Weather or Not, Christmas Approaches.

The weather has been totally unseasonal here in our little neck of the woods. Quite often it's been warm enough to go outside in shirtsleeves with no sweater or coat required. We've enjoyed some gloriously sunny days interspersed with some disgustingly wet and muddy days. 

Today however, the wind is cold, biting and from the North. Perhaps Winter is finally here.

I hope we will have some snow falls over the Christmas period. I love that sharp white crispness - the air always seems cleaner and the fields look so beautiful with their covering of snow. Despite, or perhaps because of, a lifetime of Christmases in warm or hot climates Christmas still seems so much more special when it's snowing. I love hot sunshine and sea breezes, but at Christmas give me some snow please!

Winter view from our cottage - but no snow so far for us in 2015.

In other parts of the UK, folk have suffered dreadful destruction to their homes and disruption to their lives with the horrendous flooding wrought by Storm Desmond. Many have had to cope with more flooding within a week of the last lot. We have been blessed, and very grateful, to escape any flooding and to escape the very worst of the destructive winds too. 

Here in our little country cottage, the last week or so has mostly been about trying to sort out medications, painkillers etc and the correct dosages for our lovely girl. The first lot of meds were beginning to cause some unpleasant reactions and so we rapidly changed them to a new formulation.  Fingers crossed, we seem to have a good balance for her right now and she is relaxed and happy. Her hind leg is worse/weaker but that doesn't seem to faze her at all. I guess animals just 'get on' with things. So many folk, either here or on FB etc, have sent messages of support and positive vibes for her. Bless you - each and every message has meant a lot to us.  Here she is…

Is that my supper I can smell? 

We spend quite a lot of our time in our Snug during this time of year. It's a perfect description - the room is just that: cosy and snug. We have a lovely old inglenook fireplace with a wood burning stove which warms the house beautifully. Of course the house is centrally heated as well! But in winter, the wood burning stove really is the heart of our home. 

All our charts and maps of the Dutch waterways are overwintering in this room. Perfectly located for planning and dreaming of our summer cruising to come.

Photo: Veronica Hayes

Inevitably, my mind is turning to our Christmas meal. For the past few years, I have cured a side of salmon to make the classic Scandinavian dish, Gravad Lax.
The picture below shows the start of the curing process. I like to add pink peppercorns to the curing mix - it looks pretty and gives a nice flavour to the salmon. It's easy to do and has the added benefit of being prepared in advance making it a snip for the galley slave on the day.

It's a snowy scene on the Gravad Lax preparations!

We adore Gravad Lax! And we love the traditional mustard dressing and the sweet/sour pickled cucumbers that go with it. We also enjoy fillet of beef for our main course. Last year I made a massive bowl of béarnaise sauce to accompany the beef. When I say massive, I do mean massive. About 1 litre or so of the stuff. Not quite sure what I was thinking of at the time, but I can say that after an hour of whisking egg yolks, herb-infused vinegar and butter together by hand, I was wishing I'd made a simple red wine sauce instead!

This year, the Gravad Lax will once again feature for our first course. But we're going to ring the changes for our main course as I'm going to reprise the delicious Hot Smoked Duck Breast recipe we enjoyed on our wedding anniversary. We'll go traditional again with a Christmas pudding for dessert. 

On Christmas Eve, we will decorate the tree and our home. And we'll be opening a bottle of Champagne to toast absent friends and each other. 

Of course, I'll be hoping for a sight similar to this one… the south side of our garden overlooking the pond with icicles dripping from the thatched roof. All beautifully enrobed with a covering of pristine snow - such joy! 

Vxx