New Years Eve Menu

Thought you might like to read the menu we had at New Year:

Cocktail de Maison et ses mises en bouche
A cocktail with canapes which comprised of 3 bite sized tarts and a glass with a smoked salmon mousse layered with a pea puree

Parfait au veloute de crustaces et salpicons de homard douceur de miel au safran
Parfait (like a mousse) of shellfish with pieces of lobster and crayfish, with a honey and saffron dressing.

Foie gras poele aux brisures de biscuits de Reims
Pan fried Foie gras

Consomme aux aromes de truffes et son raviole, noix de Saint-Jacques et bar savage
Truffle consomme with a ravioli sitting in it, a pan fried scallop on a bed of creamed spinach, a piece of sea bass on a bed of julienned carrot.

Trou surprise
Spearmint sorbet

Filet de boeuf en brioches aux cepes
Beef Wellington with a rich cep sauce, and broad beans

Croustillant de maroilles
Cheese wrapped in crispy filo pastry

Symphonie des Caraibes
Carribean symphony of desserts - mango mouse in white chocolate case, very rich dark chocolate mouse with a chocolate tuile, glass of fruit sald comprising pineapple and kiwi fruit with a caramely/ginger snap tuile.

Coffee and Petit Fours

Another New Year arrives

Well, didn't that year go quickly? And don't they go quicker as you get older? All in all 2007 was a good year. We had lots of family to visit, which was brilliant. Our eldest niece flew out on her own just before her 16th birthday. She was great company, a truly lovely girl and absolutely stunning. Our younger niece (now 11) came out at the end of the summer holiday with my mother in law. She is adorable too, great fun and just a joy to be with. My in laws came out in the summer, they are wonderful too, I am really lucky there.

I started my hairdressing business which is going very well. I have some brilliant clients who already feel more like friends, and through some of them I have got some more work for my gardening business. OH has had a good year work wise, including a new unexpected client in November. He really enjoyed working for him and his wife and we have been keeping in touch with them.

OH and I spent another year together living our dream. We grew our own veg, just about finished our house, got a new kitten and got some great new neighbours.

New Years Eve was very good this year. There were 14 of us including Breezy and Tech Support. One of the others brought a load of xmas crackers (they don't exist in France), and I will carry in my mind the sight of Tech Support customising his paper hat with ribbons, hair bobbles (from his cracker) and goodness knows what else, until he resembled something from Star Wars. The food was great. We had 8 courses from 8pm til about 1.30 am. Admittedly there were some course that we didn't like and others that we loved. Breezy loved the chocolate creamy pud, and ate about 5 of them! There was enough food though, that if you didn't like a couple of course you didn't go hungry. We got home a 3am!

Well, I will be taking the decorations down today. Misty will be devasted!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

There are 3 new stars in the sky

And they belong to 3 of my chickens - Maran, Daisy and Paxo. Yesterday morning OH was woken by the chickens making an awful noise, he looked out to see one of them dead in the garden. We went out to see two dogs, a golden and a black labrador in the garden, obviously hunting dogs who had got lost. We found another chicken dead and another badly injured. The two little bantams were safe in the coup, and we later found Primrose safe and well. Paxo, the badly injured one was brought into the house and wrapped in towels, but she died a short while later. Maran and Daisy must have died from shock as much as anything as OH said they hadn't been mauled.

Another awful end to a year. Last year we went out on New Years Eve with all cats safe at home. We stayed at a friends house over night and when we came back Tabitha had disappeared and has never returned.