The new year

And so the new year arrives, as grey & damp as the old year left. I managed to see it through to the bongs of Big Ben. We finished our champagne to the sight of the fireworks around the London Eye, watched by the shivering crowds on the Embankment.

So today I have turned my mind to phone call good wishes. PD is down with a fluy cold & feeling sorry for himself. A cousin rang with her good wishes. I rang Jean, our friend with cancer, to discover, according to her husband, she'd decided to retreat back to bed. She's not sleeping well - too much to worry about since she discovered just before Christmas that the tumour hadn't shrunk any despite the chemo. Still I had a chat to her husband & sent our good wishes.

In the midst of the phone calls I turned my attention to the meal today. We're having a roast gammon joint for a change. I'm thinking of glazing it with a redcurrant jelly & orange juice mixture for a festive hint of a change. 

The Fox does enjoy his roast. I have to confess gammon is my favourite roast, both to eat & to cook. There are so many ways you can vary it a bit with different glazes or par-boiling it in cider or with spices. And so much lean meat, delicious hot or cold. A truly celebratory meal to start the new year.