Somehow it seems perfectly acceptable at this time of year to spend the afternoon drinking champagne, eating chocolate and watching TV.  Well, it’s acceptable in my house 🙂

I did have a healthier start to the day though with some of this.

This is the delicious muesli I bought yesterday in Lyme Regis.  I would call it granola as it is toasted but they call it muesli.

Eaten with a dollop of natural probiotic yogurt and accompanied by a cuppa.

For lunch we had a little bit of a treat.  I had been supermarket shopping, mainly to stock up with really healthy food for the week ahead.  While in there I took advantage of a sale of Christmas produce – this camembert was only £2.75 and that includes the terracotta dish!  I heated it up so the middle was runny and served it with a wholemeal seeded French loaf.  It was gorgeous.

I also picked up at half price a cooked ham which was very good.  Plus we had smoked salmon, prawn cocktail, dressed crab and a simple salad served with a basic vinaigrette.

Lara and I then commandeered the Sitting Room to watch the Christmas special of Downton.  I had also saved the series 3 finale which Lara hadn’t seen so we watched that and then the Christmas special.  3 and a half hours of Downton.  What bliss.  It seemed appropriate to enjoy a bottle of champagne at the same time.  What could be better than an afternoon of Downton and champagne?

An afternoon of Downton, with champagne and pretty candles and chocolate.  Quite the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

In case you missed it before when I blogged about my trip to Downton last year here , I am being very self indulgent/showing off and showing you again the picture of me with the very lovely Tom Branson, the ex-chauffeur.

We also saw the Earl,

Carson,

Mrs Hughes,

Daisy

and Mrs Pattmore.

Before settling down to watch Downton, I put dinner on.  I made a lamb dish with olives which I found on a site called Frugal Feeding .  You can follow the link to the dish and I may make it again but in the oven or with less water.  I followed the recipe exactly but my sauce was much too watery.  Maybe it is because I cooked it in a slow cooker so none of the liquid evaporated as it does on the hob or in an oven.  Or maybe it was because I couldn’t get neck fillets so used leg steaks.  It was ok, but slightly disappointing.

Served with mashed potatoes and green beans.

A request to smile for the camera was met with a variety of funny faces and poses 🙂

Mince pies for pudding.  I had mine with a smidge of cream.  These are the Waitrose own and are fantastic.  The pastry is like a shortbread biscuit.  

That is just about the end of all my Christmas treats and naughty nibbles.  Tomorrow heralds the start of a very good attempt at getting back to losing weight and gaining health.