Christmas leftover lunch

Amongst the many nibbles I made on Christmas day were little filo pastry tartlets filled with a delicious dollop of pesto covered with a warm mix of mushrooms, garlic and parsley. In the days following Christmas and in my quest to use up leftovers wisely, I treated myself to one of the tastiest and yet most simple lunch I have ever made. I present to you the mushroom and cheese on toast. With a twist.

I topped the lovely mushroom mixture with bits of Stichelton, a wonderfully creamy and pungent unpasteurised blue cheese. The mushrooms had been cooked simply in a little olive oil, and once reduced, I added the garlic and chopped parsley. To reheat the mixture, I added a slice of home-made parsley butter to a small saucepan and reheated the lot. Couldn't have been easier.

I think I might make this in the future, with the sole intent of having it on toast. Honestly, it's that good. If you like mushroom, garlic and cheese that is. Of course.

Last bit of Christmas crafting

Yeah yeah I know, Christmas is way behind us and everyone is trying to look forward, get rid of those needles and clean the place out. I was looking through my Christmas pics and realised I'd forgotten to mention this little craft project I gave myself. I thought you might like it, it's so quick and simple, yet sweet and effective! You can always squirrel it away until Christmas 2012...

So, the project? Name tags for the Christmas table! I needed something easy because I was running out of time - that lemon tart and salmon terrine weren't going to cook themselves. I needed the writing to be clear and legible, and I didn't want the whole thing to look twee, so I kept it minimalistic. The result? See for yourselves...

Red card folded in half with extra folds on either side to ensure the cards would stay upright. "Joyeux Noël" written in gold pen on the back of each card. Leaves cut out of dark green and light green foam, attached with a red embroidery cross. Names written adjacent.

I don't know whether I'll ever have the chance to reuse these name tags all together, but I have kept them nonetheless. A little magic of Christmas 2011 kept for remembrance.

Christmas 2011

 I cooked
We laughed
We drank
We ate -  a lot

 

 

 

We translated
We opened presents
He drove
We ate again - a whole lot more

 

 

Christmas 2011 was a good one, notwithstanding the fact that I only finished the washing up yesterday!

Hope you had a great Christmas too!

Christmas decorations

It started with the tree...

And pimping out the stairs...

And embelishing the fireplace....

I am currently in a candle phase: every night, after dinner, I sit down on the sofa and light all the candles (one on either side of the advent calendar, two in the fireplace, two on the coffee table). The warm glow and gentle flicker makes the living room feel all cosy and warm. Couldn't dream of anything better.

Christmas, I'm all ready for you. Only seven more working days to get through...

Christmas welcome

The inside of the house is most definitely Christmas ready. Twinkly lights galore, shiny baubles, old fashioned wooden trinklets and a little bit of tinsel for good measure. But I wanted visitors to feel the Christmas love before they even set foot inside. So many beautiful wreaths are on sale at the moment, but few are suitable for the outdoors. We went for a walk around the market on Saturday morning and I was tempted to purchase a bunch of evergreen branches. Mr PF shook me back to life, couldn't I make one of those myself?! We could walk around in the countryside and find our own evergreens right? I thanked him for such insight.

So yesterday I grabbed some garden twine and my trusty secateurs. No need to go for a wonder though, our gardens were able to satisfy all my needs.

Some beautiful holly from the front garden, some fragant pine and rosemary from the back garden.

Welcome to my home :-)

Home-made advent calendar

I always think it is quite interesting to see how people come up with ideas, what thought-process they go through, how things change along the way. A couple of weeks ago I started thinking about making an advent calendar for this year. As much as I enjoyed making last year's one, I'm not keen on all that paper being wasted. Best to make something which could be used year after year. That's when the concept drawing was born:

Interested in seeing the finished article? Drumroll please.....

Here we go! What do you think? Only space for little chocolates and small notes. We've gone for jokes this year... Anyway, back to the calendar. I used a square wooden board for backing, some natural linen for the background, some green yarn for the outline of the Christmas tree, brown felt squares to create a little pocket for each day, some gold beads to create the numbers. Some red embroidery thread was used to fix the squares in place, and a variety of buttons were used to embellish the tree.

It has taken centre stage on the chimney breast from now on, replacing the autumn wreath. Christmas is on its way!!!

