Our mid-winter dinner

We had our Mid-Winter Dinner yesterday, on the 9th of July.  The days are short now, the nights are long.  It's often rainy and chilly.  If you venture out without an umbrella tucked somewhere, you run the risk of a downpour finding you.

The rain is a good thing. Our summers are long and dry. The many reservoirs tucked away in the hills around Auckland are now being replenished.  I checked the levels a moment ago and found that they are now 85% filled.  The historical average is 80% at this time of year, so whoever manages the water system in Auckland must be pleased; we're slightly ahead of schedule.  

The bottom line though, regarding the weather, is that we're spending more time indoors. It's a good time to get together for a good meal with friends. Hence, the mid-winter dinner.  And, to make the event even nicer, our Social Committee subsidized the meal. Each resident's portion was much reduced from its true cost.  

I would love to be able to show you all the pictures I took during the dinner, but to be fair to any residents here, who may not want their photos spread to the world at large, I will not show them. 

I will show you some other photos though, that will give you, I hope, a feel for the event. 

Here is one of our stormy days.  Mid-afternoon but the lights have come on. 

If you want to get out of your apartment for a while, there are dozens of lounges throughout the buildings from which you can sit and watch the rain.  This is my favorite. It overlooks the Fernery and the African Garden.  A good place to read, too.  The chairs and table are in a constant state of rearranging depending on the whims of the residents.

I often come down during the afternoon and help myself to a free cup of coffee or hot chocolate.  

And I drink it in front of the fireplace located next to the Opanuku Café.

I took this shot with my phone and the flames, and cozy warmth emanating from them, are not apparent. Take my word for it though, this is a great spot on a chilly afternoon.  

Here are some shots from our café. You can see that some of the tables have been decorated by the folks who will be dining at them.

 

Okay, here we are at the dinner and you see my plate down below this text.  I opted for the salmon and am glad that I did.  It was terrific.

You know, I did a lot of traveling during my working years, and that meant dining out in cities all over America.  We were generally a group made up of factory personnel and sales reps. We ate at some very nice restaurants.  

One in particular often comes to mind.  The restaurant I'm thinking of was in Minneapolis, MN., and we were there for lunch.  I noticed that, besides all the normal wait staff, there were two young men, in black pants, white shirts and black bow ties, who had a station at one side of the dining room.  It was elevated two steps above the floor level.  

It was their job to watch over the room and instantly move to whatever diner needed more water in their glass, a plate removed, a fork replaced, or whatever.  I watched them watch the floor, fill any need efficiently, and then return to their station to watch for the next call to duty.  

It was impressive.  

Well, last night we had a table situated not far from the kitchen area.  I was able to watch our staff at work, and I've got to say that it was a pleasure.  They too, were efficiency personified.   

The chefs were plating the main courses.  There were three options available, so they had to prepare the plates according to what the folks at each table had ordered. Our wait staff was standing by, and when the dinners of the entire table were ready, they'd head out with them, across the dining room.  Some of the tables were small, only consisting of four diners. When that was the case, a couple of tables worth of main courses went out at one time. Others were large and must have had more than a dozen people at them.  It was especially impressive to see a line of servers, each laden with two or three plates, heading for a table and distributing the meals correctly to each resident. They served a lot of meals very quickly.   

I take pleasure in watching an efficient team work together. We are very lucky to have such talented people serving us.   

Our good friend Kevin once told me about this drink.  He said that it was the favorite of a friend of his.  As you see, I bought a bottle to try.

It's a whisky to which the essences of tangerines and almonds have been added and was sweetened with honey.  

I brought the bottle to the dinner and as the dessert service was beginning, offered a taste to anyone at our table.  Well, soon other friends stopped by and samples were given out to them as well.  Long story short, it generated a lot of interest.  I think several bottles are going to be ordered on-line from the same place I got it in the next few days.  

I did a little snooping at one point and discovered where our desserts where being prepared. I meant to show you the finished product, but I was too busy eating mine and neglected to get a shot.  These are tiny éclair bites. They will be topped with a scoop of ice cream and covered with caramel sauce.  Although no one actually did, there was talk around our table of licking our plates, the sauce was that good.  I was again impressed.  

Our dinner is over. We are satisfied, with a good meal, a couple glasses of wine, and an evening with friends behind us.  Jeanne and I are looking over our balcony at a fairly balmy night, for the middle of winter, that is.  Is the Moon up there do you think? 

Certainly it is, and it is fairly bright. It makes it difficult to see the constellation of Hercules that is at the center of the picture. Look at this in dim light and the stars will show up better. Or zoom in if you can. There are four stars in a rectangle that make up the body of the constellation and they lie just above the little cloud that appears below the center of the photo.  

A closer look at the Moon.  And look, the golden handle is beginning to show, (down toward the bottom on the right) although to be fair, I think it would be better, given the Moon's color tonight, to call it a silver handle.   

That does it for today, my friends.  The event was a success and I want to thank our management and staff for the job they did for all of us. And, special thanks to the Social Committee for their generosity.      -djf