The WTSIM #21 theme announced, an award - and a meme

So.  The October edition of Waiter, There's Something in My... is done and dusted, round-up posted, and people are beginning to wonder what the next theme is going to be.  Well, wonder no more - forthcoming host Johanna has put us all out of our misery and announced the theme for November. 

What are your most vivid childhood recollections of Sundays?  Boredom? Family activities? Church services?  I know what mine revolve around - Sunday lunch!  As in many Afrikaans households, Sunday lunch was always a big event and attendance was compulsory, even after my brother and I left home.  The table in the dining room was properly laid with silver and my dad would pour everyone a round of drinks before lunch (Cinzano and lemonade when I was at school, gin and tonic when I was older).  Once my mom called everyone to the table, newspapers, books and whatever other distractions we had been occupying ourselves with were banned - Sunday lunch was about conversation... and food.  More often than not, Winter or Summer, my mom would serve a whole roast chicken, with an occasional roast leg of lamb or pork for variety - and it is these roasts that form the backbone of all my childhood Sunday memories.

So hopefully I can be excused for coming over all nostalgic and misty-eyed when Johanna chose Roasts as the theme for November's WTSIM!  Time to get your thinking caps on - what does a roast (Sunday or otherwise) mean to you and your family?  Post a recipe and let Johanna have your entry before 30 November - more details available on her announcement post.  So what are you waiting for - get roasting!

In other news, the lovely Val from More Than Burnt Toast has passed on an award to me - one of the flurry of well-deserved awards she has recently received.  So I am the honoured recipient of the Inspiration Award - thank you *blush*!  I am passing this prestigious award on to five other bloggers, namely:

Ilva of Lucullian Delights
Katie of Thyme for Cooking
Grace of A Southern Grace
Dragon of Dragon's Kitchen
Helen of Food Stories

And, mindful of my request for meme tags to get me through the self-imposed suffering that is NaBloPoMo, I am also going to borrow the meme I found on Val's blog as I'm sure she won't mind ;-)  It's a slight variation on the "seven/six/five random things" meme so sit back, relax and get random with me.

7 Things I Say More Often (than...?):

1.  In the grand scheme of things...
2.  What do you want to eat?
3.  Suit yourself...
4.  F***!
5.  May I make a suggestion?
6.  And your point is...?
7.  You may ask me 20 questions, I may say yes or no.

7 Things I Did Before (umm... before what?):

1.  Play the piano
2.  The Sunday Times cryptic crossword over breakfast
3.  Play Tetris compulsively
4.  Ran a business selling Zulu beaded jewellery with my mom
5.  Went dune-bashing in Dubai
6.  Went to the EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh, WI
7.  High-impact aerobics classes

7 Things I Do Now:

1. Blog
2. Cook
3. Travel - a lot
4. Translations for a South African charity
5. Yoga (erratically!)
6. Take pictures almost every day with my Canon EOS 20D
7. Ski

7 Things I Want to Do:

1. Live in the same city (or at least country) as my brother & his family
2. Travel more - to South America, India and Australia in particular
3. Become a better photographer
4. Do more freelance writing that actually pays
5. Learn more html
6. See the Aurora Borealis
7. Hear Beethoven's Choral Fantasia performed live 

7 Things That Attract me About the Opposite Sex:

1. Sense of humour
2. Intelligence
3. Sexy eyes
4. A great butt and a washboard tummy (come on, let's be honest!) 
5. Beautiful hands
6. Kindness to animals and kids
7. Confidence 

7 Favorite Foods:

1. Cheese (mature cheddar, truffled brie, aged Pecorino, comte...)
2. Jamon Iberico de Bellota
3. Karoo lamb chops cooked on the braai (BBQ)
4. Joel Robuchon's impossibly creamy mashed potatoes
5. Steamed char siu pork buns
6. Berthillon salted butter caramel ice cream
7. Pierre Herme's olive oil and vanilla macarons

I'm not going to tag anyone (after the flak I took for my casual use of the prescriptive phrase "have to" in my previous meme!!) but if you feel the need for a more meme-ingful life, feel free to nick this one and complete it on your own blog :)

Follow me every day in November as I complete National Blog Posting Month - a post a day, every day, for 30 days! Here's what I've written so far.

Comments

[Jude]

Nice to get to know you a bit better. Dune-bashing in Dubai sounds like fun !

[Bellini Valli]

You are an inspiration jeanne so this award is well deserved:d Thanks for doing the MEME as well. It is always fun to find out more about our blogging friends:D

[nina]

I so completely missed the "have to" and never posted this meme.....will do so soon! I liked the meme the first time I saw it!
I am going to try my best at fitting the WTSIM in.....a great theme!

[Kit]

Roasts are big in our family too - it always used to be a roast for Sunday lunch when I was growing up, but I never cooked one myself until we came here and I missed them so had to start cookign them myself. Now we have them regularly through the winter, though I opt out in hotter weather. I'm hoping for a cool Sunday that's suited to a roast rather than a braai this week so that I can participate in WTSIM this month, I never got around to your squash one though I had a butternut jumping around in the larder!

[Claudia]

Hei Jeanne,

Can help you with the Aurora Borealis thing. I am in Middle Norway and I can see it from my kitchen window by the end of August and beginning of September. My windows are open to Trondheim fjord. You are invited for a dinner party whenever you choose to come.

Cheers,

C.

[Gill]

Oh Jeanne, those Sunday lunches sounds so blissful! I enjoyed reading your meme. Seeing the Aurora Borealis is on my "bucket list".

[grace]

i'm glad you filled out the meme--i love learning things like this about other bloggers. (kindness to animals is big in my book, too.) :)
thanks for the shout-out, by the way. talk about blushing. :)

[jacoba]

You should, certainly, take more photographs.

[Helen]

Thank you for the award Jeanne and great meme, I had a little chuckle reading through that. I like your honestly over the whoe tight butt and washboard stomach thing - a girl just might as well admit that I think! I am SO impressed with you keeping up the self-imposed misery. As you know, I did a week of posting every day once - that was enough for me!

[courtney]

Meme-ing-ful! Funny. I love the sound of Cinzano and Lemonade.

[Dragon]

Awww shucks. Thank you and congratulations!