Gold and silver twigs

That's effectively what I had in mind last weekend. I ended up stinking the place out, even the next door neighbour came out in the cold to find out what the hell I was doing. Oops. Backtrack a few hours, this is what I started out with:

Some twigs, some gold and silver spray paint, a vase begging to be filled with seasonal ornaments and some newspaper for protection.

Fast forward a few days (for drying, the paint does smell quite a lot), add some shiny baubles and here it is!!!

I'm quite excited at the result of this super quick project. Ok the spray paint didn't come cheap, but there's plenty left in there and now I'm left buzzing with ideas as to what to make with what's left. And it did trigger the buying of the cutest christmas baubles - aren't they adorable? I'm still wondering what to do with the rest of them, there were 100 in all sorts of colours in the packet after all!

Making ahead - Christmas is on its way

It is indeed the time of year to take a few minutes to relax and think. It’s time to make the Christmas cake. This year, I will be hosting my most exciting Christmas so far. It will be the first one in our new home, my first Christmas in my very own house. Plus, my mum and nan will be coming over from France, and Mr Petit Filoux’s parents will also come and join us. That means I shall be cooking for 6. That’s a lot in my book. Especially when you’re only ever used to cooking for two, maximum three, and some have different expectations or needs. So anything I can make ahead of time is a bonus, because it is my goal to keep the whole affair relaxed and enjoyable.

And to be able to do so, one has to prepare. This is like music to my ears, because I love making lists, making things ahead of time and being or-ga-ni-sed. And what actually requires to be made ahead of time? A Christmas cake. It ticks all my boxes. So as usual, I have followed my flexible recipe. I’m thinking lots of prunes, apricots and figs this year. Lots and lots. With lovely orange and lemon zest, none of that candied peel though (does anyone actually like that stuff?!).

I can’t wait to tuck into this one. Maybe with some homemade ice cream? Yeah, my head is buzzing with ideas and making ice cream means another thing which doesn’t have to be made at the last minute!

Christmas presents

Before you run a mile, I'm not talking about Christmas 2011. Oh no. Go back a few months and set your mind back to Christmas 2010. You were given plenty of lovely presents, but unfortunately one was a replica of something you'd been given only a year before - and there's only so many pasta machines one person needs. So you apologise profusely and obtain a voucher instead of the original present. You buy yourself something with that voucher but realise that said item is not in pristine condition and decide to get replacement. You go to the shop, only to find they don't have any more in stock. So you leave with money in your pocket, instead of a voucher. Result! Suddenly a world of possibilities opens up before you and you consider spending your pennies somewhere else. What to choose, oh the dilemna! Suddenly, you think of little things you've been meaning to buy for some time, but couldn't quite justify the expense. But now, you can and it's really a Christmas present so it's allowed right? Oh yeah. I present to you my late 2010 Christmas presents. Chosen by me. It doesn't get any better I reckon! I feel like a kid in a sweet shop. Or an adult who's been to the library and come home with lots of goodies. Only these I get to keep :-)

:-) :-) :-)

Finishing it up

Well hello there!! Today I'm going to give you a little post-Christmas recipe to use up some of that mincemeat you've got leftover in the fridge. What do you mean you don't have any left because you scoffed mincepies down your throat for 2 weeks non-stop?!! Well for those without a ravenous family or who made enough to feed an army, here's a little something to warm your January cockles.

Ingredients

• 400g mincemeat
• a couple of tablespoons of booze, I used apricot brandy (which I'd used to make the mincemeat)
• zest of an orange
• 375g puff pastry
• one medium bramley apple, peeled, cored and chopped finely
• one egg
• a tablespoon of granulated sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Method

• Mix the mincemeat, the zest, the apple and the booze in a bowl.
• Split your pastry in half and roll out two rectangles about 15x45cm big.
• Place one of the rectangles on a baking tray and place the mincemeat mix on top, leaving a good 2cm margin of pastry.
• Take the other pastry rectangle, roll it out a little bigger. Fold it in half and make slits about 3cm apart, 3cm from the folded edge.
• Back to the baking tray. Brush the pastry left showing with a little water. Place the slit pastry on top (open it up).
• Crimp the edges. Brush the whole thing with beaten egg, then sprinkle the sugar-cinnamon mix on top.
• Bake in the oven at 200degrees C for 30min.

(adapted from a James Martin recipe found in Desserts)

Enjoy as it is, or with a little bit of cream/ custard/ ice cream. It's delicious and really not all that bad for those January hips. Hey, it's still winter so we need a little comfort food right?!

