Christmas this year was a nice mix of the old & the new. Leg of lamb. Pecan pie.

But first, the leg of lamb.

- As you can see, Christmas mid-morning Barbara is a blur of activity. That's because we are invited over to a friend's, and we are bringing a leg of lamb. One of two, so it I guess it wouldn't be a disaster if ours is a failed effort. But still... nothing like some good turkey-cooking stress, and never having cooked a leg of lamb before this holiday season ... I will confess that we chickened out and gave it a trial run earlier in the week. Based on that experience, I'd have to say that the cooking is perhaps easier than the carving. Our first attempt at carving left us with what looked like a pile of table scraps, alongside a bone the dog had worked over. If only we had a dog to blame it on.

But even unschooled north americans can be taught, and our second attempt at carving would go much better, with the help of a little shoulder surfing from a native trained in the art. You will also notice that it helps to cook in a scarf, regardless of temperature in the kitchen, or outside. It just helps.

What the discerning will notice in this picture, is the importance under the tree of staples from the old world: Dr. Pepper, ramen, 100 grand bar, to pick out a few. But now I will give you something new... fresh 'taters.

I planted two rows of Rocket potatoes on Sept 25, and my barber Snippy Ritchie, who is knowledgeable about such things, told me with any luck I would have "potatoes for Christmas."

So this shows what 3 months in the ground will do for you. This is what I dug out beneath one plant, so I reckon I have a couple hundred potatoes out there. Barbara says she is going to chronicle our urban garden elsewhere, but suffice to say that I did absolutely NOTHING to grow these little beauties. I dug a bit of a trench and chucked in a potato every foot or so, covered it back up.

The last thing I will tell you is that alongside a good old Texas pecan pie, made with corn syrup from the asian grocery, was a big bowl of trifle and a pavlova.

It's light. It's fluffy, Go to the House of Pies and order a merengue pie with the biggest tallest topping you can find. When it gets to your table, take it in hand and flip it straight over on the table. Tell the waiter that you are now in New Zealand. And, if it is not a fruit pie, can you please have some berries to put on top.

That's the news folks. Happy holidays, on all sides of the ocean.

Well I guess it's become more of our fishing blog, what can we say. First trip out for the summer season, and there was reason for optimism as reports had it the snapper were biting. As (usual?) we started out with the first catch of the day being a stingray. This is the third time. It's fun, kindof, because they are powerful, and it was cool to see this one gliding by near the surface of the water.

But after that there's the question of what do we do now? Today we hauled that sucker in and used a life vest to shield away the tail. Is this smart or something for Jackass? I don't know. The whole Steve Irwin thing has people a little freaked out about rays, when I'm sure they just want to get off that hook and back in the water.

They have these big eyes staring at you, and you'd like to think they might know you are trying to help.... nah, I reckon it would stick you given half a chance. It did calm down a little but was probably just tired. Plus it had stuck its barb right into the life vest.

So out come the pliers and we get the hook out, disentangle the barb, the net and got Mr. Ray back over the side.

Just in time because the next 3 strikes were all snapper of small but keepable size. Then a Trevally, a Kawahai (threw back) and we were done.

I see a lot of boats further out, but this was right in the channel between Tahunanui beach and Rabbit island.