Christmas Day
Well, just like in the old days, the kids got us up. We'd opened our presents on Christmas Eve as you do in France, but we also had little stockings with bits and bobs in. Then the rush to get the table ready for lunch.
Some genius had had the idea to have a raclette for lunch - I think it was a collective decision - so there wasn't a vast amount of cooking to do beforehand. We'd bought too much charcuterie, some chicken pieces, too much cheese and so we boiled too many potatoes.
For an apero we opened a bottle of Lillet someone gave us and which we'd been saving for just this kind of day, and we had crisps and cashew nuts. To accompany the meal we had some French cider, barely alcoholic but sweet, light and fruity - not at all like English cider.
For dessert we had some mince pies, of course, but this time made with home-made pastry and home-made mincemeat. I tried someone's secret that they'd shared with me years ago and used self-raising flour in the pastry. It worked very well. We also had some Christmas ice-cream that I'd made according to a recipe I found, consisting of:
2 cups of whipping cream (I used the thickest cream and thinned it a little with milk)
1 can of sweetened condensed milk.
1 cup of mincemeat, made a little runny by added liquid - orange juice or whatever...
You whip the cream to stiff peaks. Then you add the condensed milk and whip again. Then you mix in the mincemeat and freeze overnight.
This improbably easy recipe resulted in a really good soft frozen ice-cream that was light and tasted of Christmas.
Our friends arrived and we ate our main course, then played Uno, Jungle Speed and Dobble before tackling dessert. The Queen's broadcast gave us a chance to have some coffee and tea. Two of our friends were from commonwealth countries, and all were from countries where Great Britain had had a historic influence (cough, cough). Then "The Great Escape" which I honoured by doing off in the middle.
A fine Christmas Day.
Some genius had had the idea to have a raclette for lunch - I think it was a collective decision - so there wasn't a vast amount of cooking to do beforehand. We'd bought too much charcuterie, some chicken pieces, too much cheese and so we boiled too many potatoes.
For an apero we opened a bottle of Lillet someone gave us and which we'd been saving for just this kind of day, and we had crisps and cashew nuts. To accompany the meal we had some French cider, barely alcoholic but sweet, light and fruity - not at all like English cider.
For dessert we had some mince pies, of course, but this time made with home-made pastry and home-made mincemeat. I tried someone's secret that they'd shared with me years ago and used self-raising flour in the pastry. It worked very well. We also had some Christmas ice-cream that I'd made according to a recipe I found, consisting of:
2 cups of whipping cream (I used the thickest cream and thinned it a little with milk)
1 can of sweetened condensed milk.
1 cup of mincemeat, made a little runny by added liquid - orange juice or whatever...
You whip the cream to stiff peaks. Then you add the condensed milk and whip again. Then you mix in the mincemeat and freeze overnight.
This improbably easy recipe resulted in a really good soft frozen ice-cream that was light and tasted of Christmas.
Our friends arrived and we ate our main course, then played Uno, Jungle Speed and Dobble before tackling dessert. The Queen's broadcast gave us a chance to have some coffee and tea. Two of our friends were from commonwealth countries, and all were from countries where Great Britain had had a historic influence (cough, cough). Then "The Great Escape" which I honoured by doing off in the middle.
A fine Christmas Day.
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