Having arrived back on The Isle of Man in mid December it was time to consider the Christmas festivities. Though we were on British territory, we opted to continue French tradition and hold a réveillon. A réveillon is a long dinner, and possibly a party, held on the evenings preceding Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. The name of the dinner is based on the word réveil (meaning “waking”), because participation involves staying awake until midnight and beyond. In the United States, the réveillon tradition is still observed in New Orleans due to the city’s strong French heritage, with a number of the city’s restaurants offering special réveillon menus on Christmas Eve.
So, a couple of days before, armed with a a lump of wood and some parcel tape, I prepared the dining table for seven. This took a modicum of engineering skill since we don’t have a large dining room and the table was designed to only seat six! However, it seemed to work OK, because on 24th Marie-Danielle prepared a beautiful table for us while I was locked away in the kitchen!
Our guests were Penny and Sarah who had met us in Paris at Le Procop, Penny’s husband Steve, and Jill and Bruno who are, like us, a French-British couple only the other way round (Bruno is French and Jill is British). We weren’t sure if 
Bruno was going to make it since he had been unwell for some days. However, he made a huge effort and spent the evening with a “cockerel hat” perched on his head (as opposed to Steve, who wore a “reindeer hat”) – yes, it was one of those nights! We are certainly blessed with some wonderful friends.
So, the menu!
First off, since it was Christmas, as part of the apperitifs, we constructed a “Christmas wreath” out of little cocktail sausages and that buttery, flaky, Vienna-style pastry used to make croissants. The bow itself was a red pepper that underwent M-D’s surgical skills and the bowl in the middle held Dijon mustard for dipping. 
Along with quails eggs, olives, “appericubes” (baby cheese cubes from France), cocktail biscuits and a couple of bottles of chilled Cremant d’Alsace, we passed a pleasant half-hour awaiting the main event. Or should I say that “they” passed a pleasant half-hour awaiting the main event, since I was locked away in the kitchen having all sorts of fun on my own!
As a starter, we had decided on Salade des Gourmets, that wonderful salad with lots of added extras like foie gras, smoked salmon, magret de canard, small cherry tomatoes, fresh scallops and prawns. It makes me salivate just thinking about it!
And then came the awkward bit!!!
We decided to do a Beef Wellington which normally (for a decent size fillet of beef) takes about 35-40 minutes to cook. However, I knew that most of our guests would prefer their meat more cooked than M-D and I normally eat it, so I had to allow extra cooking time. To be sure, I used a cook’s thermometer and aimed to get to 60ºC (140ºF), where normally we go to about 54ºC (130ºF), I had estimated an additional 10 minutes but it took nearer 20 minutes extra. Normally that wouldn’t be too critical since everybody just chats and the time passes. However, Penny had committed to ringing the bells at the cathedral for the midnight service, so had to leave the house at about 11:40pm. Fortunately, we just scraped in and she was able to finish her plate of Beef Wellington, Champ and mixed vegetables before having to leave.
Jill, meanwhile, is not a meat eater (if the beast had more than 2 legs while it was alive) but she does enjoy Confit de Canard, so I made her a “Confit Parmentier” which is sort of French for shepherds pie using duck instead of lamb!! I simply heated and shredded a duck confit, placed it in a ramekin along with a little chicken stock then covered it with mashed potato (which I was making anyway for the champ!).
While Penny rang her bells (which we could hear since the cathedral is only a couple of hundred yards away) we all finished our main course and took a breather. Well, a sort of breather! In fact we had a “Trou Normand” (literally, a Norman hole) which, traditionally, is Eau-de-vie, especially calvados, served as a middle course in a large meal in the traditional belief it restores appetite. The first time I came across this was a hotel in Normandy where we styayed for a New Year once. In the middle of the meal, the waiter served us all an apple sorbet and then arrived with a teapot!! Tea it was not! Calvados it most certainly was. So, sure enough, we served a sorbet with calvados then sat with contented smiles on our faces waiting for Penny’s return.
Upon Penny’s return, just before midnight, we all exchanged presents (I did warn you we were doing things French style!). After which, cheese was served, followed by M-D’s famous Chocolate and Walnut Gateau (dutifully decorated with Santa and a snowman!)
And what, you might ask, did we drink with this meal? Well, it may surprise you to know that we stayed with Bordeaux Origami from start right through till finish. It’s made by Famille Capdevielle and is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc so is quite light for a red. For this reason it worked through all four courses. All said, a very pleasant evening with some valued friends. Now we have New Year’s Eve to look forward to!!
First of all, though, there was some other business to attend to! in early December we enjoyed a really pleasant evening with Penny and Sarah, friends from the Isle of Man who were visiting Paris. We ate at “Le Procope” in Paris. Founded in 1686 and now Paris’ oldest café, there’s a great atmosphere. The food is excellent and reasonably priced (for central Paris). I tried a Tête de Veau (veal’s head) which, for some reason, I’ve always avoided till now. Frankly, I shall carry on avoiding it! 
There was nothing wrong with the food or the way it had been prepared it’s just that some foods suit us and some don’t. Tête de Veau turned out to just not be my thing. The other three hit luckier than me with dishes that suited them and that they enjoyed. But I had the pleasure of the company of three charming ladies, so I’m not complaining! The evening was fun and it was great to meet friends in a different environment.
And talking of Penny and Sarah, we will have pleasure of their company on December 24th for our Christmas celebration. But more of that when it happens because first we celebrated an early Christmas with M-D’s family near Orléans in north-central France. As our childrens’ families mature, we see less of them than before and, to me, this is quite right. They have built their own lives and we are now only a small part of it. So, since Muriel, Vincent and ‘the girls’ were heading to Corsica for Christmas, we spent an evening with them and had an early festive celebration.