Saturday - Supper @ Whissendine:
Scott drove us to Oakham to collect our suitcases and off to Emma and James' place for a later fish and chips dinner. We arrived and were promptly served beers. Then to the table and some wine. Jen and Scott collapsed and crawled to bed. Then followed up by port and another 6 hours later I was finally off to bed.
James is a builder in Rutland and they just moved into their barn conversion. A 50 meter long two-story milking barn. 5 bedrooms upstairs and room after room, railroad style, of toys and christmas trees. fantastic!
Saturday - Dinner @ the Gallimore's:
I really felt my night when I got up. Can't quite get adjusted to the change in diet. Missing a good strong cup of Peet's.
First things first... off to a Hunt. Fox hunting is still legal, but the hounds are not allowed to tear apart the fox. So... what do they do? use a golden eagle to spot a hawk, use the hounds to chase it around, then blow it away with a high power rifle. Hound, rifle, or hawk, it is all going to kill the fox, why not back to traditional way? oh well.
Back to the house for a 20 min quick nap.
We charged off the the Gallimore's at 1:30 pm. Scott, Jen, and I first to arrive. Sat in front room, surrounded by elegant drawings and paintings of birds. Large fireplace roaring. Charles, Margaret, Scott, Jen, myself, Philipa and her son enjoyed smoked salmon appetizers sipping off excellent, cellared champaign magnum's. Robert and Ellie arrived with their newborn and their folks, Sally and David (?? cant recall) preceded them. Talk about laugh riot... oh god the jokes and banter.
After 3 magnums we moved to the dinner table. Ah, another fine meal. Game casserole... again? haha. It was excellent, again, with veggies and all the trimmings. I was taking it slow and agreed to drive, so Scott was trying to drink.
Christmas crackers were all pulled crossing over arms and the table games were plenty. Pea shooters, screaming long balloons, crowns, presents, what a grand event.
I passed up a number of wine refills, Charles was just running laps around the table with a bottle in his hand. Don't know how many we drank. Scott hit the wall and I pulled up my boot straps and got in on the drinking... well not until the dessert, sweet wine, then port and cheese began. I think I had the best stilton of my life that night. The port went round and round and round. You could, as tradition demanded, only pass the port to the left and it never stopped. 3 hours of port passing and 3 decanters later, we finally headed off to Whissendine, late as usual, pissed and 8 hours later.
Friday Night - Dinner @ Owen Tudor:
Back to Oakham for an evening dinner party with our family and some good friends, Charles and Margaret. Had 9 for dinner. Settled in with a couple Gin and Tonics then off to the table for some good wine and game casserole. Game casserole is a bit like a stew, partridge, pheasant, and venison cooked in a crockpot. Served with a few other veggies. Janet went for the second pot, caught her apron on the stove handle and dropped the whole thing on the floor. Brought out the stew with ceramic chunks in it, looked rather nasty... oh well, off to dessert. A sweet wine served, with trifle and then the cheese and fruit came out with a decanter of good port. I think we sat and laughed around the table for about 3 hours.
good times!
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