It was a fairly low-key day for us this year. We stayed home and had a picnic in our backyard instead of going to a park or beach. By staying home, the anxiety levels were kept down for Game Fanatic and his only compromise was eating outside.

Our meal was very international this year:

cornbread with three varieties of chillies from our garden. I used a couple jalapeños, a couple Thai chillies and one habañero. The habañero didn’t quite live up to its reputation. We thought the cornbread would be quite hot but it didn’t cause that much grief in the end. I used a recipe I had found online and it came out really well except it was too sweet. I had already halved the sugar so will probably cut that down to less than a quarter cup. I also reduced the butter to less than half and the texture was quite alright.

Sliced tomatoes, fresh from the garden. Aside from half a tomato I ate a week ago (the lower part had blossom rot), these are the first tomatoes I’ve harvested. They tasted pretty good…in fact, they actually taste like something. I’m feeling a bit more motivation to keep at the garden now that there’s been some fruits of all the labor.

The Scientist also barbecued peri peri chicken for all of us and lamb burgers with coriander for himself and Game Fanatic.

Earlier, I brought lamingtons and vanilla slices from a local bakery, so there was a bit of traditional Aussie fare in amongst all the rest. The Scientist also made a trifle, which he’s been craving for several days now.

After dinner, we played Blokus in front of the tv while a cricket match between Australia and Pakistan was finishing up. The plan had been to also play our other new board game, Smallworld, after that finished. We had it all set up and had just started the first round when the phone rang. The disruption was rather lengthy so we opted to put it away and play another time. Instead, Game Fanatic put on a video game that we’ve all been watching him play and continued through a few more chapters of the story before the Scientist retired for the night.

Overall, it was a very relaxed day that I believe was satisfactory for all family members.