November 28th, 2017

Hello Everyone
Well just to keep you up to date because of course all of you will be oblivious to the fact that we only have 26 days until Christmas;) I am sure you are all super organised and have been out and purchased everything online or at the shops ;) And have thought ahead and have already started to stock the freezer with delicious food products. Yeah right...I am sure most of you have buried your heads in the sand hoping that it might go away without you noticing...and then panic purchase on the 23rd and 24th December when you realise that you cannot ignore the inevitable and you wil be expected to pitch up and look happy with arm loads of gifts and food.
I admit I used to tend slightly towards Scroogism until the eleventh hour and then panic, however with our current profession I am pushed into starting to think about it in September, act on it by October and then get most of my shopping done in Novemeber. In fact this has turned out to be quite a stress free way of approaching Christmas. And has given me time to enjoy the anticipation of the day when I can down knives and butchers block and sit with the family. Well actually it is more like sleep for about 24 hours and then appreciate the family. If you practice the following then it might help pass the time on the big day by sending your own family to sleep in any stressful situations.

So we have also had to do a little practice cooking to better inform everyone about timings of roasted joints and crackling. This week it will be the turn of the rolled lamb joints last week it was pork roast and the new shoulder bacon I have started to make as the demand for bacon seems to be limitless. So the new shoulder bacon is delicious half way between back and streaky allowing it to be crispy, moist and meaty all at the same time. Yummy.
This is definitely one of the more difficult parts of the job...:)
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It will be a busy week for us this week as The Christmas Market at Manoir de Longeveau is on Sunday 3rd December. So its sausages and bacon galore for the week ahead. I am trying to shake of the last remnants of a nasty cold shared with me by our youngest so that I can cope with the chilliness in the butchery and outside on in the market squares. It looks like we will have to wrap up warmly for the next few days it's going to be a frosty weekend.
See you all soon
​Helen