Welcoming in 2020

Seven people for dinner at mine. I was on the main course and apéros while the others were dealing with the rest. You'd think that would be easy going especially as the venison casserole was already done but somehow it took hours. 

Austrian red cabbage and dauphinoise potatoes meant a lot of chopping and slow cooking though it was the apéros which took the most time. Sausage rolls, sesame straws, smoked salmon toasts, humous toasts, sausage and apricot balls, pigs in blankets. 

And a coctail of fizz (1 bottle) mixed with 300ml of triple sec and 300g of cranberry juice, well chilled.

For once the dining room was in commission so that too, needed organising. Didn't take long for me to realise why I've been avoiding entertaining.

Still, we (Nicole P, Nicole K, Anna and Gérard, Alvaro and Mercedes from Barcelona) had a good evening; foie gras, a splendid cheese board, turron (a Catalan sweetmeat speciality), dessert etc. We also followed the Catalan tradition of eating a grape on each stroke of midnight. Impossible to do unless you've had plenty of practice. 

I finally made it to bed for 3h15 having stacked the dishwasher and abandoned the rest. There's nothing planned for tomorrow and I'm in danger of spending the day watching a boxset and eating chocolate so at least this chore will give me something more useful to do once I make it downstairs.

Weather:

14°, sun and blue sky