HAPPY NEW YEAR MINTIERS!!!  I hope Santa was good to you all 

Well, all the work and build up and it seems Christmas is always over in the blink of an eye.  All those months of planning, buying and wrapping gifts, putting up decorations, lights and the tree, buying extra food, planning the Christmas lunch....  If it wasn't for the kids I would seriously wonder if ti was worth it LOL

I went to no trouble with Christmas lunch again this year as one with the higher cost of imported food items over the past few months, and lack of availability of a lot of things, it was easier to go to the Ritz Carlton for Christmas lunch. 

They have a Sunday Brunch buffett every week that is the largest selection of cuisine in a Jakarta hotel.  The go a bit further with it for special occasions such as Christmas, New Year, Easter, Mothers/Fathers' Day.  It is a veritable foodies' paradise and they have almost anything you want - Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese (including beautiful fresh sushi and sashimi), Korean, a huge range of fresh seafood and not just a dessert table, but a whole corner section is dedicated to everything sweet - the centrepiece of which is a huge chocolate fountin replete with strawberries, marshmallows and lollies on sticks just waiting to be swiped through the warm chocolate! 

I was expecting arguments from the kids about having to eat healthy stuff before they could hit the chocolate fountain, but this year, not a peep!  Amazing!  It was the lure of the new wii and WarHammer kits that made them not want chocolate.  They scoffed down their food in half an hour and said "Ok, Can Pak Usup drive us home now, we are finished and bored" and off they went

Easy peasy.  Messaged the driver to pick them up at the front door then sat back and enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch with hubby and a friend from Australia.  Actually, I didn't even eat much because the time was spent talking, laughing and drinking.  Oh, did I emntion that this wonderful buffett comes with "free flow" of wine, champagne or beer?  LOL For those of you wo have read my previous blogs, you will understand that it is REALLY the drinks that hook me in now that acohol is so damned expensive here!! 

All in all a great Christmas Day, followed on at home by more wine and laughter.  It's a good thing none of us had to drive!!