Back to food

Well here we are, Tuesday 4th of January. Back to work, back to normality. No more presents to open, no more cooked breakfasts, no more walks by the sea, no more mountains to admire. Oh yes, these last two weeks have been jam packed with fun stuff. It might take me a while to go through it all! I hope you enjoy the ride, I’ve got quite a few photos I want to show you! Shall we do it in chronological order? Let’s start with a foodie post then!! Nothing much, but it will give me time to sort through my Normandy and Wales photos – oh yes, I told you, it was a brilliant Christmas and New Year break!!


So, food then. Let's just say the food at Christmas was simply brilliant. It was, really. Didn't do much myself actually, and it was nice for a change. When the only thing you have to worry about is what you'll be wearing, and where you should sit around the table , life is sweet.

Christmas lunch in France is not a set affair as it is in the UK. No definite menu that every single family follows. It's much more varied, which makes it all the more special. Obviously, you usually always have the same culprits when it comes to starters: foie gras, smoked salmon and/ or oysters. This year, it was foie gras and oysters. For those of us not so keen on the latter, there were large prawns from Madagascar which were practically the size of my forearm, I'm not even kidding. Although I don't have a photo to prove it. Instead, you'll just have to feast on those amazing seafood and fish displays taken at the market in Versailles on Christmas eve (someone remind me why I left this country?!).

This was followed by a parmentier of confit de canard. Basically, there couldn't be a roast bird or anything of the sort because my nan is having major teeth problems and needed something soft, that wouldn't need much chewing. So we had the most out-of-this world dish, made with shredded confit duck meat, shallots and potato mash. I could seriously eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is not a dish I'd had before and all I can say is that it's a real shame that it's not better known. It is truly amazing. But then of course, it requires quite a lot of work. Lucky I didn't have to do any ;-)

Oh and this, nibbles to start with. Yes, I am doing this in a slightly funny order! Anyway,can't take much credit for this either. Mum said she'd bring a little something soft for aperitif to help out. I helped too. A little. Ok, just a little bit. Alright, alright, all I did pretty much was the assembling. But you can tell I like things pretty and organised can't you? Mixes of bechamel sauce with gruyere cheese, onion chutney and cherry tomatoes, mushroom and blue cheese mix, all of which was enjoyed after spending 10min in the oven. Lushissimmo.

Finally, the pudding. Or shall I say, puddings. No heavy Christmas cake or pudding, no, we like to finish our Christmas meal on something slightly lighter (which shouldn't be too hard really!). So here we had a nice selection, some healthy and some not so healthy. I'd like to point out I stuck to the not-so-healthy variety. It was Christmas after all. And there's nothing in this world that tastes better than frozen pear and chestnut log. And stuffed dates (marzipan anyone?). And miniature chocolate and pistachio logs. Yeah yeah, there are lychees and grapes and clementines, but I just wasn't in the mood. I'm sure you understand.

I'm back!

 Hello HeLlO HELLO!!!!! I'm back!!! How have you all been? I must catch up with those of you who've stayed around blogland during the holiday, but first things first, let's have a quick catch up here! I had an amazing time back in France, and even the Eurostar behaved reasonably well! The weather was pretty amazing over there too, I don't remember ever seeing that much snow there at that time of year before! It did make driving and walking a little difficult, but we managed.

The same old people grumbled and mumbled, but we rose above it and had so much fun. I think it's fair to say that "growing old gracefully" is not something that can apply to all in my family! Anyway, Christmas day was successful, the sun was shining and all went well.

Snow AND sunshine, honestly, I certainly don't remember that ever happening on Christmas day before! It just put a great big smile on my face! That, and the fact that dear old Father Christmas was very generous again this year!

Everything looked so beautiful, all the shops with amazing decorations (look at this bakery!), it was magical. So there, while I sort out my photos and my bags, I'll leave it at that for today. But there's much much more! Hope you've had a great one and look forward to celebrating the start of 2011! xx

See you soon!

Right, this is it then! I'm off tomorrow, I'm off with a suitcase full of presents, and I'm hoping I'll make it to my mum's in one piece. The Eurostar is back on track, but I can't say taking a train at 5.00am is filling me with joy... but who cares, I can sleep on the way to Paris. Actually, scrap that!! I haven't quite finished a little something I'm making for a little someone, so I'll be stuffing and sewing all the way there.

