Happy Christmas
Christmas greetings everyone. I have eaten well, drank elegant glasses of kir royale and even had an outing.
I had thought of lying prone on the sofa in front of the fire reading my lovely Christams books (Just Vegetating by Joy Larkcom and the Well Tended Perennial Garden by Tracy DiSabato-Aust); but even back pain is tedious and does not need to be indulged.
So instead I managed to drag lots of sticks into the chipping position. Gingerly does it. But I built up quite a pile. I have been looting fresh straight saplings from the chestnut trees down in the bottom of the duck pond area; and gnerally tidying all the branches I find lying around.
And embloldened with that tiny bit of exercise, it was off for a two hour walk.
Lovely. We tried a new route from the house and found some and interesting new countryside; forests of course. You don’t go far in the Ardeche without finding a forest. But this one had some wacky trees, and some beautifully neat chestnut ‘orchards’. The neatness of this one put ours to shame.
We had slow roast pork belly for dinner with home grown vegetables and all the trimmings. Part of me just loves the cranberry sauce. And that feeling of lying like a beached whale on the sofa unable to move. But then bouncing up and eating Christmas pudding for dessert. Bliss.
Sarah
31st December 2012 @ 10:00 pm
I am all about cranberries lately. I love them! And, as you kow, they are one of those, “super foods” we all hear so much about. I have been making a recipe I love, which has an uncharacteristically small amount of sugar: 1 pound cranberries, 1 Tablespoon whole cloves, juice of one lemon, (and I zest it first and throw that in as well) 2 Tablespoons fresh ginger (I put finely chopped pieces in a garni bag so that I don’t have to deal with the ginger bits and pull it out once it’s done cooking) and only a half cup sugar. Boil until juice has thickened and voila. Simple as can be. I stir it into my kefir in the morning for breakfast.
Lindy
31st December 2012 @ 10:12 pm
That sounds divine; I stir fried some cranberries into spinach (home grown) and cabbage tonight. I love them too. Astringent but juicy.