Series 1, Episode XII

It being Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa decided on Sunday roast, not something they have very often in normal times. Roast beef with foreign gravy - involving garlic, onions, celery, tomatoes and stuff like that - as well as boiled vegetables. With treacle tart to follow.

Grandpa thought it would be quite fun to give Polly and her friends just one plate with one just slice of meat. The idea would be to see whether Yuri managed to get more than his share. While Polly was more worried about the lack of cutlery, not liking to eat with her fingers.

A wine handpicked for us by Majestic, our regular tipple not being available the day that they packed this consignment for us, and coming from a spot in that empire of wine called Marlborough which had been handpicked for us by an International Winemaker of the Year, one Matt Thompson. Entirely satisfactory. That said, I suspect the wine to be an invention of marketing people as Nikau Point seems to be on north island while Awatere Valley is on south island, a little to the south west of Blenheim.  StreetView has not made it there, but there is reference 2, which may be relevant, although I cannot find our particular wine.

Polly asked it to be noted in the minutes that while the custard was yellow, as requested, it was not cold. Nor did it come out of a plastic tub, having started life as a powder in a cardboard tub from Bird's. She also asked it to be noted that the one spoon supplied for the three of them was a bit much, it taking all three of them to lift it.

Notwithstanding, they did manage in the end, perhaps encouraged by the amount of hot custard that Grandma was taking on. Yuri even managed to get his feet in the stuff - but declined to have his feet washed until after he and his friends had taken their siestas.

PS: this 3lbs 3oz piece of beef was cooked for 80 minutes at around 190C, followed by 10 minutes resting. Achieving the red inside, brown outside desired for this particular cut. Grandpa was quite pleased with the outcome, considering it was quite a while since he had roasted his own beef. And Grandma professed herself satisfied with the foreign gravy, fortified by brown washings from the roasting dish, just visible on her plate, very top left.

Reference 1: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/series-1-episode-xi.html.

Reference 2: http://www.wineportfolio.co.nz/.

Group search key: wwwy.