DLCI 2024 Magazines - December
Joyeux Noël
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from the DLCI Committee
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Merry Christmas
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Joyeux Noël 〰️ from the DLCI Committee 〰️ Merry Christmas 〰️
WE WISH YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME!
Lin, Annette, Liz, Sue, Sharon, Dana, Vyvyan and Amanda
xxx
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE PRESIDENT
Hello Everyone
Well my favourite time of the year (as many of you already know) is nearly here. Christmas cake and pudding ready, mincemeat made, turkey ordered, Balcony tree bought and the ones for the salon and the hall will be on the 10th and our son will be arriving for the festivities! Goodwill and wine will flow copiously! Just one fly in the ointment is that I had a foot operation at the end of November and am limited to the amount of walking/standing I can do for some time – aaarrggh! I must give heartfelt thanks to wonderful friends and all in the fabulous committee who have been so kind and have shouldered the extra work so willingly at such a busy time of year.
This leads me on quite nicely to our two amazing events this month – The first is one of our biggest fund raisers The DLCI Christmas Fair on the 7th December hosted by the wonderful Grace at Chateau Tilleraie. This is an all day event and we have masses of stalls. Everyone has worked extremely hard putting this together – our thanks to Sue Fairweather for both her organisational skills and her powers of persuasion! – so please come and support us, bring friends, family, neighbours and spread the word far and wide. We would also love your home baked goodies and donations of bottles, any sort, for the Tombola. Do tell anyone who is interested that there will also be wine for sale (and to buy by the glass in the afternoon) and beer. There will also be the most delicious food and bubbles available to purchase in the late afternoon, early evening. The day will be quite magical with lots of Christmas lights and a huge Christmas tree and we would love to see you all!
Secondly we have the Christmas Lunch at Chateau Les Merles on the 12th December – a beautiful chateau, an amazing chef and a wonderful dining room with an enormous open log fire – what more could you ask? At the time of writing we have 5 places left, if you would like to join us please email DLCIEventsCoordinator@gmail.com. That will give us the grand total of 50 which is the perfect number for the dining room. We do hope you can come and enjoy the festivities with us.
Lastly, and I know this sounds premature, we have the New Year lunch 23rd January, at Asia Royal, Creysse. A lovely choice of delicious food to tempt any jaded palates! The booking form is on the website. A presentation to Cancer Support France will be made at the lunch so we hope we get lots of bookings as we cannot think of a more deserving charity.
Finally I would just like to wish you a very healthy, happy and merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing you all soon – you’ll recognise me with one beautifully styled, orthopaedic, industrial size black shoe (I couldn’t bear to wear the pair!).
Take care
Lin xxx
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Thursday December 12th – Christmas Luncheon at Chateau les Merles
Tuilières, 24520 Mouleydier
11.30 for 12.00
€45 per person with a Méthode Traditionelle (sparkling wine) or soda, a glass of Château les Merles wine and a coffee
Members/Guests welcome
Only a few places remaining - please email DLCIEventsCoordinator@gmail.com to book
MENU
Croque-monsieur aux crevettes, crémeux de romanesco, salad de pickles
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Tataki de canard, grains de sésame, pommes de terre dauphine, choux bruxelles sautés
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Madeleine aux agrumes, marmelade de citron, espuma fromage blanc
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MENU VÉGÉTARIEN
Mille feuilles céleri et pomme - siphon beurre noisette, noisettes torréfiées, gélée pommes
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Arranchini champignon - crémeux champignons, champignons poêlés et roquette
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Madeleine aux agrumes, marmelade de citron, espuma fromage blanc
DLCI CHRISTMAS FAIR at Château La Tilleraie, Bergerac
Saturday December 7th
10 am - 7 pm
Join us at the Chateau's grand atrium for a fantastic charity fundraiser 🎄
Over 25 stallholders
A variety of vendors including pottery, jewellery, crafts, food, and drink
Festive lights and a towering Christmas tree
Enormous tombola and festive cheer
Some thrilling racing action with our Scalextric track! It's guaranteed to be a lot of fun as you race around the course.
