We were building a new house, which was supposed to be our attempt at downsizing in the autumn of our years. The kids had all gone, with homes of their own, and we were only using half of our house. We took the decision to build the new house during COVID, when we were bored. It was going to be our last home. I was hoping to die there.
We were so disappointed with our builder. The quality wasn’t what we had hoped for. And it took forever. And they were so painful to deal with. People were telling me that there was a shortage of trades, but that shouldn’t have affected the state’s biggest builder to such a degree. Why did we see other houses of better quality being built in a fraction of the time? How could they do it and our builder couldn’t? My theory is that they deliberately paid their tradesmen with peanuts, and we all know what sort of anthropoid you get when you pay peanuts. To compound this, they deliberately didn’t recruit, because if they took on more trade staff they would have needed more admin and supervisory staff – and that’s expensive. Why not eek out the build time instead, with the resources and infrastructure you have? WA is used to ‘Waiting a While’. Absolute charlatans.
The house didn’t turn out too bad in the end. It could easily have been made into a home, if we had any motivation left.
When we finally did get the keys, we were jaded. I walked around the pristine walls and did not feel the love. The ineptitude of the people that we had relied on over the years might just as well be painted on each wall. Like a roll of honour, only more of a roll of disgrace. I could see the faces of past supervisors lying to me through the windows. “Ah no, we’ll get that fixed up, Steve”, they are saying.
As I was walking through the house, our bricklayer was playing a song to welcome me to my new home. “Isn’t she lovely”, he warbled. No, she’s not, and how would you know anyway – your eyesight’s not the best…
The sale celebration involved a wonderful bottle of champagne, great dinner, a great red, and great company. The wine was old, just like the ink on our building contract:
- Start: 2002 Grand Vintage Moët et Chandon brut. This was old but so, so atypical and interesting. It looked like wee, was the comment from the mob. But still perlant, bright, and lots of orange on the nose. Not old-tasting, there was still some crispness on the palate, yet it was soft and fat and silky. It was past its prime, but still delicious – just like its consumers. We put a cut strawberry in our glasses at the end and this lifted it perfectly.
- Cheese board and dips at my bar: Camembert, sharp cheddar, ritz crackers, strawberries, a light chilli dip and plain corn chips.
- Main: I did a Tuscan chicken. No pics, sadly.
- Main recipe (skip if not interested): I’ve got this stainless-steel big scanpan thing with big lid. Low heat, a couple of slices of fresh prosciutto finely sliced, with a nob of butter on top of the pile. Let the butter melt through the cured ham, fry a bit on low, then with tongs pop the ham into some simmering chicken stock, leaving that lovely salty fat behind. Keep the stock simmering until it is quite concentrated as a result of reduction.
Cut some chicken breasts and sprinkle with garlic powder. Into the pan with them sprinkled side down and sprinkle more on the top. Brown on all sides. Take the chicken out, and into that lovely brown pan base, throw in a diced onion. Fry, then some sliced garlic. Dislodge all the brown bits with a wooden spatula. I love the word spatula. Fry, then reinsert the chicken. Pour over the hammy stock. Throw in some drained sun-dried tomatoes, the ones tossed with Italian herbs. Simmer (lid on) for half an hour or so. Replace liquid with water/white wine if needed. Turn the chicken pieces halfway through and throw in a roughly chopped carrot or two.
Next, lid off and reduce to concentrate. Then, about 300ml cream over the dish. jiggle/integrate. Into the oven now, on medium/low, around 150. If you see the sauce bubbling too much, turn it down. Another three quarters of an hour will do; it could even stand an hour if you’re doing other things. About fifteen minutes before the end, turn the chicken again, drag some fresh spinach through the sauce and back in the oven. The dish was served oven-to-table with new potatoes and broccolini. - Guest red: 2019 Greenock Estate SA Cabernet/Shiraz. I love a wine that smells great when decanting – the bouquet has already proved itself. Lovey red berries, a big wine and lots of legs. Great flavours, long finish and very concentrated.
- House red: 2018 Penfolds Kalimna Bin 28 VIC Shiraz. A Father’s Day present. Just as classy as the predecessor, but bolder. It seemed younger than the Greenock yet it was a year older. Delicious. OK, let’s stop drinking now.
- Dessert: Judith made wonderful strawberry cake that “just slid down nicely” as my Granny used to say while eating her dessert de jour. A chocolate cake base topped with a chocolate layer, and then she piped whipped cream over bits of it and adorned it with cut strawberries.
Oh, and she bashed up some Cadbury’s twirls and sprinkled them over the top. The whole thing took about 20 minutes, and I only took half an hour cleaning up the kitchen after her guest appearance. The cake was a wow, and delicious – and I regretted my decision to stop drinking, as a sweet, sticky muscat would have gone blindingly with this.
I’m so glad we ended our journey into the building scene on a high. House prices have gone up since we started our build, so we didn’t lose money on this project, either. 😊 Never again though, right James?
