Reading matter

Any Christmas when I receive a pile of books is a good day :) I'm glad we went for our walk yesterday, because although it's not cold it's grey and dull. Also S's lurking bout of labyrinthitis is making itself known, so he didn't want to risk going anywhere. He actually went to the doctor's on Friday, but the queue was all round the waiting room and out of the door, so he came straight home again. Hopefully he'll get in tomorrow.

Anyway, no problem having a day of lounging on the sofa by the fire. Lunch was quickly done; when it's just the two of us we have steak, because we have it so rarely it's a treat. Starters: Jerusalem artichoke velouté with grilled scallop (singular: when S opened the two fresh scallops I bought in Narbonne, one of them looked so dodgy we just threw it away, and I cut the remaining one in half). Then steak with pan-fried Brussels sprouts, virtuous Slimming World chips ... and béarnaise sauce to dip them in. A massive cheese platter, and Delia's little ginger puddings with toffee sauce to finish us off. Although we did manage a bit of chocolate with our coffee. We'll be watching Black Narcissus later ...

Happy Christmas to all!