Wednesday 27 December 2006

Christmas

0 Locks and 0 miles.
We can report that our first Xmas afloat was a complete success. We had Tracey who lives in Wimbledon and Brent who is over here from NZ for 3 weeks with us.
Our Xmas day menu was a combination of New Zealand and British fare. Stuffed turkey breast (the oven isn’t big enough for a full sized bird) and a leg of lamb, NZ lamb naturally.
We had bought the usual Xmas pudding, mince pies and custard but a last minute decision by Dot on Xmas eve was to try and make a New Zealand Pavlova. Tracey had not had a traditional pavlova since being domiciled in the UK for the last 6 years. Well to do this she needed a whisk which she found at the local Sainsbury’s store in the form of a Braun Multiquick Professional which is a sort of hand held electric whisk, blender and food processor all rolled into one, (and at a bargain price too)
The next thing was to find where she had stored the recipe on the computer. That found, the final hurdle was cooking it in a gas oven which she had never done before.
Well we can report that the outcome was a total success with a lovely marshmellow centre, that soon disappeared like magic and there were no left over’s.

Boxing Day turned out warm and overcast and as Tracey had her car with her we decided on a trip to St Albans to show Brent something of Britain’s history by visiting the Abbey and some of the very old and quaint buildings that still exists around the town. Brent needless to say was completely overawed once he stepped inside the Abbey and was in no great hurry to leave.
Even though St Albans is not very far from where we are moored there was a distinct difference in temperature. When we left the boat our thermometer was reading 8.2 0C but after walking around St Albans for a while it was quite noticeable that the temperature there was considerably colder. Perhaps it had some thing to do with St Albans being at a higher altitude than Apsley.
The first two photos show the Pemberton Alms houses from the 1600's and the last one of the St Albans Abbey itself with its history dating back to 250AD.

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