Hogmanay walk (no skiing!)

Sadly the lack of snow has cut rather in to our time spent skiing. But the weather has been amazing so good to get out and take advantage. This is a walk up Pic du Labassère which is just opposite the house.

Nice view back to the house

Merry Christmas!

We went skiing even though there wasn't much snow.

Goose came out well

Lit the pudding with nice whisky. Tasted good!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cake

I always use this cake recipe from my Dad. My mum had her own recipe but I don't know it. Christmas cake always makes me think of them both... and Aidan. I guess it is a family thing.
Now this cake is for Doug and me. I am still perfecting the icing (it is many years work). My mum used to make them without icing (I prefer them plain tbh, but Doug likes the icing more than the cake). My dad always did Royal Icing.
This is butter icing with a little bit of lemon juice to try to make it a bit less sweet than the brandy butter icing last year. I think next year maybe a cream cheese one to go for something less sweet still.

Ski area opening and Christmas Eve

The snow is in a very very sorry state. The resort only managed to open at the start of the Christmas week (22nd Dec) and it was limited opening with only a few chairs and pistes. It has been very warm and no snow for weeks. It has been to warm for the snow blowers even.
Still lovely being in the mountains, walking the dog as well as a bit of skiing.

We comforted ourselves with a lot of food and drink!

It is exciting having a special nibbles plate in the La Mongie flat. I bought a bulk lot of crockery for it and this was included (yes perhaps I should get out more that I find such things exciting)

Doesn't look big does it?

But actually it is a huge beef chop from Lismore. One of the best cuts, sadly not very many of them.

When Richard visited he brought us some wine all the way from California. Perhaps nicer than French :) thanks Rich!

Christmas Dinner has arrived

Grown by a friend. One for them and one for us. I am in charge of preparing them ready for roasting.
We would like to have geese one day... but not yet...

Here are the sprouts. Not the biggest, but my first sprouts so maybe the next crop will be better. The cabbage whites got at them a bit. Doug doesn't much like sprouts but I love them.

Friends visiting

We have friends visiting, unfortunately they are here to ski and there isn't enough snow for the area to open. We have had a good time eating, drinking and sledging though.

Sledging means lots of walking up

 Village looks pretty

We went up the Pic du Midi as well

Eating lunch at ours (sorry Emma, caught you mid chew!)

Many yummy foods in La Mongie restaurants

Snow!

It has been very warm with a bit of rain, and not much snow. We have now had decent-ish dump of snow, but no more forecast and not enough to open the ski area (originally they said the 1st December)
We went for a snowshoe (Jake) and ski (Rhoda and Doug). It was lovely weather for it, but not much depth for skiing really.

Beer and Cheese

Where is everything else going to go?
The fridge in La Mongie, where we are spending Christmas, isn't very big!

Sausages

Stocks of pork are not exactly low but they are definitely not high either. We tend to scarf all the pork chops first and we eat sausages nearly as fast as we can make them (it takes a bit of planning to make them as massive frozen lump has to defrost somewhere it won't get too warm).
We just made a batch of sausages and we may only have meat for one more. These are apple and pork.

I made mini sausage rolls as well. Yum!

We need to get inventive with what to do with all the odds and ends in the freezer - the dog might get lucky!
Thinking of more pigs in the spring...

First Mince Pies!

Renting our ski apartment

We have finally managed to get the ski apartment fitted out enough to rent it. We have good bookings for New Year and for February which is the school holiday month. We plan on using it ourselves for the other winter months and then renting it in summer also.
Initial reviews are good. If you know anyone fancying a lovely apartment to rent in the Pyrenees, specially in the summer let us know!

Many new curtains have been made. These in the living room with snowflakes are HUGE. There are also new bedroom curtains and ones for the cupboards.

This won't be up all year sadly as it gives a nice light to the place

We found a brilliant piece of art showing Poppy skiing.