CAUTION: This post is over 1500 words long. Read at your peril.
Friday
My weekend started on Friday night when I met Sonia, and Lisa for a drink at the Crowie after work. Since all three are smokers we sat in the outside courtyard, under a gas heater. Some of the guys from Lisa’s work joined us and our group dominated the table.
I kept noticing a girl at the end of the table, I was sure I knew her. It started raining and as she retreated past me I called her by name. It was Fiona, with her boyfriend Tim, two people I used to go clubbing with, back in the day. We started catching up as we went inside, but we got separated and then I found Lisa so all bets were off. Lisa was not feeling too well so I talked her through it and then we got a cab home as I had been drinking and couldn’t drive.
As Lisa and I were going to the Mountains on Saturday we needed to get an early night. This did not happen. We ended up staying up quite late talking, watching Naruto and listening to Lisa’s mp3 collection.
Saturday
I got up early on Saturday morning (8:30!) and Mel gave me a lift to Crows Nest to pickup my car. Luckily I did not have a ticket. I got home, had a cup of coffee with Mel and got ready, waiting for Lisa to wake up. Eventually she did and I took her home to get ready whilst I waited in her lounge room. Whilst I was there her uncle kept appearing but he never said a word to me or ack’d my existence. I wonder, is this a taste of things to come?
Soon we were on the road, but we hadn’t eaten so we stopped in at Maccas for breakfast (at noon). I only ate a Big Mac but Lisa had a large Chicken McNugget meal with coke, and also bought a big bag of cheetos and burger rings. I mention this because Lisa weighs less than half of what I do. I have cooked for her a few times and she always eats more than me. She is a freak.
When we got to the Mountains we were immediately driving through mist and fog. From Glenbrook onwards (i.e. almost the lowest town). We got to Leura and I found the only parking spot: right in front of the Lily Pad cafe, coincidentally this was exactly where we were going. The reason for the whole trip, apart from being an outing, was that Lisa is obsessed with this one particular tea that she can only get at the Lily Pad. We went in and my piggy friend wanted to get breakfast, despite the Maccas and cheetos she had just eaten. I got poached eggs with mushies and spinach and Lisa got bacon and eggs. We both had tea, Lisa her special Peach Melba tea and I had Russian Caravan. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t taste the leather and camel sweat that characterises this tea but it was still good. During lunch breakfast Lisa negotiated with the staff to buy 200g of Peach Melba - their entire stock. It cost about $34!
Afterwards we went browsing through Leura, the highlight being the Moontree candle shop, which is a must-see for every girl who goes to Leura. I bought a lemongrass candle and a cool recycled glass holder/plate. Lisa bought some floating candles that came with a big vase,flower and some pebbles. It was clear that she was enamoured with the Melon scented candles, I don’t know why she didn’t just get three of them. We decided to get Sonia some votives as well, Lisa picked out a cool holder and I chose the scents.
Our final stop was the lolly shop. This shop has every kind of candy you can imagine, even a Dutch section. I showed Lisa the drop, and they even had triple-salted drop which even I was too scared to try. I ended up getting a roll of salt drop and some mints, Lisa bought almost the shop’s whole supply of nougat.
Before heading home I took Lisa on the road to Katoomba. She was born in the year of the pig and is obsessed with them, so I took her to a wall I know that has cool pigs painted on it.
On the way down we stopped in at The Pines to have tea with my Mum. Of course we had some of Lisa’s special Peach Melba tea and snacked on the nougat in the Red Room. Lisa and Mum seemed to get along well. Afterwards Lisa told me that she likes my Mum more than me, and Mum told me that she thinks Lisa is lovely. For me it was weird, Lisa wanting to meet my Mum when we are barely even dating.
The ride home was uneventful, it was dark so Lisa slept. We were almost home when Sonia called, she needed a lift so we went and picked her up from , stopping at Woolies to get some supplies. We got home around eight o’clock and I whipped up a teriyaki chicken dish with rice. It was a real failure actually but at least everyone ate it. After dinner we all went into my room and chatted, Sonia going crazy with our cameras and taking photos of random stuff. Maybe 11:00 I took Lisa home and had to go to bed for my Big Day on Sunday.
Sunday
So Sunday began early, well, early for a Sunday. I had to be at The Pines by 11:30, so I arrived at about 11:45. The reason for my visit? Christmas in July, of course. My American readers won’t know this, but when it is Christmas in Australia, it is Summer. So we normally eat cold food on Christmas, like cold prawns or ham. If we want to have a traditional English/American Christmas dinner we need to have it in Winter, hence Christmas in July.
Before I went up I was trying to explain the family situation to Sonia. It was difficult because it flies in the face of what she expects. There was of course my Mum and George, myself, my sister Michelle and her fiancee Luke and their baby Sampson. The kind of people that you would expect. Then there is my Dad (i.e. Mum’s ex-husband) and my stepmum Honey. Her three boys (my stepbrothers) Blake, Reece and Aaron, and Reece’s girlfriend Stacey. There was Dad’s sister, my Aunty Lyndie. But the unexpected part for me, and the hardest to explain to Sonia, was Lisa (not my friend, a different Lisa). Lisa is the daughter of Honey’s ex-husband’s new wife. So the link between my Mum and Lisa is: Mum -ex- Dad - Honey -ex- Harry - Sveta - Lisa. We should get some kind of blended family award.
The spread for lunch was incredible: roast turkey with all the trimmings; roast veges and roast rack of veal. Mum made the special capsicum butter that you drizzle over the veal. So good. For the first time in years I managed to get the pope’s nose, which is the fattiest and therefore most succulent part of the bird. My contribution was making the gravy, and an excellent job I did too.
We all enjoyed the meal, I was lucky because I got to sit next to Sampson, my 10 month old nephew who I adore. He loves gravy, especially the way his Uncle Darryn makes it. After we had eaten the main course we all started singing songs to Sampson. He loves music and went absolutely mental whenever we sang to him. He would bounce in his chair and clap his hands and try to sing along.
Dessert was next, and Mum had made a special plum pudding to be served with custard, whipped cream and ice cream. There was also a trifle going around. We were all stuffed at this point, and after clearing the table we retired to the lounge room to lie around digesting.
All too soon I had to go. I beat most of the traffic down the mountain and was home by perhaps 7PM. I worked for a few hours and then Lisa called and we ended up talking for four hours! A record, at least since my teenage years. So another night with little sleep.
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