Christmas at Susie's

Hello, I hope you all had a Christmas as nice as I did.

A few weeks ago, I thought I would be spending Christmas alone; as in "me with myself".

Everybody I know here was travelling somewhere to spend Christmas with their families, partners or friends and, since I had to be back to work on Tuesday, going diving wasn't an option either.

So... I set myself to find a nice menu, noted down the Christmas Eve movies on TV, bought a new skirt to put on and decided to have a quiet Christmas evening on my own, probably chatting with friends on some other point of the globe - time difference is quite useful sometimes :) .

[Do I sound too much like Bridget Jones?...]

Hey, it'd be a new experience and you know how much I enjoy those.

But...'someone' had a different plan. My HoM's wife, Aichatou, found a job, had to work on the 26th, and they couldn't leave Manila for the weekend anymore. So I invited them for a Portuguese Christmas dinner.

And that's how I ended up having a family Christmas! With Felix, Aichatou and their two kids, Ismael and Valentin. It was a different experience as I was with 'single' friends the other years I've spent Christmas outside Portugal.

Having kids around at Christmas is great!! They enjoy it so much! The Christmas tree, a little chocolate they 'find' hidden somewhere; they look at the gifts and beam with joy anticipating the opening moment. Plus it's so much easier to find a present for them... :)

Adults had fun too. The food was great (the guests said so...) and the wine.. hmmm... just perfect - Gato Negro is always a 'winning' bet and I even found some really good Australian wine!... I guess I have to stop criticizing their wine-producing abilities...
I had thought of connecting to Internet around midnight to answer all your lovely messages (thanks!!) but a mix of tiredness and wine levels (so much for the Yoga healthy guidelines these days...) got me fast asleep short after the guests were gone.

Here is the menu - you see, I do manage to cook 'properly' once in a while ;) We even had codfish!! Thanks to Dª Palmira, a lovely lady from the Consulate, who told me where I could find it.

PS For the non-NGO people, HoM = Head of Mission = my boss here.

Christmas menu at Susie’s place

Smoked Salmon with Cherry Tomatoes and Spring Onions
served with Riesling 2003 from Victoria (Australia)

Mixed Green Salad

Codfish with Shrimps and Cream

served with Gato Negro (Chile)

Pineapple and Grapes

Tiramisu