Happy New Year
H
by Jacqueline Brown
appy New Year! I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and that 2019 is a healthy one for us all. Having seen the New Year in with a cold, sharing sniffy moments with my Vicks nasal inhaler, and a red nose to rival Rudolf, I hope that is my share of germs done and dusted for the year. I am certainly making healthy eating my focus for 2019 and am off to a great start. Alcohol and meat have now become a treat rather than a regular on my plate (or in my glass) and although I’m not overly upset with these changes, the fact that cheese has gone too, is a little bit more difficult to swallow, especially in winter. I am busy searching out alternatives now that my favourite comfort meals like tarteflette, and its high salt content, is a no go. Thankfully mozzarella has come to my rescue. Rather than the 2.6g of salt per 100g for tarteflette cheese (plus the extra salt in the lardons), mozzarella baked with potatoes and onions gives a similar cheesy experience at only 0.4g of salt per 100g. My new friend mozzarella has also saved our weekly homemade pizza night from being axed too, phew! Even with a three-week family visit to the UK I managed an almost alcohol, meat and cheese free Christmas, which I think earned me a reward. As luck would have it, the day we returned coincided with an invitation to an all French choucroute soirée. Oh my! A couple of Kir Royales, to wish us all a happy and healthy New Year, followed by heaped platters of gammon, smoked sausages, potatoes and cabbage, served with beer and Alsace white wine, should have sent me running for home. However, with the indoor temperature at home only 4° I did the sensible thing, stayed
put and tucked in with gusto. It was delicious and by the time I had over-indulged on the meat, turning away the cheese platter seemed a bit pointless, especially as it was a cumin topped Munster that went so well with a small glass of red wine. Oh France, what a temptress you are with your fantastic cuisine and perfectly paired wines. Even my first French coffee of the year was perfection in a cup; the size, the price and the location (a quirky French bar with its advertising posters that weren’t afraid to show feminine curves, silhouettes or nipples) it was so much more ‘me’ than Costa in the UK and I am so happy to be home. Alongside healthy eating, I am also determined to up my cycling in France this year and hoping to explore an unknown region (or two) on a bike tour. Funnily enough, Alsace now seems to have moved itself to the top of my touring wish list. I have also set myself a 2019 cycling challenge – to cycle 2019km. Last year I pedalled around 700km, so I do hope I’ve not set my sights too high.
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The Deux-Sèvres Monthly, February 2019 | 29