Merry Christmas

St Noël

Happy Christmas to one and all!

A very early Christmas morning for me. I don't remember being up this early on Christmas Day since I was a kid. Or was it when Jon used to have to work an early shift on Christmas Day? Probably that.

I've seem to have had a run of early starts for no apparent reason. Well, cats I suppose.

Anyway, here I am with a bit of time to reflect on the last few days.

The Christmas party just over the hill here went very well. Many of the guests joined in the spirit of things and did a 'turn'. There were jokes, cello playing (with audience participation), stories, monologues and some dame singing a couple of songs. Luckily I managed not to screech off key too much and they seemed to go down well. Jon hammered away on the piano and everyone joined in The Twelve Days of Christmas bullied by myself into singing a line per couple and seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. The carols were loudly sung with the odd descant popping in here and there.

After the performances our friend, Sue, put on a brilliant supper for 28 people and everyone mingled well before disappearing in their various directions, probably to meet up again at drinks parties over the next week or so. We have told our friends that we are expecting a repeat party next year since it went so well. They are keeping quiet about whether they can face another one but I bet they do!

On Monday I was due to take Mrs H shopping but unfortunately her foster dog (which is a whole new story) took ill and she had to take him to the vet. I took advantage of the day ironing and making shopping lists and menu plans. We did make our shopping trip on Tuesday and it seemed that the whole of this corner of France had decided to do the same thing.

Or so we thought. Until Jon and I, up early on Christmas Eve, decided to make an early trip to market, via the supermarket, to buy our festive goose. We arrived at the supermarket 10 minutes before opening and watched the crowd gather at the door from the warmth of our car. It was freezing!

The French do enjoy oysters on Christmas Eve. And Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day... any party they can think of. A stall was set up outside the supermarket piled high with boxes containing 3 or 6 dozen of these funny looking shellfish. People were taking advantage of the supermarket not being open by buying up several boxes each and returning them to their cars.

Eventually the main doors open and everyone piled in. I was expecting a Sainsbury's or Tesco mad dash all around the shop but no, everyone headed straight for the fish counter and stood in another queue.

Luckily this gave Jon and I the shop to ourselves and we managed our few bits of shopping - milk, cream, smoked salmon - in record time.

The market in town was bustling and we soon located the smallest goose we could find. Actually we didn't have a lot of choice since we didn't want a huge bird and there were no medium-sized ones to be seen. We decided that we will supplement the goose with a slice of Festive Ham, which I have cooked according to Nigella's book Feast, in cranberry and apple juices with cinnamon, cloves and star anise (actually, Nigella doesn't use star anise but I love that smell that reminds me of Hong Kong and Christmas both at the same time).

So today's menu is:

• Chestnut soup
• Individual smoked salmon terrines with beetroot crisps and salad
• Roast goose and festive ham, chestnut, prune and pork stuffing, roast potatoes, maple glazed parsnips and green beans
• Selection of cheeses
• Muscat wine crème caramels with cinnamon biscuits and spiced fig
• Coffee served with christmas pudding truffles

Which reminds me - I'd better get cooking!

Happy Christmas, one and all. Have a wonderful day.

With love and best wishes to you all.

Sue and Jon