Wishing all my readers a very happy New Year and all the
very best in the year to come..
Here we are again, starting a new year, our third to be, in
France. In the end, we didn’t have a white Christmas although it was certainly
cold enough at times for snow to fall. Instead, we went down south to celebrate
with Pieter and Tilly in their new house. It was a wonderful idea from all
points of view – being a couple of hundred kilometres south, it was also a few
degrees warmer and the house is centrally heated which was bliss. Tilly relay
pushed the boat out for us and treated us to a lavish spread on Christmas Eve
followed by an almost equally lavish spread on Christmas Day. We started with foie gras on slices of baguette which made me a bit
apprehensive as I have only tasted it once and before and really didn’t like,
but then it was the tinned variety. This time it was fresh and very tasty. I
will certainly have it again if I get the chance. Her roast duck was superb – tender
and juicy – and accompanied by numerous vegetables, among them some Jerusalem
artichokes which I haven’t even seen for ages but which I love. We used to grow
them in Rheenendal and I recall them being particularly delicious, as these
were. These are the artichokes that grow under the ground and have a long above
ground stalk surmounted b a bright yellow flower similar to a sunflower. I
think they get their name from the French for sunflower (girasol) which has
been corrupted by the non-French speakers to Jerusalem. This was followed by a
hot goat’s cheese salad and then the cheese, and finally a Buche Noel which is
a traditional cake which is similar to a Swiss roll but iced and decorated to
look like a Yule Log. To wash this all down we managed to polish off a Magnum
of champagne! Well…... there were six of us!
Next day we were treated to another large meal and it was
only through our pleading that she cut it down a bit. We had an oven baked
salmon and, of course, it was delicious! One thing you can be sure of and that
is that if Tilly feeds you, you will never want for food! The following day
Courtney, Neels and I started our trek home again while our hosts went off to
Mallorca.
Back home again, w2e scurried around preparing the house for
the Cape Town family who were due to arrive on the 30th. There was
great celebration when they arrived as this is a permanent move and not just a
holiday.
On the following day we had a second Christmas with a dinner
to suit and presents for all which seemed to go down well. Our dinner was
somewhat lower key and only consisted of three courses. In this case, our
starter was a hot goat’s cheese salad followed by a roast chicken (which I
would have labelled as a Cornish hen and which tipped the scale at just over
two and a half kilograms) with a variety of vegetables, and then for dessert,
Courtney and I had made our own Buche Noel and she had decorated it to look
like a log. There was nothing left of it by the time we had finished our meal!
The girls had been invited out to a New Year’s Eve party at
a friend’s house, so at about six that evening we took them to the house with
Andre and Leigh arranging to fetch them just after midnight. Sadly they couldn’t
stay overnight as the rest of the guests were doing, as the family were due to
move on the following morning. And, all of a sudden we were alone again!
This pleasant state lasted for a few days before we packed a
little suitcase and went to see how the family were getting on in their rental
house. Once again, being a little further south, the weather was more pleasant,
although still cold, and the house was centrally heated. We are going to have
to make a plan about this house!
When we returned, we brought both the girls with us.
Courtney had to start school again on Monday and Cassidy has permission to attend
classes with Courtney for the week, to get a feel for the French system.
Courtney always maintains that the few days she spent with her friend Connie,
in Carcassone, were the best days she could have had prior to starting school
here, so we are hoping the same will apply to Cassidy.
By some miracle, I managed to finish the tapestry cushion
for Courtney’s present and it seems as if it was a success. Not my finest work
to date, I have to admit, but she seems to love it so I am happy.
So now we are up to date. All the Christmas decorations were
taken down on the 6th in order to prevent the house from being
carried away by the witches, the ghosties or Ghoulies and we are now all set to
face a brand new year. We haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions as we know
that we are hopeless at keeping them. We prefer to live life as it comes and
hope it always turns out the way we want it to. Here’s hoping you all had as good a Christmas and New Year as we did and
are also ready to face a another 365 days.
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