A WALK AROUND THE LAKE

We seem to be having a mild winter while the States is freezing literally, but it means that the ski generation are getting a little twitchy, with snow every 10 days or so they have just managed to keep the slopes open.  We had an International Hot Air Balloon day here in Praz last week so that was a pleasant change and for the first time since moving here four years ago they had the most perfect conditions to fly.

We decided however to get out of the village and go for a walk around the lake in Passy.  It was beautiful but cold when the sun finally went down.

It was nice to breath some fresh air.

CHRISTMAS

Well Christmas came so fast and with lots of rain, much to the chagrin,of the skiers.  Manu my husband was home this year for the first time in 15 years for Christmas so it was great to have him here we opened presents.  Of course now for New Years Eve he is working but you can't have it all.

I spoilt the kids this year, had the chance to being in South Africa everything is so much cheaper.  I can't believe half the stuff is sent to SA from Europe and is still cheaper over there.

For Christmas Eve I  made dinner which consisted of Snails, Stuffed Chicken with Chestnuts, which took me two hours to peel, boil and re-peel, not sure all the fuss was worth it, and I now have got everyone to eat up the left overs except the chestnut, but it was a special request made by my sister-in-law and of course ever obliging me.  New Years Resolution be less obliging.  

O and for dessert we had a tiramisu buche de Noel, which usually is made with chocolate etc but I decided to do an Italian twist, it was delicious and so light.  

Here is the recipe;

Pkt Sponge Fingers
2 Cups of Strong Coffee
4 Tbs of Brandy or Coffee Liqueur

250g Marscapone
3 Eggs Separated
1/3 Cup of Sugar
2 Sheets or 1 Tbs powdered Gelatin
300ml of Cream

- Soak the powdered gelatin in 3 Tablespoons of water or the two leaves in a 100ml of water.
- Re-hydrate the powdered gelatin by putting the bowl in a bain-marie of boiling water till melted, if using the leaves ring them out using your hands and put in a saucepan with a little of the cream 0 say 50ml, and slowly heat it up till the gelatin leaf has melted.  Cool the gelatin
- Whisk the whites till stiff- set aside
- Whisk the cream till stiff - set aside
- Whisk the eggs and sugar together till thick and creamy - 5 minutes
- Whisk the Marscapone into the egg mixture, add the gelatin whisking constantly
- Fold in by hand the Cream
- Fold in by hand the egg whites
- Line a loaf tin with cling film (if you wet the mould first the cling film will stick to the mould easily)
- Put a layer of the marscapone mixture into the bottom of the mould
- One by one dip the biscuits in the coffee mixture (it helps if it's warm) and put them onto the marscapone layer, I got 8, dip and place fast or the biscuits disintegrate.
-Next place another layer of marscapone
- Then the dipped biscuits then the last layer
- Refrigerate for about 4 hours
- Turn out, pulling at the cling film to help loosen the tiramisu
- Cover in sieved cocoa powder
- BON APPETIT

 On Christmas day we had our lovely friend Seb over for Roast Lamb and Christmas pud.

 They don't have Christmas cake in France, neither do they have Christmas Pudding, or Mint sauce with Lamb.  Who in their right mind eats lamb without mint sauce.

I have been so homesick since I got back from South Africa it's been nice to have Manu around to take my mind of things.  I think being in the sunshine, seeing our friends, drinking fantastic South Africa made us both miss the good life.  But life isn't so bad in France either it just takes some getting used to and I think if French  is not your first language this makes it so much harder and the lonely times seem so much darker.

So some reflective photos from our fabulous holiday in SA....................

 This is Cape Point Vineyards, who very cleverly, has a night market (just food) and a bar of course, so you wonder around eating what you like and their is a choice from Fish and Chips, Curry, Pizza, Burgers, beautiful flat breads, Tapas, Fried Calamari, Crepes etc etc, the list is endless and of course don't forget a fab bottle of chilled Splattered Toad ( a lovely sauvignon blanc) and then you grab a table and watch the sun go down.  Who could ask for more.

 Good friends, my mum and Shirley

 Beautiful friends, Tracy and Tanya, that's me in the middle.

 ....and of course the sunset.

 Ben calls Fish Hoek beach the Ice Cream beach because of course that's the favourite thing to do when we visit - buy an ice cream.

We headed off to Cape Point with our lovely friends Tracy and Matthew to fish for mussels and botterskulp (not sure what that is in human language)

You have to buy a licence from the post office and count your catch, or you could end up paying a rather large fine after a lovely day on the beach.

 These are the little critters, look awful but once boiled, minced, fried and eaten on toast you'll never look back.

 Manu and Matthew proud of their catch.

Getting back from South Africa apart from dealing with my homesickness, we were dealing with the massive temperature difference.  It was 25C when we left and -12C when we arrived.

The sunset was beautiful though.