"You have come third in a booty contest?"

Being a milestone birthday Dhal’s long-suffering girlfriend Tiny Temper saw fit to hire out an awesome converted farmhouse in deep in the Kingdom of Fife where a crack squad of seasoned party animals could make merry, eat well and, as it turns out, play a lot of games – including a feisty session on a custom made version of Monopoly dubbed "Samopoly". (Little did they know that intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded the current range of Monopoly pieces with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against them.)


The cooking was to be done in turns with Dhal and Tiny Temper offering to cook up a Lamb Patia for all 11 guests on the Saturday night. Had Friday night been slightly less boozy the team may have been quicker off the blocks the next day but, after Bede (creator of that spectacular Samopoly board) put in a heroic shift of rustling up French toast and bacon for everyone, the general consensus was that a stroll on the beach was required and that the cooking could wait.


At this point it was also realised that there wasn’t enough lamb to go round. “Never fear!” cried Mumbai Me A Pony, who went on to suggest knocking up some side dishes to bolster the line-up – not only that, we’d also team up to cook it. So, while the others headed off to the beach at Elie we donned our pinnies and hit up the kitchen.


In the end we managed to rustle up a tasty dhal and an aloo gobi to accompany the lamb patia, the recipe for which had been provided by the hosts. Despite some initial worries that The Tramp may have veered dangerously close to making the dhal too hot, in the end it all went down well and, I think, received a general thumbs up from the assembled squad. Hunger sated and stomachs lined the rest of the evening was free to be spent back in the lounge for more boardgames and Halo 4 deathmatch sessions.


All in all, it was a cracking weekend away. And happy 30th Sam from the entire TATTGOC brotherhood!