Wherever you're going, whether you're staying home or not, whoever you may spend the holidays with, I hope you have a great time. So many people out there have to work (hello nurses, paramedics, coppers, firemen!) so us lucky people with 12 days off (oh yes baby) let's make the most of it! Relax, enjoy yourself, eat to your heart's content and have a laugh.

See you next week - take care and a Joyeux Noël to you all! xx

20 questions

Hello!! Well, I'm not usually a copy cat, but this one I couldn't resist!! If you visited Little Tin Bird last week, you'll have seen she did a 20 Christmas Questions. Here's mine!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper - gift bags can be used in addition to wrapping paper, but not without - half of the fun about getting presents is ripping the paper off! (or delicately taking it off in my case, it's like a ritual!).
2. Real tree or artificial? Real real real all the way - I'd rather have nothing at all that a bit of plastic.
3. When do you put up the tree? A couple of weeks before Christmas, ie whenever I remember or have the time! No specific date though, it really just fits around whatever else that's going on, and whenever we feel festive enough.
4. When do you take the tree down? Hmmm when I can be bothered? Again, I'm not one to stick to dates, I'm not superstitious, so I take it down when it feels right. I like to enjoy the tree for a bit!
5. Favourite gift received as a child? You know what, I can't remember.... I have such terrible memory! I guess it might be an alarm clock I got from my grandparents over 10 years ago now. It's still working and I can't imagine waking up to anything else in the morning.
6. Hardest person to buy for? Guys in general! Or people who only like vouchers from a certain shop... it's pretty restrictive!
7. Easiest person to buy for? ME!!! HA!!!! Honestly, not that I buy presents for myself obviously, but I'm such an easy person to buy for! Easily pleased, not difficult in the slightest. Take note everyone!!
8. Mail or email Christmas cards? Real cards when I remember? Yeah I'm not particularly great with sending them out on time, or sending them out at all for that matter. In England, some people seem a little obsessed with them and give them to every single person they know, which is a little ridiculous I feel. So I take the opposite stand and only send them to the most special people! (Yeah that's what I tell myself to make me feel better!).
9. Favourite Christmas Movie? I don't really have one. I was fairly sheltered from the whole commercial aspect of Christmas until fairly recently and French TV at Christmas time tends to be mostly really old 70s classic - funny but not necessarily festive. In the last few years, I've got in the habit of watching Love Actually. It's not exactly a happy movie, but I like it nonetheless. And yes, I'm most definitely a Keira Knightley fan.
10. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever I start thinking about presents, so usually in November. The earlier the better really, I hate being rushed at the end - kind of like now?!
11. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope. As I said earlier, I'm easily pleased, which means I like pretty much every thing!
12. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? Smoked salmon and blinis, foie gras, chestnut purée - French christmassy stuff!
13. Lights on the tree (coloured or clear)? Well, we didn't have any lights when I was a kid. Got my first set a couple of years ago because Boyfriend wanted some. And I have to say I love them. And they're clear. Because I like a colour theme on my tree, it's gold/ green/ red, so lights must be clear! That way, it remains pretty and traditional!
14. Favourite Christmas song? The sleigh song!!! I love the jingly bits!!! I need to find the lyrics to it actually, instead of just mumbling...!
15. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Well that's an interesting one! Not one for foreign people hey?! I always end up travelling at Christmas, whether to go to my mum's or see other people in the family. That's what happens when you're scattered in different countries! I long for the days when I can have everyone over, that'll be lovely!
16. Angel, star or ribbon on top of tree? At the moment we've got a star I made last year with wooden coffee stirrers - I know that sounds weird but it's cool I promise! It's simple and elegant. I ended up making it because I couldn't find anything to my taste in the shops. I'm not one for garish or scary looking angels! Actually, I'm not one for angels at all! So star or ribbon, that's the way to go!
17. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Always on Christmas morning. May sound a bit sad, but I still love pretending Father Christmas has been round and dropped off lots of presents. (No I don't leave biscuits out for him, I'm not that bonkers!)
18. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? How commercial it all is. I hate the fact that decorations/ cards etc start appearing in the shops at the end of October - honestly, get a grip people!! There's more to life than sales figures and profits!!!!
19. What do you want for Christmas this year? I'm not after anything in particular really. I just wish everyone could be happy and healthy in my family. There's so many people we miss and wish were still here, it's bittersweet at times.
20. Traditional colours (red and green) or other colours? Traditional all the way! I love what other people can do with different colours, but I like to stick to the safe green, red and gold. Can't go wrong like that and it stays nice and grown up! Maybe when children start being part of the equation things will change, but there's no sign of that yet so it'll stay that way for more Christmases to come!

