A small precis of the run down to Christmas before and after. Hectic, enjoyable, lots of parties, some great fun with old and new friends, lovely weather...and now i will just let you look for yourselves, and possibly in no particular order or disorder?
It was also our big twenty-fifth anniversaire this year so that called for some celebrations. We decided to do what we like doing best eating great food together. In the end we did a trio of restaurants one of them as featured in my last post we also decided as a first to go to a portes overtes in the Madiran region, one of my fave producers Denis Capmartin. DC as far as i am concerned is the best producer of the local Madiran, my taste admittedly and there are many red and whites out there that rival that post. Annabelle and i did a tasting in august with Mark whom kindly agreed to be in the driving seat and we both ( i needed no persuasion) his wines were one of the best. So from that as mark enjoys a drop too, we decided to do the open day on our anniversaire. Picturesque countryside mainly unexplored by us coupled to tasting some wine and enjoying the sunshine. Can't get too much better than that, a very enjoyable afternoon. We bought some red and some white and a beautiful venetian glass bottle stopper to mark the occasion. Later Mark cooked a beautiful supper, just to top off a really lovely day!
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| The massive vats in the chateau |
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| love in the vines |
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beau countryside and rows and rows of beautiful vines
The day before DC we had a lovely meal in a new(new to us) in a very quirky restaurant in Auch called Le Comedie, great food, very tasty, great value, lovely couple....you need to book because it is that good that it is packed every lunchtime they are open and they do not do evenings!
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| Auch, one of our favourites |
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| P in party get up for posh-ish nosh |
In between somewhere there was a re-visit to the L'Embrun, Mark and I, all part of our twenty-fifth celebration! Really delicious and just as good this time and the two other courses although the same as the last still had a slightly different slant.
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| return to L'Embrun, it tasted as good as it looks |
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P's Christmas wreath gathered and collected by P, Mark and Milou
Every year we have own Marche Noel in Castelnau, lots of talented people touting their wares. This year as every year, my sewing circle made lots of things for the society that we all belong too. Lots of recycled shirts into aprons and bags, hand knitted bags scarfs hats and gloves. Plus a magnificent patchwork quilt which lots of the ladies contributed too and was raffled at the end. Liz was there with here recycled bottle art, squashed into dishes for olives and snacks or beautiful candle holders, .Jewellry, bric-a-brac. Our Salle de fetes was packed! The local stables were horse and carting the children around the square, lively fun atmosphere. I bought a couple of small presents for friends and mark bought a couple of presents for me!
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| beau tree with not too many breakables! |
Our tree only toppled three times this year and then only, thankfully onto the settee...god forbid if Porthos does not get his Breakfast on time, he can create a right merry Mayhem!
In between Anniversaires and Christmas my own got in the way! After a few ideas on how to spend it, the one that was most popular was to head off to Spain pick up some bits for Christmas and have lunch/tapas in Spain. on the day it was not so nice and i suggested we stick to part of the original plan, it's a great drive down, but bring back a tapas for us both to enjoy. mark could also enjoy a drink on my birthday as he would not be driving back after lunch.
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| gorgeous canapes |
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| carpaccio of octopus |
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| poached egg, garlic croutons and fried Serrano ham |
On the 23rd we had a homage to Mark's mum as we had decided to do the traditional french thing on Christmas Eve which is sea food, 'see food and eat it'! so on the 23rd it was white tuna salad and wild mushroom pasta, courtesy of mark and mama Anna x
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| m creating in his lab on Christmas Eve |
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| prawns the size of mini lobsters! |
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Darcie is keeping an eye on the situation
On Christmas Day we were plus one other, which was good, he was on his tod we had more than enough for two. Mark excelled himself again with rabbit in a beautiful sauce and lots of veg. Capped by dad's Christmas pudding....courtesy of dad for buying and bringing over and Waitrose.
Boxing day we kept simple and ate up the leftovers, traditional in most households i would think.
Mark capped off his triptych with a new years speciale this time to honour his dad, must admit i am a big moules fan and this got my vote!
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| steaming bowl of beautiful moules |
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| a bought chocolate, pear and ginger pud...severely enhanced by Mark |
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my trophy for winning a second year of our game 'where eagles dare'
Some balloonists may have clubbed together to use the local airfield as suddenly there were seven balloons in the sky after Christmas and a few more Saturdays and Sundays that followed, including this one that sailed above and across our garden!
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| a flurry of balloons on a clear Saturday or even a Sunday |
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| then from flurry to a furry.....is it a bird, a plane..... a balloon, quoi? |