Join us for an unforgettable day filled with holiday spirit, great food, and fantastic finds! 🎁
10:00 AM – 3:00 PM: DCLI Cafe with coffee, tea & soft drinks offering a selection of sweet and savoury items including sausage rolls , quiches and cakes.
3:00 PM – 9:00 PM: Bar service and Food Truck Créole ‘La Papangue’.
Thursday January 23rd – Chinese New Year Lunch at Asia Royal, Creysse
February - Virtual Horse Racing and Bingo
March - Lunch at Bucket’s Auberge Inn, Montazeau
To see a full listing of all up and coming events, please see the Forthcoming Events section on the Members Only Home Page.
A WARM WELCOME TO ALL OUR NEW MEMBERS IN NOVEMBER
| Roxanne FRAZER AUDETE | Issy Les Moulineaux | |||
| Jane ROGERS | Lalinde | |||
| Paola DOLCETTI BADER |
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Lamonzie-Saint-Martin |
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DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS
Janet Barkus
Ann Bond
Rosemary Copley
Roxanne Frazer Audet
Carolyn Katon
Chris Lees
Elena Meriguet
Victoria Raphael
Pat Sansom
Dina Sudakova
Xenia von Wedel
GARDENING IN FRANCE
By CHRISTINE LEES
If you have a large garden, this is a good time to gather evergreens and berries to make a Christmas wreath. You can make the base from vine stems, willow or dogwood (Cornus), twisted into a circle, or buy online or from a garden centre. Clothe the base with evergreens, either tucked in or fixed with fine florist's wire, at an angle in the same direction around the circle. You could use laurel, yew, rosemary (which will also provide a gorgeous scent), juniper, bay, ivy and holly, or anything else glossy or festive looking in your garden. I have a variegated Eleagnus in the garden and that looks pretty on a wreath.
You can decorate with berries, such as holly, cotoneaster, pyracantha, rosehips, crab apples, and hydrangea heads. For some added spice you could add red chillies. Be careful to keep poisonous berries away from small children and pets. Pinecones either natural or sprayed with silver or gold will provide added interest. Dried orange slices also look attractive.
Put a ribbon bow at the base and a ribbon or twine hanging loop at the top.
You can also decorate mantelpieces if you have them, or stair banisters, with greenery.
Due to the clean air here you can often find bunches of mistletoe, best removed from your trees anyway. These can be hung over doorways or attached to picture frames or mirrors.
Happy festive decorating!
RECIPE OF THE MONTH
CHRISTMAS MUSHROOM AND SAUSAGEMENT STUFFING
50g butter
The liver from the turkey or 4/5 chicken livers, finely chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
200g button mushrooms finely chopped
1 kg pork sausage meat
200g white breadcrumbs
120ml cranberry sauce
30ml fresh chopped parsley
Salt and pepper
2 eggs beaten
Melt the butter and fry the onions until transparent
Add mushrooms and liver and cook through
If you are preparing this ahead of time leave this mixture to cool. Otherwise move straight onto next step.
Blend with the sausage meat, breadcrumbs, cranberry sauce, parsley, seasoning and beaten egg.
Mix well.
Stuff the turkey breast with some of the mixture. Put the rest in a suitable dish and bake in the oven alongside the turkey.
DORDOGNE LADIES BOOK CLUB
WINTER SOLSTICE
By Rosamunde Pilcher
Review by Lin Green
This is now one of my favourite Christmas reads! I discovered this book only recently, written in 2000 it was Pilchers last novel before she retired, and what a warm hug of a book it is. With five main characters the story develops through their interactions with each other and their different perspectives of events. Through design, misfortune and need they all end up in a grand house in Scotland just before Christmas and there the magic begins. We gradually see the creation of a ‘family’ and new beginnings and although sad in parts this is a joyful book which enchanted me.
