7 Festive Things You Didn't Know About Team Sarsen...

A little festive fun from the team. Merry Christmas!

NIGEL
1. Christmas must-see movie.   
I do love “Wizard of Oz” but “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is our family favourite. I have never seen “The Sound Of Music” and I never will.
2. What are you having for Christmas dinner?   
Free range, organic, local turkey
3. A Christmassy family tradition in your house.  
A themed Boxing Day for a big family get together. The food, costumes, drink, music, decoration are all themed – this year it’s all gone Greek.
4. Favourite Christmas song/carol.  
“In The Bleak Midwinter” & “Coventry Carol” (I was a choir boy but now I now sing bass – But I still try to sing the descant on the last verse of “O Come, All Ye Faithful”.)
5. What makes you feel festive? 
Spiced rum
6. New Year’s Resolution.  
Remember to smile when happy
7. A present you’re secretly hoping for this year.  
World Peace or a book called “David Bowie: A Life” by Dylan Jones
       
ANGELA
1. Christmas must-see movie.  
The Grinch
2. What are you having for Christmas dinner?  
Turkey, free-range of course and without the trimmings, but lots of roast potatoes, vegetables and lashings of gravy
3. A Christmassy family tradition in your house.
We always have a themed Boxing Day with our extended family.  Every year we dress up, decorate, play music and eat a menu based around a chosen country.  In recent years we have been to Mexico, Cuba, Italy, Sweden (even hired a hot tub for that one!), and Hawaii (musically challenging). This year we are off to Greece for the day – looking forward to Calamari, Sea Bass, veggie Moussaka, and Greek Salad with plenty of Feta cheese of course!
4. Favourite Christmas song/carol.
Away in a Manager – precious memories of nativity plays when the children were small.
5. What makes you feel festive?   
Marlborough High Street on Saturday mornings in December.
6. New Year’s Resolution.  
I am waiting to be told by my family – I’ll let you know!
7. A present you’re secretly hoping for this year.  
Honestly? Headway on a global scale on the use of and disposal of plastics, especially into our oceans.
       
CHRISTOS
1. Christmas must-see movie.  
Home Alone
2. What are you having for Christmas dinner?    
Thick Pork bacon slices, Sausages, Roast turkey, Salad, Roasted Potatoes, Rice, Bulgur Wheat, and possibly game of some sort. And for dessert Melomakarona and Kourabiedes
3. A Christmassy family tradition in your house.  
Getting to the church in the morning, then going to the local football club “house” to have a coffee and participate in raffle, Then go to my grandfathers named Christos, so we celebrate our nameday with the whole family and at night go out to Bouzoukia.
4. Favourite Christmas song/carol.  
White Christmas by Bing Crosby – Holiday Inn 1942
5. What makes you feel festive?   
The Christmas lights, the Christmas movies combined with bad weather outside, and the fireplace at my favourite café in the area I live in Cyprus.
6. New Year’s Resolution.  
Live a day like a lion rather 100 days like a sheep. I am kidding. To get back to exercising, learn a language, go somewhere I have never been before.
7. A present you’re secretly hoping for this year.  
I truly hope for love, well-being and peace.
       
LYNN
1. Christmas must-see movie.  
Our annual Christmas season movie is Moulin Rouge! Heavens knows why – we just love it.
2. What are you having for Christmas dinner?  
This year we are steering away from ‘traditional’ and having duck confit.
3. A Christmassy family tradition in your house.  
For the kids in the family and when I was a child we planted a ‘magic’ seed on Christmas Eve together with a Christmas Carol singalong and the magic tree grew overnight. Such great excitement on Christmas morning!
4. Favourite Christmas song/carol.  
O come all ye Faithful!
5. What makes you feel festive?  
Lovely glowing golden Christmas lights and candles.
6. New Year’s Resolution.    
Cut out biscuits, sweets and chocolates!!
7. A present you’re secretly hoping for this year. 
 A log burner!
       
LAURA
1. Christmas must-see movie.  
Love Actually. To me, it's perfect.
2. What are you having for Christmas dinner?  
Turkey, all the trimmings (including yorkshires, pigs in blankets and stuffing) and 'Delightful'. Which in our family is trifle without the revolting soggy sponge. And Angel Delight instead of blancmange. We win at desserts.
3. A Christmassy family tradition in your house.  
When we were kids we'd all open our stockings sat at the foot of Mum and Dad's bed. Now I do the same but with our cats. Yes, they have stockings too.
4. Favourite Christmas song/carol.   
All Alone on Christmas by Darlene Love. And it's not Christmas until 'The Buble' has been on at least 15 times.
5. What makes you feel festive?    
Twinkly lights and cinnamon.
6. New Year’s Resolution.  
Convince Nigel that The Sound of Music is a wonderful film.
7. A present you’re secretly hoping for this year.  
Unbelievably, socks. Big, fluffy knee length socks. With pom poms.

A Great Bustard Adventure and a Fabulous Christmas Feast

We are spoiled here at Sarsen when it comes to Christmas treats. You can see some of our previous outings here - A Christmas walk down memory lane...

