Chrissy in Signeville....was a delightful experience. We actually finally officially owned this place on December 18th. I was stressing we wouldn't own it by Chrissy but we did by the skin of our teeth.
We had managed to prearrange a new fireplace to be installed the day after we arrived (i.e. on the morning of the 24th as we arrived late on the 23rd). All went perfectly well.....the guys turned up on time, we popped into Chaumont to do our shopping and came back just as they were finishing.
We liked our pervious fireplace for it's antique nature but it was just not practical. It burned through the wood like nothing on earth, the flue needed fixing (as we found out previously when the bloody thing came off- when the fire was in full swing - and thankfully the previous owners had left oven gloves! Andy is a trooper when it comes to times of crisis. I panicked as usual!).
We sort of hoped for snow but definitely didn't want drizzle, fog, low cloud etc all of which is more normal than snow for this time of year. So no snow. But we got the sun. It was the sunniest, warmest weather I think on record for Christmas in France and made for a rather awesome Christmas I must say. We started off Christmas day with a run to Andelot Blanchville and back. A treat at this time of year.
We decided on a Pintade for our Christmas dinner. We cooked up Rabbit on our arrival night (with prunes, chorizo, mushrooms, very yummy), Pigeon on the 24th and Pintade (and a great bird at that, nicely hung. Dry skin, dark meat).
A rather convivial start to our first Christmas experience in our newly owned place in France.
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| Family meeting come reunion |
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| New fireplace |
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| The best Pintade euros can buy (it was the same price per kg as a Bresse chicken!) |
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| Pintade, roasted parsnips, roasted fennel and roasted prunes (with stuffing under the skin) |
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