‘Elfrida
Before Elfrida Phipps left London for good and moved to the country, she made a trip to the Battersea Dogs' Home, and returned with a canine companion. It took a good-and heart-rending-half-hour of searching, but as soon as she saw him, sitting very close to the bars of his kennel and gazing up at her with dark and melting eyes, she knew that he was the one. She did not want a large animal, nor did she relish the idea of a yapping lap-dog. This one was exactly the right size. Dog size.
He had a lot of soft hair, some of which fell over his eyes, ears that could prick or droop, and a triumphant plume of a tail. His colouring was irregularly patched brown and white. The brown bits were the exact shade of milky cocoa. When asked his ancestry, the kennel maid said she thought there was Border collie there, and a bit of bearded collie, as well as a few other unidentified breeds. Elfrida didn't care. She liked the expression on his gentle face. She left a donation for the Battersea Dogs' Home, and her new companion travelled away with her, sitting in the passenger seat of her old car and gazing from the window in a satisfied fashion, as though this were the life to which he was happy to become accustomed.
The next day, she took him to the local Poodle Parlour for a cut, shampoo, and blow-dry. He returned to her fluffy and fresh and smelling sweetly of lemonade. His response to all this sybaritic attention was a show of faithful, grateful, and loving devotion. He was a shy, even a timid, dog, but brave as well. If the doorbell rang, or he thought he spied an intruder, he barked his head off for a moment and then retreated to his basket, or to Elfrida's lap. It took some time to decide on a name for him, but in the end she christened him Horace.’
Best wishes and take care
Kathy John Organiser Bergerac Book Club
Lin Green Organiser Sainte Foy Book Club
JUST FOR FUN
MEMBERS EVENTS
Advertise your Charitable or non-profit making events here. Simply email me at DLCIMagazine@gmail.com (no later than 25th of the month) and they will be published in the next months newsletter
MEMBERS PHOTOS
PETS CORNER
She's not mine but we took her in for a week (she was lost and very thin), a lovely little girl called Neige. Although I would have liked to keep her (plus she matched my sofa) I decided to take her to the vet to find out if she was chipped... and unfortunately for us, we found her owners... Of course they were happy to find her and we were a little sad to see her go.
sent in by Annie Kerdraon
Happy Christmas
from Hector
sent in by Kathy John
OUR FAVOURITE PLACES
Members photos from where they live or would recommend to visit in and around the Dordogne
PHOTO REQUEST
We would love to include more of your photos including those for Pets Corner in the next Newsletter. Simply email me at DLCIMagazine@gmail.com (no later than 25th of the month) with the photo and where it is. They will be published in the next months newsletter
LASTLY
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
PLEASE NOTE
Centralised email addresses have been created for DLCI committee members which will automatically forward any emails to the appropriate person in charge.
WELFARE
If you have an accident and need help with transport, errands or some company during convalescence or if you know of another member who is unwell, has a bereavement or you think is going through a difficult patch. We will do all we can to provide support and we will be totally discreet. Please contact Sue at: DLCIWelfare@gmail.com
EMAIL UPDATES, CHANGE OF ADDRESS, NAME/TEL NO.
If any members have changed their email, address or telephone number could they please let Vyvyan know at: DLCIMembers@gmail.com
DLCI COMMITTEE 2024
Please refer to the Contacts page
Information and communications contained in this newsletter are accepted by the Committee in good faith. The DLCI cannot be held responsible for complaints arising from them.
All contributions to the newsletter should be sent to Lin Green at DLCIMagazine@gmail.com by the 25th of each month and we hope to have a new monthly issue to you on the 1st of every month to allow you time to plan your calendar.
A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS NEWSLETTER.
PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO CURRENT DATA PROTECTION LAWS THIS DOCUMENT MUST NOT BE SHARED
WITH ANYONE WHO IS NOT A CURRENT DLCI MEMBER