Not you understand, a mean and moody New Year: more one shrouded in the kind of atmosphere only a rainy dark New Years Day possesses: when it seems as though the world outside your front door has ceased to exist and there is only the cozy nothingness of life inside remaining. And so in-between making copius notes for a better tomorrow in a tiny little Christian Lacroix (Lacroix Dar-hling, Lacroix…), and eating quite the most delicious New Years day dinner ever cooked by one very tall man, I wandered around in an aimless fashion testing the limits of Snapseed (free yesterday on the 12 days of Christmas) and generally casting an ever so slightly gloomy glow over what was a lovely day. First let me introduce Pom: a little kitten we fostered over the Christmas period, who has very quickly turned into the bane of both mine and Jimmy’s existence. Lovely as she is, she cannot stay, and so we have cuddled her in the days that followed her little lady-kitten operation, helped her pull a cat-cracker or two and blessed her with a very snazzy Celia Birtwell collar. Next up admire what a cutie my little boy is turning into in the very first paper hat wide enough to sit atop his copious curls as he sits and waits for dessert of his own making: a quite frightening muddle of clotted cream ice cream, squirty cream out of a tube and meringue. But each to their gluten-free own because apparently the free from equivalent of Christmas pudding could actually kill him ( No Mum, I would literally die if I had to eat that. Literally.) Next up the much anticipated roast. For which I must make apologies for the picture. Me and food photography do not get on and everything I ever try to capture ends up looking like something no-one would ever want to eat, despite the fact that this huuuuuge four bird roast (turkey, chicken, goose and duck) was an utterly delicious medley of the obligatory sprout, parsnips, Chantenay carrots, carrot mash, creamed mash, duck fat roasties, the most fragrant of home-made stuffing balls, babba sausages wrapped in bacon, broccoli and cranberry sauce. All on one plate. So I swear I might never need to eat again. Now the Ikea Glogg that was the highlight of the day: a gift from my friend Deb, this was absolutely delish served with a handful of roasted almonds and tangerine segments and made for quite the most whoozy of wind-downs while Richard, otherwise known as chief cook and bottle washer got on with putting the kitchen back to relative normality after using every pan, plate and dish in the house to produce his divine dinner. Erm yes… I am a bit spoilt aren’t I?? And finally Jimmy. My greatest little pleasure. A kitten who has fitted so scrumptiously into my house it’s as if he has always been a member of my family. Caught here capturing the entire mood of the evening, by curling up in a ball in much the same fashion as we did after a vigorous bout of competitive Lego, an hour spent laughing at my pathetic efforts to play golf on the Wii and the rest of the evening spent squashed up on the sofa, two cats and all, under blankets as both Rich and Finn uttered fierce hushes in my direction when the intricacies of the last Harry Potter film went straight over my head. A something highly likely when a person hasn’t seen the preceding seven films. A perfect, but exhausting day. And one that found me crawling into bed at the same time as Finn and fast asleep by nine o’clock… Happy January Sweeties. May the rest of the year be as equally blessed as the first of this month.
Create your own Brocante Life Book, plan Christmas, set up routines and rituals or live life the BrocanteHome way with my guided workbooks and planners.
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I haven't watched any of the HP flicks, either. Or read the books. I'm sadly out of touch with modern culture, as a matter of fact. I always observe the New Year with a reading of Tennyson's In Memoriam, which the comment system won't let me paste in here. Naughty livefyre!
