Our stunning countryside

Sundays are rapidly becoming the busiest day of the week lately! After a bit of a lie-in, Keith and I went to get the Sunday newspapers, and I was delighted to see that the weather was gorgeous - cold, misty and beautiful.

On the way back we took the single track road through the countryside, and I stopped to take some photos:

I absolutely love winter days like these! I could have sat and gazed out at the stunning scenery all day!

Back home Sophie was busy preparing the sauces for our dinner of Korean fried chicken tonight. I made breakfast for Keith and me, and then we popped over to Tesco's in my Dad's car to give it a run. We are reluctant to use my car until we get the brake pads sorted out on Tuesday.

My Dad's car was like a frozen igloo, and it took us ages to thaw it out! At Tesco I bought Christmas cards for my parents, two bottles of Bombay Sapphire Gin (for Mike as presents to me and Abbie), some Christmas treats, and ingredients for a cocktail for this evening.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent mooching about. I did some household chores, and Sophie and I had a facemask whilst watching A Place In The Sun. I set up Amazon Prime on the television in the bedroom so Keith could watch England play France in the Rugby. 

By 3pm we were all set to go for a walk as I was hoping for a beautiful sunset. The sky had clouded over a bit but it was still a mixture of blues and greys. It was also still very cold! We walked up to the village and then down the rough track towards the nature reserve. Over to the west, the sky was cloudy but to our left, we could see the twinges of colour from the setting sun.

Someone's watching us...

It was heaven to be out walking, and the peace of the countryside was like a balm to the soul. We stood and watched the sky constantly changing until sunset, about 3.50pm, and then turned back. The photos I've taken really don't do justice to the beauty of our surroundings. On the way home, we met John, one of Keith's pub mates who was out walking his dog. We had a chat, and it was great to catch up with his news.

It was astonishing how quickly the light went after sunset. It was almost completely dark by the time we got back to our little estate, and we met several people who were walking up to the village to see the lighting of the Christmas tree outside the pub. We had forgotten it was taking place, but cocktails were calling us!

Sophie made delicious cocktails using Vodka, Prosecco, raspberries, lemons and honey, and she served them in her new glasses:

Cheers!

Outside it had become very foggy again, and temperatures were set to drop below freezing. Brrr! After a little relaxing with our cocktails, Pringles, and Greg Wallace in Vienna again (we are going next year - I am going to overdose on Christmas markets until I can't take it any more!) we made dinner. Sophie had already brined the chicken thighs, and I took them out, cut the fatty bits off and patted them dry. Sophie made the batter using sparkling water and vodka, and we heated up the oil in our big casserole dish.

Although we started at about 6.30pm, we didn't eat until about 7.45pm as it took quite a while to fry the chicken in batches, and we had to do it twice. Sophie made Jasmine rice (even though I hadn't bought proper Jasmine rice!), and the meal was delicious with the two sauces and a bottle of Sake that Mike had bought for us as an early Christmas present!