Aaahhhh Christmas... only 4 days to go! Well, that's if the snow melts... Fancy joining the Eurostar queue anyone?!

Busy busy busy!!

Hello everyone!! Well, a very quick hello before I shoot off to France for a day! Honestly, life feels a little frantic around these parts!!! But the weekend was very nice, very productive, I hope yours was too!! The Christmas tree is up, and I'm in love with it. We were uhming and arhing about whether we should get one at all this year, since I'll be going back to France and Boyfriend will be going to his parents', but we couldn't resist our little market seller. We get it there every year and have never been disappointed. The tree is exactly the right size for our little flat, not too bushy, so it doesn't take over the living room. Simply adorable.

The Christmas present wrapping station is up. All the ribbons, papers and gift tags are out, with sellotape and scissors handy. What more could you want?

And some last minute (?!) Christmas crafting has just been started... 12 days and counting... wish me luck!!

Happy Monday all xx

If every month was December...

I would be as fat as a whale. Not because I won that chocolate hamper (which has been dispersed and hidden around the flat, with only a few things kept at hand for late night TV nibbling), but because I have discovered that I make the best mince pies in the world. Right, no no no, I'm not getting big headed!! And it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm so so proud of myself, these taste a million times better than the shop bought version. And a little self satisfaction never hurt anyone right?

I made these on Saturday night, using some of the mincemeat I made a couple of weekends ago. And then I thought, wait there, I haven't gone to the bother of making my own mincemeat, only to buy shop bought pastry?! No no no, this won't do! I'm going to pull my socks up, take a deep breath, and make pastry. For the first. Time. Ever. I'm not even kidding. Oh I've made dough already, bread dough, pasta dough... but pastry? I've always been too scared. Or just too fussy - who likes to get flour and butter mix under their nails right?

So I picked the most simple recipe I could find for shortcrust pastry. Followed all the instructions, even let it rest in the fridge. And it worked perfectly. I think Boyfriend's words might have been close to: "this is the best mince pie ever". Or something close. Honest. Oh, and they're at their best warm, with a drizzle of double cream poured on top. I'm not one to do things half-heartedly, that's all I've got to say!

More snow? Not really

Hello hello hello!!! Oh goodness, what a palaver!!! I've been meaning to come here for a couple of days now, but life work has just got in the way!!! Honestly, why is it I have to earn a living again?! Listen to this, I was working outdoors yesterday. That meant I was wearing, from top to bottom:

• a thermal hat with ear flaps
• a thermal balaclava
• a thermal top, followed by a turtle-neck top and then a turtle-neck jumper, and finally my wind-proof jacket
• thermal trousers and then normal cotton trousers on top
• three pairs of socks
• two pairs of gloves

And you know what? I was rather toasty inside! So lush, even if it did make me look like a member of the IRA according to my mum!! Either that or a Basque separatist... hmmm not sure which one I prefer!

Anyway, so I was out all day, then had computer troubles at work today. And I couldn't really tell them it was urgent because my blog needed updating could I?! But here I am, and I'm so relieved! I have so many things I want to show you, tell you about, but with this rubbish light total darkness I live in when I get home, good photos are hard to come by! And I'm not proving to be very organised at the weekends, so we'll have to make do won't we?!

You've probably guessed what I wanted to tell you about today, after reading the post title and, well, all those photos! Paper snow flakes.... fill me with joy!!! We live in a small flat, so we have four windows to our name. And guess what, all four windows are presently covered in snow flakes! Actually, "covered" gives out the wrong image doesn't it? I think "tastefully arranged" might be better ;-)

I love the way the street light makes lovely reflections on our bedroom walls at the moment through those snow flakes, I'll try and capture it on camera. It really looks rather dreamy and magical.

But until then, I hope I've made your world a little dreamy too. I can't recommend paper snowflakes highly enough. You won't believe what a difference it makes; even if you're looking out onto grey skies, it can only fill your heart with joy and anticipation. Not that you should get more snow, thanks very much, but at the festive season which is upon us. Let's enjoy it while it lasts!!