poliphilo: (Default)
poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2008-09-08 10:26 am

Family Party

I was at a family party last night- a party of three generations. The middle generation- who were all funny little kids when I married into the family- are grown up now. Nick has a husband and stepson, Jenny is in marketing and Matt is shortly off to Brunel with a doctorate under his belt.

You know the Large Hadron Collider at Geneva-  they're about to switch it on and have it replay the Big Bang? Well, Matt is going out to Cern when he's done his initial stint at Brunel. He's going to be a part of all that.

Provided, of course, that the Collider doesn't generate lots on mini black holes (as some fear it will)  which then proceed to eat the world from the inside- like weevils.

We only glimpsed him last night- blurring past the living room door on a brief visit to the kitchen. Sunday is the night he captains an international World of Warcraft team- than which nothing is more important.

It's a great little family. It accomodates eccentricity. I find I fit in.

The food's good too. Keith and Ruth are serious about food.  And Nick had brought along a fabulous orange cheescake with a ginger biscuit base.

[identity profile] nostoi.livejournal.com 2008-09-08 01:17 pm (UTC)(link)
You know the Large Hadron Collider at Geneva- they're about to switch it on and have it replay the Big Bang? Well, Matt is going out to Cern when he's done his initial stint at Oxford. He's going to be a part of all that.

Wow! How exciting. My husband will be so jealous. And the party sounded just the right kind of get together :) No "sitting on ceremony" and all that faff.

[identity profile] mummm.livejournal.com 2008-09-08 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)
It sounds like you have a fabulous family!

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2008-09-08 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
They're a pretty good bunch.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2008-09-08 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I get terribly restless at formal parties. They make me feel trapped. I think I must suffer from mild somethingophobia.

[identity profile] karenkay.livejournal.com 2008-09-08 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I think almost everyone feels trapped and restless at a formal party.

One of the things I have sworn is that I will never wear pantyhose again. I think along with that, I will swear off formal parties. (Though I seldom have to attend that kind of thing anyway.)

ETA: That cheesecake sounds wonderful, and makes me want to make one!
Edited 2008-09-08 15:51 (UTC)

[identity profile] ibid.livejournal.com 2008-09-08 04:19 pm (UTC)(link)
mad families are rather wonderful!

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2008-09-08 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh-heh-heh :D

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2008-09-08 04:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know why people have formal parties. Does anyone enjoy them?

She got the cheesecake off a page on a BBC website listing simple recipes suitable for Mother's Day

[identity profile] karenkay.livejournal.com 2008-09-08 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I think a very few people enjoy them; most people throw them and attend them out of some sort of obligation.

Speaking of which, I am watching "Lost in Austen"--it's about a girl who goes through a door in her shower and ends up in Jane Austen's world (she and Elizabeth Bennet trade places). I can't say I recommend it, but I was amused to see Hugh Bonneville as Mr. Bennet.

[identity profile] daisytells.livejournal.com 2008-09-08 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)
How nice for you to be able to fit in with family like that! They must be wonderful people (of course they are, they are Ailz's, right?)
Also, they sound like fun.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2008-09-09 09:00 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, Keith is Ailz's brother. He and Ruth have two kids- Matt and Jenny. Nicola is Ruth's brother's daughter. I don't know what exactly that makes her in relation to me, but I think of her as my niece. She is married to John and has a stepson Jake.
Edited 2008-09-09 09:00 (UTC)

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2008-09-09 10:21 am (UTC)(link)
I believe I've had enough of Austen for the time being. I'm an admirer, but her world is terribly claustrophobic. Besides, how many versions of P&P does the world need?

[identity profile] karenkay.livejournal.com 2008-09-09 02:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't disagree--but since I have successfully avoided most Austen except for the Ang Lee movie several years ago, I'm enjoying it.

Yes, it's overdone. Just the fact that this would show up as a TV show says that.

Cheesecake recipe

(Anonymous) 2008-09-10 12:50 pm (UTC)(link)
And here it is - the famous cheesecake recipe! :-)

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3430/nobake-orange-cheesecake

I substitute the digestives for ginger biscuits, everyone seems to agree it works. I also use full-fat Philadephia cheese (naughty but nice, no point doing these things by halves is there!?)

Oh and it's super-easy - the hardest thing is zesting the oranges!

Enjoy!

Nicola

Re: Cheesecake recipe

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2008-09-10 01:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks, Nicola.

That was just about the best cheesecake ever!

[identity profile] jackiejj.livejournal.com 2008-09-11 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I think it would be fascinating if we woke up with a big black hole in the sky.

What would we do?

I suppose Sarah Palin, the hockey mom who thinks God is on our side in this holy war, would shut down the collider as being "against God's will."

She tried to ban books in Alaska, I hear.

I guess we'll get her. She's cute. That's all we deserve these days, as we are idiots.

Remember the study done with monkeys who were offered their favorite cherry juice as a reward for a task OR the opportunity to gaze at photographs of their alpha monkeys in their group?

They LOVED cherry juice, but they always chose the photographs to gaze at.

We're doomed: we get old Alpha John McCain and his gun-toting sidekick.

I am grinding my teeth here. I've turned off the TV and stopped reading Newsweek and Time, because she's on the covers and I simply can't stand what she stands for.

I CHOOSE CHERRY JUICE, PLEASE!!

Sorry, Tony, for going off-topic. I am--distracted.

Jackie

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 04:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm hoping Palin is on a learning curve.

I don't think she's stupid, just uneducated.

Americans aren't the only ones who choose unfit people to lead them. The next president of South Africa is almost certainly going to be a guy called Zuma- who has stood trial for rape and has just escaped being tried for corruption on a legal technicality.

[identity profile] jackiejj.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't think she's stupid, either, but being uneducated and also smug about her belief system and ready to shove it down our throats is a scary thought to me.

Here's what I read yesterday:

GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin said today the Ukraine and Georgia should join NATO, even at the risk of antagonizing Russia and forcing the United States into a war with the nuclear-armed nation.


[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
I wonder if she can even place Georgia and the Ukraine on the map. I know I can't.

The GOP seems hell bent on getting back on a Cold War footing with Russia- it's crazy.

There were atrocities on both sides in the conflict over S. Ossetia, but so far as I understand it was Georgia that started it.