Our Latest Event - The "Minutes"
The 2008 Dinner - Preparing for the End of the World |
Wines and Goodies |
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On this occasion, the Funis were missing Margaret Murphy, who (despite
the worldwide availability of Funi Calendars through our website) got the
dates mixed up. These librarians, they just don't understand the
usefulness of reference material... * * * 23/24 August 2008 Hosts: Mr. & Mrs. GillisToastmaster: Mr. Macleod This year's event began with the typically joyful gathering of Clan Funis at Burnbrae. Due to the absence of Ms. Murphy, two changes were introduced: her place was taken by Robbie Gillis, and Brother Flute's arrival was deemed "tardy" (not really a change, and perhaps not unexpected, but worth noting for its annoyance value - more on this later). The Gathering of the Funis took place through the afternoon with the customary paddles in the pool and the occasional imbibing of alcoholic refreshments - except for Brother Flute, who may have partaken in refreshments elsewhere, but certainly missed the pool paddling (and the Group Photo). Early speculation was that Brother Flute may have been zapped into a black hole created by the newly-built Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. This set the tone for later events. Around 6:45, the Fluteless Funis having changed into their typical evening attire, poolside pictures were taken by Robbie - except for Mr. Flute, who hadn't arrived yet (see above - he pulled into the driveway just as we finished taking the pictures, thus requiring extra Photoshop effort on the part of your Webmaster in order to produce the Group Photo). Following the pictures, the opening Hors d'oeuvres (by the pool, as has become customary) were prepared and served by Brother Lemon and Lady Patricia, consisting of: stuffed mushroom caps, baked tomatoes in oil served with chèvre, Solomon Gundy, seafood brochettes, prosciutto with mozzerella and grated sun-dried tomatoes, and asparagus in phyllo pastry. Stanley Australian Colombard Chardonnay (a) and Masi Modello Della Venezie (b) were served with this course.
The participants then moved to the dining hall, where seats were allocated
by Brother Macleod. The more formal portion of the dinner began at
7:45. The Fish/Fowl course, served by Brother Mitchell and Lady Rachel was seared scallops saviche, with Trout Valley (d) as the wine accompanying the dish. The next course was en
retard so an intermediate wine was served while waiting: Golden Kaan
(e) Next, Brother Wood and Lady Jody served their meat course, Stifado (Greek rice, onion and meat stew) made with cinnamon, currants, red wine, cloves, sirloin beef and tomato puree, accompanied by Brother Perina and Lady Anne's vegetables: a melange of roasted seasonal veggies (miniature turnip, leeks, fingerling potatoes, purple potatoes, roasted garlic and baby carrots) and mushrooms stuffed with roasted garlic, proscuitto, parmesan and parsley rolled in japanese panko and egg, then gently fried and drizzled with pesto oil. The wines with this course were Versato (g) and Las Moras Bonarda (h) There was a presentation on Googling Funis - no, not Australian Cricket, but the names of various members and what happens when you look them up in Google. The process was begun when a remaindered copy of a book by Margaret Murphy was discovered, leading Brother Smith to speculate on other hidden talents of the Funis. To illustrate: Robert
Flute The amazingly widespread availability of this heretofore secret information led to a brief spate of paranoia on the part of Brother Bagg, leading to equipping himself with a tinfoil hat to ward off the brain-tapping rays emanating from the Large Hadron Collider. The LHC was supposedly built near Geneva to prove the existence of the Higgs Boson, but Brother Bagg realized that this was merely Swiss deception for their real purpose, probing the Bagg's Melon. The evening was capped with dessert, served by Brother Gillis and Lady Debbie: three flavours (cherry, strawberry and blackberry) of hand-churned ice cream made from fruit picked on the Gillis farm, and garnished with farm-made maple syrup. These were accompanied by the usual wines and liqueurs, enriched by the donation of a bottle of late-picked Muscat (i) donated by Brother Smith and Lady Clare. For savouries, Brother Flute presented an assortment of cheeses, crackers and breads, including old cheddar, stilton, gruyere, a goat brie and a double-cream Normandy served with home-made potato chips. The following morning, the Funis and Friends assembled at various times to produce and consume breakfast. This included Lemon pepper salmon and Willy Krauch thin-sliced smoked salmon, pork liver paté, capocollo, prosciutto, bagels, toast, pastries, various condiments, juices, coffee, blackberries, cherries, blueberries, muffins, croissants, pan fried puffballs (bruce) brioche, "Blue Goodness" smoothies, grapes, bananas, kiwis, and cheeses left over from the previous evening supplemented by a Jarlsberg havarti with sun-dried tomatoes and a Cheshire with apricots
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Wines selected by Brother Wood.
a) Stanley Australian Colombard
Chardonnay (Australia)
Selected Images, etc. Images courtesy of David Smith and Debbie Gillis. Pictures will replace this page;
Click to see a picture of the complete group of Funis beside the
pool
Funis gather for the evening You're not stealing MY soul...
I find it hard to believe there are any
thoughts worth stealing...
(Will open in a new window) Click here to read about viewing Funi photo albums
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See the "Archives" for more material in a similar vein
