Mince Pie Time with Bob and Anne

This is Bob and Anne's house (Justin's boss and his wife). On the outside it looks like any normal suburban Australian home, but on the inside a massive Christmas mince pie production is happening. This is a yearly event and Justin and I were lucky enough to get asked to help out. The recipe is secret and Anne won't give it out to anybody, so we were lucky be there to help make the magic happen.

This is Justin with some of the main ingredient: sultanas, raisins, currants, all spice, and nutmeg

Justin was in charge of the lemon station. His job was to grate lemons.

I was in charge of peeling apples. I am holding up the final product. As you can see we were all wearing aprons. When we wear aprons that means we are real cooks because we get messy!

Bob is starting the mincing of the fruit. He pretty much just shoves everything through the mincer!

Justin's other job was to squish all of the mince with his hands to make sure it is all mixed up.

Here is the mince! So, last night was making the mince. It has to sit for a week to get really yummy and then on Saturday we are going back to make the pastry crusts and fill the pies. Now, just to let you know when all said and done we will make around 600 pies!! Bob and Anne hand them out to work people, friends, and family. Justin and I will get some too! Also we will save some for all of our guests who will be visiting in the next few months. So look forward to next week with the rest of the pictures of the pie making process.

Also, this weekend was Justin's Christmas party with his work. This is us all dressed up for the party. I didn't bring any nice clothes so I had to go shopping to buy a skirt! Isn't it funny I am in a tank top for a Christmas party! Crazy!

So this weekend was pretty relaxed and not much was going on. On Sunday we saw the movie Australia. I loved it! It was really good and I highly recommend it. The only bad thing is that it is really long! I think I like it even more because I have lived in Australia for awhile now and I understand the culture a bit. Other than the movie and Justin's Christmas party it was a mellow weekend. Monday night was the mince pie making party. There is a lot of work going into making these pies! It was a pretty relaxed weekend overall. This coming weekend, we have the conclusion of making the pies and we have a Christmas BBQ for church. We are just counting down the days until our Tassie trip! We can't wait! We miss you all!