Oooh heck, I am so sorry you have such troubles with Livefyre, I will try to address it in the New Year. As for being out of touch with modern culture, well yes: meet your mate! I am usually stubbornly resistant to all that the rest of the world fall in love with! Off to hunt down In Memoriam…x @Brunette
Oh, I forgot to mention, the specific part you want to search for is "Ring Out Wild Bells". It's part of his much longer 'In Memoriam'. I wish I could link it. >.< @Brocantehome
Happy New Year Allison. Having to go gluten free in my baking now produces Hillary-Tenzing-reaches-top-of-Mt. Everest feelings when I pull off gluten-free Yorkshire Puddings and Plum Puddings and terrible depression over things like Springerle that don't taste quite right. I am ever hopeful though. I am going to try a batch with arrowroot flout instead of rice flour before next Christmas baking season. I vowed to not watch another HP movie when I read the Deathly Hallows and Hedwig died. I hate it when authors or movie makers kill the dog/cat/horse/owl. Not another dime of my money does she get. M. Night Shyamalan lost me like that over 'Signs." So Richard made a turgooducken. That's a lot of meat. Did he wrestle the respective birds inside each other himself or are they available in the market all ready for the oven?
Happy New Year Linda… oh how I sympathise with your gluten free escapades: it's a constant battle, but like you say when you do finally create something delicious you feel like doing a happy dance! I really like Glutafin flour and though there is occasionally a papery texture we are probably not used to, it serves me well in most recipes… though why I bother I don't know, Finley hasn't got even a hint of a sweet tooth and thanks me rather blandly for everything I present to him with an insane grin of my own delight! And as for the four bird thingamy it was bought ready to cook thank heavens and I had mine sliced really thin so I didn't suffer a meat overload…x @LindaAlbert
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And finally Jimmy. My greatest little pleasure. A kitten who has fitted so scrumptiously into my house it’s as if he has always been a member of my family. Caught here capturing the entire mood of the evening, by curling up in a ball in much the same fashion as we did after a vigorous bout of competitive Lego, an hour spent laughing at my pathetic efforts to play golf on the Wii and the rest of the evening spent squashed up on the sofa, two cats and all, under blankets as both Rich and Finn uttered fierce hushes in my direction when the intricacies of the last Harry Potter film went straight over my head. A something highly likely when a person hasn’t seen the preceding seven films.
I haven't watched any of the HP flicks, either. Or read the books. I'm sadly out of touch with modern culture, as a matter of fact.
I always observe the New Year with a reading of Tennyson's In Memoriam, which the comment system won't let me paste in here. Naughty livefyre!
Oooh heck, I am so sorry you have such troubles with Livefyre, I will try to address it in the New Year. As for being out of touch with modern culture, well yes: meet your mate! I am usually stubbornly resistant to all that the rest of the world fall in love with!
Off to hunt down In Memoriam…x @Brunette
Oh, I forgot to mention, the specific part you want to search for is "Ring Out Wild Bells". It's part of his much longer 'In Memoriam'. I wish I could link it. >.< @Brocantehome
I never experience to watch this..Looking forward to watch..Thanks a lot for sharing..
Happy New Year Allison. Having to go gluten free in my baking now produces Hillary-Tenzing-reaches-top-of-Mt. Everest feelings when I pull off gluten-free Yorkshire Puddings and Plum Puddings and terrible depression over things like Springerle that don't taste quite right. I am ever hopeful though. I am going to try a batch with arrowroot flout instead of rice flour before next Christmas baking season.
I vowed to not watch another HP movie when I read the Deathly Hallows and Hedwig died. I hate it when authors or movie makers kill the dog/cat/horse/owl. Not another dime of my money does she get. M. Night Shyamalan lost me like that over 'Signs." So Richard made a turgooducken. That's a lot of meat. Did he wrestle the respective birds inside each other himself or are they available in the market all ready for the oven?
Happy New Year Linda… oh how I sympathise with your gluten free escapades: it's a constant battle, but like you say when you do finally create something delicious you feel like doing a happy dance! I really like Glutafin flour and though there is occasionally a papery texture we are probably not used to, it serves me well in most recipes… though why I bother I don't know, Finley hasn't got even a hint of a sweet tooth and thanks me rather blandly for everything I present to him with an insane grin of my own delight!
And as for the four bird thingamy it was bought ready to cook thank heavens and I had mine sliced really thin so I didn't suffer a meat overload…x
@LindaAlbert