one in the shop. This is what it looks like after the wires have caught fire. The power boards don't work very well once that's happened. The blue wire fed the indicator light. I'm going to use the light inside the fridge for an indicator light in the future. It's more reliable.

The thing I really like about this most expensive power board in the shop is the judicious use of cardboard as a packing device. Yes that's cardboard, well known for its insulating properties, at the top and bottom of the power board. Cardboard, that rarely catches fire, inside a power board less than a year old that's obviously tried to catch fire already...

Cracking up

Strange thing happened the other day at D59. Iwas laying the table for dinner - placemats, napkins, plates, cutlery. I went back to get the food from the kitchen when Keir said, this spoon is broken. I thought he had it all wrong, I mean, how can it be? It's a metal spoon. It came in a wooden box with 100 other pieces of cutlery. And it came from a proper department store in India. But no, he was right and I was wrong.
The spoon truly is broken. I have no idea how Santosh the maid managed it. If we had a dishwasher I'd understand, but Santosh is the dishwasher and she's Thalia sized! She might be small but she's obviously mighty powerful! Or Uri Geller came to visit and I did not notice. Do you think I've been hypnotised?

Saturday at India Gate with the Surrey Posse

Hanging with our visitors, Claire and Aaron, at India Gate.

Claire and I are obviously not as cool as all the young dudes... though some dudes are younger than others :-)

Peace...brother.

What should you do when the soldier with the rifle outside the Parliament buildings doesn't want you to take his photo? Take a different photo...

Tree's made

There are no sleigh bells ringing. It's just the sound of the wedding brass band at the illegal wedding hall around the corner. For not only is Christmas coming, it's also the marriage season! An important part of the marriage ceremony is the Baraat, or marriage procession. This is where the groom, in his wedding finery, rides a white horse, often for the first time in his life, to meet the bride at the wedding venue. To keep him company, and possibly give suggestions to the amateur equestrian on how to ride the horse, his friends and relatives and a brass band (including men with gas powered chandeliers on their heads so everyone can see where they are going) follow him. I am sure the bride's heart swells with joy when she hears the band. Ours, however, do not, because it generally means the band is going to block the road for at least half an hour and cause traffic chaos! And they're going to be playing "Man Dole Mera Tan Dole", a huge hit from 1954. Possibly more than once. Who can tell...

Today we put up the Christmas Tree. Longtime followers of this blog will note it is much bigger than last year's tree. Rod and I discussed whether we should put some of the Diwali lights on the tree. We felt considering the high standard to which they had been manufactured (not!) we could be pushing our luck. The fire engine's not going to be able to get past the band...

A mighty big quilt

Just to prove I am still quilting I thought I'd show you the latest quilt I've finished. It belongs to Anju from my quilt group, and is the largest quilt I've done on my new 10ft table. The top was 93" by 101". Rod had to unscrew the rubber endstop so I could park the machine clear of the backing. Even with it gone I only just cleared the needleplate. It's one of Anju's smaller quilts, and she only made it that small because I told her I couldn't quilt it if she made it any bigger. You can get away with saying things like this when you're the only longarm quilter in the country!