At the End of the Year

Aujourd'hui est le Reveillon. Demain est le jour de St Sylvestre. We hope that begins une Bonne Annee. And so we wish all our friends now and to all those we have known, a very good year and cheer. May we be grateful for what we have and we hope that 2009 will increase whatever we have in joy and happiness. A review of the year will be edited next year!

Christmas Day Picnic 2008

The year is drawing to a close. We have had a few technical difficulties grappling with the new Apple Mac laptop and it's apparent lack of software. I would like to compress, crop and the photos but at the moment we can't. Despite being told by the sales persons at John Lewis that we would be able to do web design and photo editing it appears that I might be on the brink of returning the damned machine, tho' it is very beautiful!!!! So time passes by !!! Hey ho !!!

Any advice for Apple Mac would be gratefully appreciated.

On a more positive note the first two photos prove that we enjoyed our Christmas Day Picnic at Angles sur l'Anglin. We took all our photos on large pixels and the first photo needs cropping. Notice that the fairies are pouring the magic liquid into Captain Sensible's glass. If you click on the above first photo, it should enlarge! The fillet steak tournedos were cooked just perfectly by le Chef.

So... a few days later ... I am editing this blog.

Our CHRISTMAS DAY PICNIC MENU

Home-made 'mise en bouches' with Chilled Vouvray

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Dry Fried prawns with coriander and garlic (Crevettes avec Coriander et d'ail ) ( just two each )

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Salmon in a Lime Butter Sauce ( Saumon en Beuure Blanc avec Citron Vert )

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Filet de Boeuf Tournedos ( 5 euros p.p.) sur un lit de poireaux verts avec roti pommes de terre, carottes en sauce du miel, et chanterelles ( lovely mushrooms ).

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Then we had two yummy cheeses ,Raclette and Chevre du cendrier ,from the producteurs at the market with salade vert (lettuce to you heathens) with a very good dressing made by Captain S. We obviously left a lot of the cheese for another day!

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And after that... and just to keep ourselves warm, we had M&S Luxury Christmas individual puddings. I ought to buy shares in M&S OR just make my own puds again! Well, that was served with creme entier and brandy to flambe it.

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We would have had coffee and choccies but we were getting a wee tad cold and the skies were drawing in by the River of the Anglin and so we packed our car, took a walk around Angles sur l"Anglin, witnessed no-one, and returned home to unpack. C.S. grabbed at least a half-hour siesta and then we proceeded to our friends for an evening soiree, where we ate a very finely decorated Christmas Cake. This year there must be cosmic consciousness as both she and I have adorned our cakes with crystallised fruits. I made them a Dundee Cake only decorated with almonds of course.

We arrived home about 3 am with a fire and a cat that both needed refuelling.

HAPPY YUMMY CHRISTMAS

Seasonal Poem Message

http://sites.google.com/site/2008seasonalmessage/

Click the above to read a summary of our Year 2008 and our very best wishes to you all.

The shortest day in the midst of Winter

The days are getting longer whilst the sterling pound is gathering speed .... in decreasing it's value and my pension! I hear a whole new strain on the seasonal refrain of "Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat" ! Is it time for cheer or just more drear? However, let's be positive and wish everyone Seasonal Winter Blessings.