This year we went Great Bustard spotting. If you know what a Great Bustard looks like you'd think this would be a straightforward activity. Not so much.

This is how big they actually are:

This is how well camouflaged they are in the wild.

Fortunately Nigel, Mike and our resident wildlife photographer Angela had their cameras with them, so expect some better photos early in the new year.

The Great Bustard (Otis tarda) is one of the heaviest flying birds alive today and can be found across Europe, sale as far south as Spain and as far north as the Russian steppes. The conservation status of the Great Bustard is listed as vulnerable, there with populations in many countries being in decline. The species became extinct in the UK in 1832. Thanks to the eagle eye of our guide, Ruth, and some binoculars, we spotted 6 birds in total, and it was amazing to see them strutting around without a care in the world. The Great Bustard Group does an amazing job working to reintroduce the species to the UK and to promote its interests throughout its range.

After a good 60 minute trek across Salisbury Plain and some time in the hide we were all very hungry so Christmas lunch at the Red Lion in East Chisenbury was a very welcome next stop. the food was delicious and six clean plates tell their own story. Even the Brussels sprouts were polished off!!

We also had a traditional Secret Santa extravaganza, with some fabulous presents given and received, but I'm sure you'll agree that this is the absolute pinnacle of Secret Santa gifts.

Although I think Nigel was pretty pleased with his after a trepidatious unwrapping!

Merry Christmas to all, and thank you to the Great Bustard Group and the Red Lion at East Chisenbury for a truly memorable day.

Sarsen Technology Christmas Bake Off - The Results!

Once again the Sarsen Technology team has been putting their artistic and creative skills to the test, this time with the Christmas staple, the chocolate Yule Log. Baking experience varies throughout the team, but everyone had a go and the results were quite spectacular.

We asked our friends at Sema4 to judge, and they assured us they were well versed in extreme cake eating, which was great news as there were 5 completely different offerings to taste.

Christos - Chocolate salami with cognac and dark chocolate
Lynn - Chocolate log with peppermint cream and gingerbread figures
Laura - Chocolate log with spiced rum and ginger buttercream
Nigel - Chocolate log with glace fruits and chocolate ganache icing
Angela - Well, we'll come to Angela later.

L-R: Lynn, Christos, Nigel & Laura (bottom)

Judged by James and Tony from Sema4, (or Mary and Paul as we like to call them) who took their roles very seriously, there were 3 awards to be won. Master of Flavours, for the person who made the most delicious cake, Expert Cake Decorator, for they who made their log look the most beautiful, and the Overall Winner, given to the person who combined both good looks and taste.

Our expert judges - Tony and James from Sema4

There was some debate between the judges about which log deserved the Master of Flavours accolade, it was a close call for Laura's boozy spiced rum filling but in the end Christos was victorious, with his traditional Greek Mosaiko, or chocolate salami. Filled with delicious biscuits and twice as much cognac as the recipe demanded, Christos knew he was on to a winner before the judging even started.

Lynn's beautifully decorated log, complete with holly and gingerbread animals took the Expert Cake Decorator award. The time and effort put into the finished cake was clear to see and the prize was well deserved.

Considering Nigel has never really baked before, his log was really tasty, even if Tony thought the icing looked like it was moving!!

Now, the Overall Winner was initially awarded to Angela, based on how beautifully put together and delicious her chocolate log was. I'm sure you'd agree, it would normally be a very worthy winner.

Angela's beautiful cake!

Then the bombshell was dropped that the cake we'd been admiring was actually bought whole, from a shop. Not lovingly baked and decorated by hand as everyone else's was. You can imagine our horror when this was revealed, and so unfortunately the whole thing had to be disqualified. In Angela's defence she did blame her daughter for putting the idea in her head and she was very busy so it's not entirely her fault.

This left the door open for Laura to swoop in and take the Overall Winner title, with the cake that was actually James' favourite from the beginning.

Thank you very much to James and Tony for their expertise today, and for (almost) everyone for putting in such a wonderful effort.

Merry Christmas to all!

A Walk Down Christmas Memory Lane...

There are only 13 sleeps to Santa, and here at Sarsen we do like to celebrate Christmas. This year we have a beautiful tree from Val and the lovely elves at Nature at Work, and Angela has planned a cracker (get it!?) of a Christmas do.

We've done a lot of different things over the last 17 years, from fancy dress parties to burlesque nights, extraordinary gastronomic experiences to cosy pub lunches. There are always plenty of photos/evidence to remember them by and there's normally a silly hat or two involved!

 This year we are taking a trip to Salisbury Plain to see the Great Bustards, which have been reintroduced back into the wild thanks to the hard work of The Great Bustard Group.

We'll be ready for a good feed after spending time in the bird hide, so we're stopping off for a festive feast at The Red Lion in East Chisenbury where all the Secret Santa fun and games will commence!

If you have any photos of your Christmas parties we'd love to see them! Ours will be posted here next Friday for your festive viewing pleasure :)

Best wishes to all friends and colleagues, old and new (especially to those who managed to avoid being in any photos!!).
Thanks for the memories!
Team Sarsen