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Wednesday 21 December 2011

'twas the week before Christmas......

Well, the best Christmas present came just under a week ago when our youngest son and daughter-in-law presented us with a baby granddaughter by the name of Georgia.  Her parents are the most laid-back couple imaginable and I'm sure that their temperament has transferred to Georgia - she's such a good baby and they will be fabulous parents.  I guess we'll be travelling to and from Auckland a lot during the hols!

Proud Dad and Georgia in the birthing suite

Grandma - who's the scary old guy taking photos of me?

The real world is soooo tiring!

Not many days left until Christmas and a pile of things to do before the family descends on us.  However, Jennie and I decided to bunk off and go fishing this afternoon as the weather is so good.  The fishing gods smiled on us with 8 big snapper in under 2 hours and a couple of broken lines, probably from big stingrays. Note to those who previously took the mickey out of my red shorts.  The ones below are new and are henceforth known as my Lucky Russet Shorts.  Yeah, I know they're red to a guy, but Jennie bought them and she assures me that the colour is Russet.  Don't say you haven't been told!  Back to Xmas preparations tomorrow though and probably won't be back on 2 wheels for a couple of weeks.

All that remains is to wish riders all round the world safe riding, Merry Christmas and a truly wonderful 2012.  See you in a few weeks and take care out there!

Jennie usually out-fishes me but it was a tie today!

This snapper has every reason to look annoyed!



22 comments:

  1. Congrats on being a grand dad. Thats a beatiful name and its the same one we picked for our little georgia.

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  2. Merry Christmas Geoff, Jennie & family.

    Nothing more delightful than the sight of a sleeping baby - mind you those big snapper come a pretty close second!

    Ride safe and all the best for 2012.

    Cheers Jules.

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  3. Geoff & Jenny:

    congrats to the lucky, young-looking Grandparents. If I were that snapper I wouldn't be very happy either thinking that my travel plans for next year would be abruptly cut short.

    Whatever you call your shorts, they will always be Lucky RED to me

    Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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  4. Thanks Bob - you say the nicest things! Big snapper like that can just about take your finger off if you're a bit slapdash in getting the hook out - they crack mussel shells open.

    Yes indeed, but what happens when I wear my REAL lucky red shorts????

    And to you my friend!

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  5. Chillertek - you have a great taste in names! Our son and daughter in law were really sweating as they only had a couple of names they could just about agree on if it was a girl but all was well in the end!

    Merry Christmas!

    Jules:
    Yes indeed, Georgia is so incredibly good about sleeping. So are the snapper, come to that :-).

    All the best to you and the family - really looking forward to you next big trip photos!

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  6. Congrats on the new granddaughter. Georgia is a beautiful name.

    I agree with Jennie, shirt is red, shorts are russet, lol.

    Those are some pretty nice snapper you caught there. Kinda ugly too.

    Happy Holidays and all the best to you and your family in 2012.

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  7. Happy Christmas Geoff and Jennie, congratulations on the new grandchild and may 2012 bring everything of the best and all that you would wish for yourselves. May those russet shorts keep on bringing good fishing!

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  8. Trobairitz - Thank you, can't wait to drive up to Auckland and see her again. Too much of a hassle for them to bring Georgia to us over Xmas until they get into a routine.

    Haha - women and their colours. Peach is something you eat, not a colour and I thought russet was a type of apple :-)

    They are ugly - good excuse to remove them from the sea and leave the prettier fish alone :-).

    All the best to you and Troubadour!

    Andrew, thanks mate and all the best to you and your family. May your braai's be superb. Good start to the new shorts, maybe the old ones will stay in the back of the cupboard!

    Take care....

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  9. Merry Christmas to you and Jennie and congratulations on the new arrival. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first grand child. I believe the official due date was yesterday....

    BTW, nice snappers. How did you prepare them? After all, this is a food blog right?

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  10. Richard - and to you my friend! Best wishes for the forthcoming event. May you have fun spoiling baby rotten!

    Lots of ways to prepare snapper. If it's a really big one, I just top and tail it, open it up flat, a bit of salt, pepper brown sugar and a tot of rum on the exposed side. I then put it in our hot smoker for about 15 minutes. We use Manuka (tea tree) chips which are a bit like hickory for the smoking.

    For smaller fillets, we dip them in flour and beaten egg, then coat them in bread crumbs mixed with a bit of granulated parmesan cheese, then sautee them for about 3 minutes a side.

    The other delicious way is to cut the fillets into small cubes then marinate them raw in lime or lemon juice for 2 or 3 hours. Drain off the juice and add a can of coconut cream, crushed garlic, finely chopped onion, chopped parsley, finely chopped red peppers and a moderately hot chopped red chilli. Season to taste and chill for an hour. The marinating process "cooks" the raw fish.

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  11. Congrads mate on the wee one.....another cutie like Molly no doubt.

    AS for the snapper, I swear you only post about it to wind me up! HAve a great Christmas,wishing you and Jenni a great family time.

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  12. Thanks Rog - she has me round her little finger already!

    Not true of course but if I happen to see one of those Kaikoura crayfish feature on your trip south, I'll certainly know you're trying to get your own back.

    Have a wonderful trip mate!

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  13. Congratulation to the new two-legged family member. She looks adorable! Is that a Steiff Teddy Bear that is protecting her sleep?

    I wish I could go out fishing with you guys only once... sigh! You should have a serious chat with my boss... he lives on the Coromandel peninsula as well.

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  14. Hi Sonja!
    Thanks and if I could afford a vintage Steiff, I'd probably be riding an MV Augusta instead of a Street Triple :-)

    Your boss lives on the Peninsula?? Well point him to those blog photos and tell him you want a piece of the action as it's clearly blatant discrimination. He can put the expenses of shipping you over down to team-building!

    Merry Xmas!

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  15. Congratulations Grandma and 'the scary old guy', Georgia is gorgeous! You and Jenni are very blessed. Have a wonderful Christmas and may 2012 be better than this year.
    Cheers, Mark

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  16. Mark: Cheers and very best wishes - it wasn't bad in 2011!

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  17. Many congratulations, Grandpa. She looks a cutie.

    It is fantastic that you can go fishing and catch such great fish just a few days before Christmas. Doing that here would result in frozen fish.

    Have a great Christmas and a terrific New Year to you both.

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  18. Thanks very much Gary!

    I don't miss the cold weather at Xmas time at all but Jennie still pines for a white Xmas. I guess my problem is that when I was a young lad, we used to be inundated with family at Christmas including what seemed like dozens of aunts who used to continually shower me with kisses and hugs and smelt of talcum powder - too cold to escape outside for long periods!!

    Hope that you and the family have a magnificent Xmas too!

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  19. What a wonderful present! Welcome to the world wee Georgia! Congrats to the granny & poppa!

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  20. Dar:
    Thanks very much - sure is! The rest of the tribe have just arrived to eat us out of house and home for the next week, sigh....

    Best wishes to you and the family for a wonderful festive season.

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  21. Congratulations Grandpa and Grandma. Wishing you and your entire family the best in 2012.

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  22. Thanks Troubadour - and the same to you and Trobairitz. I'm sure she's a closet Triumph owner with the time spent sitting on them at shows - maybe in 2012? ;-)

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