Happy New Year 2013

We're back to Normandy and back to 'normal', whatever that means!
We had a fabulous time in the west of Ireland and enjoyed our first Christmas and New Year in our cosy, little cottage tucked away in the bogs.
The girls amused themselves for hours over the decoration of the Christmas cake and did a great job -

Philippe tried to get in with the 'neighbours' -

And Ellen did us proud with her simple but elegant Christmas table -

Menu planning was certainly a challenge, due to limited cooking facilites, but thanks to a slow cooker (Crock Pot) and some pectin 48 ( cooks the egg in the crème brulée so no oven needed!) our Christmas dinner was all about fine dining ...

We enjoyed

• Irish smoked salmon with brown bread, lemon and black pepper, washed down with Champagne
• Thai Soup - scallops and julienne of celery and carrot in a coconut milk, lemongrass and prawn stock
• Ox Cheeks with a creamy mash and roasted asparagus
• A selection of Irish Cheeses with Tomato Relish
• Vanilla and Tonka bean Crème Brulée 

The New Year was brought in in our 'local' as we bopped away to DJ Dermot followed by a singalong of 'come -all -ye' type classics.  Philippe made his début and sang 'Champs Elysées' for all in sundry!

A few days of welcomed rest followed and on our return my better half claimed that coming home to Normandy didn't have the usual 'home sweet home' effect on him.  He reckons that Doogra is becoming 'home' for him too - happy days ahead in our 'home from home'!

Bonne Année 2013!

Rainbow country - Doogra ;)