I am going to have to defrost one of my freezers. Snow has formed beneath the lid and it can’t close fully so it’s running too cold and creating even more snow and so on. Most of the food in there will go into my big coolbox, a sizable metal chest which is ideal for when we go away camping or are having a big barbeque either at home or on a trip away somewhere.

 

It is perfect for the defrost chore too as it should hold everything in the freezer and if there is anything left then we can either put it in the big freezer pro tem or decide instead to cook it. Or just keep it for tomorrow when the in-laws are coming over and we’ll be getting the barbeque working as long as the weather is good. I have Weber gas grills  on the patio so it doesn’t matter if it’s raining since I’ll be able to light it but I don’t like the idea getting soaked.

 

It happened to me previously on Xmas Day 2002 when we were having a holiday at a villa at Jervis Bay in New South Wales. The day had got going as you would expect for an Aussie summer, bright hot sunshine and we’d spent the morning around and in the pool. The Canadian amongst us had said that they wanted to make the burgers for the Christmas barbeque and straight after we’d had breakfast and done a secret Santa, they’d set to work with the mince and other mystery ingredients and then whipped up a marinade to put them in while they were in the fridge.

 

After a light lunch we’d gone down the road to the beach, happy that the breeze was minimal, as the previous day we’d been driven off by the flying sand which was very painful as it bombarded into us. The one item the house didn’t have was a windbreak to help us and nobody wanted to be the one lying upwind to take the agony for the team. We spent the afternoon playing with throwing toys and had a game of beach cricket, did some swimming and one of the chaps had brought a boogie board and we all had a go in the smashing waves that were coming in off the Pacific.

 

When we’d had enough and got back, rinsed the sand and salt off in the pool and got changed we set about the Christmas barbeque. A couple of the girls got busy arranging the table out on the poolside garden, others started creating salads, popping bottles or doing the veg. Myself, I took a look over the Weber bbq which, though gas fired, you would not describe it as an example of the Weber gas grills of the species due to the absence of grills. It had a solid hot plate instead, a new occurrencephenomenon to me and the technique was to get the flame on it for a good while before starting to cook.

 

And naturally the inevitable had occurred, no sooner had the first steak had hit the oil than it started to rain and before long everybody had rushed to get everything off the table and inside and I was left out in the rain like Donna Summer’s cake.

 

So hopefully that won’t happen tomorrow, we haven’t had the Weber bbq out for a few weeks now and it’ll feel like summer again if it can be unleashed.