Meal Deal

This year's big xmas dinner was much the same as last year, give or take. It felt like we sat down later than ever, but that just may be me getting on in years.

We had smoked salmon, then foie gras, followed by prawns and a salad. I experimented with stuffing a Medjool date with some foie gras, as suggested in the Super U brochure, and it was quite nice. But since it is delicious on a plain bit of toast, who cares about that?

The main course was a capon, which I have to say is a delicious alternative to regular chicken and turkey. It was a Label Rouge one, and utterly fab. I went out to Super U and bought one to bring home with me, and I don't know if I could bring myself to buy a regular supermarket chicken again.

Anyway, I skipped the cheese and the fruit and had a sliver of ice cream for dessert, then basically copped out and went to bed.

For drinkies we had some cremant de Jura and champagne, and a 10 year old Sauternes with the foie gras (if you're in the habit of only drinking red wine, or only dry whites, I do recommend a proper dessert wine occasionally - I've found it particularly fab with xmas pud in the past), which was a great combo. Then there was a 12 year old red wine from my father in law's cellar. Bless him, he doesn't really know a lot about wine. My opinion is you should let the supermarkets to the bulk buying and store the wine - they sell it, mostly, ready to drink. Anyway, it was an Arbois or something, and well beyond its best.

The day after, or was it the day after that, we had venison. A strong meat, but so low in fat and cholesterol, it was enjoyable enough.

Now we're back in the UK, and a diet is badly needed, not just because of xmas, but because of moving house and other stresses, I'm a bit of a lardon at the moment. So it's back to plain food, like spag toms, family recipe to follow.