Kev's Extreme Pow-Wow!

Well, lamb with rosemary and mustard (thanks to Sarah for the recipe) was on the menu for yesterday’s dinner and thanks to able assistance from Nick, Liz and Kath, the dinner was a success. Even better was the arrival of Lou and Neil with a stunning chocolate mousse for afters.

Plenty of drink followed; encouraging an abortive game of Cranium, some impromptu street decoration, and some late night extreme Jenga. It was great to see everyone. Not many guests come to a dinner party and leave the place cleaner than when they arrived (at least inside the house anyway); I could host one of these things again!

Finally, I mustn’t forget my lines…

Ciabatta
Ciabatta
Ciabatta
Ciabatta
Focaccia
Focaccia
Focaccia
Focaccia (thanks Kath!)

Ok, somehow I’ve got roped into creating a culinary masterpiece this weekend. Yes that’s right, a large roast dinner for myself and guests. I’ve got one thing to say to that… Help!!!

What I didn’t touch on in either my Christmas or Whistler posts is what I’ve been thinking about over this period. As usual Christmas seems to have been a time to reflect and New Year a time to consider the future.

Now I don’t make New Year’s resolutions and I’m pretty happy with the past and have no regrets, however for a few years now I’ve been felt pretty directionless away from my work life. Finally I’ve seen some light at the end of the tunnel and I’ve started to lay some plans which should ensure that I don’t get to 40 and regret not doing fun stuff earlier!!! Hopefully these plans will come to fruition within the year and whilst progressive at first, they might result-in or at the very least contribute towards a more contented Kev.

Sorry to be mysterious but all should become clearer in the coming months!

Anyway, Happy New Year!

Having made a quick transition from family Christmas to skiing mode, I headed for Vancouver in Canada via Manchester and Heathrow airports. Unfortunately my skis didn’t quite make the same journey and I wasn’t to see them for another 4 days!

In Vancouver I met up with my skiing stalwart chums Neil and Lou, our friends Rog and Vanessa, and Rog’s friend Ben. We hired a massive 4×4 and just about managed to fit the 6 of us inside for the journey to Whistler.

The next morning marked the first day of skiing and we headed for Blackcomb mountain. Over the next 2 weeks we would flit between Blackcomb and Whistler, embarking on every sort of run from groomed blue runs to mogulled black diamonds and a couple of double black diamonds (well Neil and me anyway!). Unfortunately the snow was pretty poor by Whistler terms for the whole two weeks and it was cold to boot. Actually it was incredibly cold in the boot. Unlike Vanessa though, the rest of us could rest assured that our toes would safely remain inside their boot liners during the day rather than suffering bruising and frost nip! (It’s a long story!).

New Year was an entertaining affair spent in the Garibaldi Lift Company bar in Whistler. We each consumed a small country’s GDP’s worth of beer and Jaegermeister. The evening resulted in the drunken band refusing to play Especially For You (as requested by ourselves), me dancing on the podium and stage on separate occasions with various lovely leather-clad ladies and a champagne fight with a frizzy haired woman (ok we teamed up against Rog but that only seemed fair). One of the highlights of New Year was the return to our lodge via the Party Bus™. We were extremely loud in our drunken and offensive singing, but this all ensured that the atmosphere remained lively (even on the second lap of the village) right up until we finally passed out.

After New Year I managed to catch up with Dawn and Mark on their travels. They’re spending 3 months in Whistler after time in New Zealand and Australia. It was brilliant to see them again, Dawn being my bosom biking buddy and having been away for 5 months already. Hopefully they will continue to enjoy their time out there (how could they fail to) and will get a great reception when they finally get back to super-special-Swindon.

The skiing was pretty uneventful and I don’t think much progress was made, although I did see a new benchmark set by Patrick, the guy from the Salomon Shop (yes I did unnecessarily buy more Salomon and indeed Oakley gear!!!). We skied down the mountain with him one day and he certainly showed Neil and myself how it was done; must work on my bush-hopping technique for my next visit.

Copious photos from the holiday are available here and the less offensive videos are available here.

Christmas this year was a brief affair necessitated by my trip to Canada for a fortnight of skiing. I turned up at Mum and Dads’ place on Thursday evening after an unexpected but welcome day off work.

Christmas Eve is always the night that things kick off in Farndon so I was more than pleased to catch up with James, Andrew, Paul, Tim and Kate in the Greyhound. Fortunately the afforementioned pub managed to redeem itself from our last experience by supplying turkey butties and sausage rolls (along with copious amounts of Guinness; but unlike the beer, this wasn’t free!).

Highlights of the evening included Paul’s attempts to balance a pint of beer on his backside in a homage to Andrew’s phone video-famed friend. There were other brilliant moments but my poor memory has forgotten some of them so I’ll post an update when I get one from James!

Christmas was a pleasantly calm affair in the Purcell family home and also marked the very first Christmas of my 7 month-old niece, Grace. She seemed to enjoy herself; not surprising considering she has taken over my mantle as doted-on and spoilt baby of the family!!! It was fantastic to see her playing with a plethora of new toys and sitting at her new high chair.

Christmas came and went very quickly this year but it was as enjoyable as any other. I woke up on the 26th ready to head to Canada…

Christmas photos are on my photo site as usual whilst there are also some great videos of Grace playing.