WHEN IT'S TOO COLD..............

...........COOK.  Just checked the mercury and it's -20C.  We have cancelled the skiing for the weekend, not that the kids are on a course but they always like to ski on the weekend.  Benjamin's face is just cut up with the cold.  It feels like razor blades on your cheeks.  So I've been cooking.  Yesterday I made Arancini.  Never tried them before but my sister-in-law made them a couple of weeks ago.  They are delicious.  Left over Risotto that is too stodgy to eat, rolled into balls, place a filling in the middle, I used blue cheese, roll in bread crumbs and deep fry.  I re-heated them in the oven for 10 minutes to make sure they were hot all the way through and next time I will re-fry them for 10 seconds for the extra crispiness.  But they were delicious.

Anne-Sophie and Romain making Arancini a couple of weeks ago.

The other thing that keeps you warm at this time of year is Tartiflette.  A local dish made with potatoes, either smoked meat or thick bacon and Reblechon Cheese.  Then the whole thing is doused generously with Savoie white wine and baked till bubbly hot.

On Wednesday's I take Samuel to Sallanches, our nearest big town 30 minutes away, for an appointment and we always have a little date.  We go to the local bakery and have a hot chocolate from the machine and buy a pastry or two.  We decided to treat daddy and Ben, so we got a few.

Strawberry tarts and Custard slices, there were chocolate eclairs involved too but they were eaten up to quickly.

On February 2cnd it was Chandeleur so I made crepes for the school.  Everyone eats crepes on this day, it's a Catholic festivity for the blessing of candles.  It's amazing how many Catholic celebrations they have and a few involve food too.

On Friday Manu and I braved the -12C weather and headed for the market.  We bought some Bulot.  These are whelks in English, I think, it's like a sea snail, delicious though.  You eat them cold, cooked and dipped in mayonnaise. 

 This was taken last year, everyone was a lot more dressed up and more grumpy this year.

Bulot

And that's it from me re: food.  Manu is leaving this week for Miami for about two months, so I'll have time to loose all those extra kilos gained in Winter.