No time!

Successive days in the next couple of weeks look like this:
Tomorrow work drinkies & rehearsal; rehearsal; music lesson & rehearsal; work Xmas party & concert, SATURDAY!; concert; conference & dinner; conference & dinner; conference & dinner; conference, music lesson & rehearsal; conference & show; drinkies with friend & show; SUNDAY! MONDAY! Concert; WEDNESDAY! Rehearsal; dinner in Sydney; Saturday in Sydney; Concert; then finally on leave for Xmas Eve.

There's certainly not a lot of cooking time in there, although there is plenty of singing and eating.

The main concert is a Messiah, presented by CAMRA. Not a beer thing, this CAMRA a small organisation in which my singing teacher Pat is a major player; they put on a couple of major musical performances a year. It is going to be good; the choir is really nicely balanced with plenty of tenors. It's at St Phillips in O'Connor this Friday and Sunday, at 7.30pm. (Follow the link for details.) I also have a studio concert on Tuesday 18th, in which Pat's students sincg Purcell and Xmas music for each other and a few friends. And on Sunday 23rd Dec, my regular choir Cantorion (oops website out of date) will be singing at the National Museum of Australia - it's a free program of Xmas music, at 1pm.

And then in addition, work is busy. I'm on the organising committee for the conference, so that makes for a very hectic couple of weeks before and during. We're setting up local cheapie dinners for each night that it's on. I might squeeze in a few reviews here and there...

Tonight I was going to make that prawn noodle salad from Delicious, but it was raining and cold, so I ended up making the prawns into a stirfry instead. There's enough leftovers for a couple of meals, and we've got a good stock of salad and sandwich makings. But when I'll be shopping and cooking again, I don't really know. I do intend to make a cake, though it's way too late for my usual boiled fruit cake. That needs three months of maturing with regular brandy baths. But I have found an intriguing recipe with mashed pumpkin and dried apricots, so I'll be trying that out close to Xmas. We're spending Xmas at home. Peace and quiet - I hope!