Overalls off - lipstick on - we’re out for dinner!

We decided to return to a lovely restaurant we discovered a couple of years ago - it’s owned and run by a young couple, one of whom is from our local village which is how we found out about it.  Much as we’ve enjoyed our meals “chez nous”, the cupboards were getting rather bare and having missed the supermarket yesterday which was only open until noon, and not feeling in the mood for stewed rhubarb and cherry jam for dinner, Tony offered to take us out.

The meal was spectacular - I had an asparagus mousse with a soft boiled egg, parma ham and a sprinkling of truffle oil followed by filet of trout with snails and a herb risotto finished off with a small platter of local cheeses.  Tony had foie gras in puff pastry with caramalised apple followed by filet of pork with wilted spinach and a bavarian chocolate cream mousse with cream cheese ice cream - all washed down with a couple of glasses of bubbly to start followed by a lovely bottle of local red.  The entire meal set us back EUR 70 - quite incredible.  That said, when I told my last boss a similar story about the last time we ate here, he said, “you think that’s good value now but wait until you’ve been unemployed for 6 months - you might not think it quite such good value then!”, and of course he’s right but we’ll certainly enjoy it while we can!

Today's job is to finish the marmalade, pick the last of the cherries and plant the remaining gladioli bulbs and sunflower seeds - it's a little overcast today so at least the ground isn't getting any harder but doubtful there'll be any rotovating done today either!  We have just tested our soil to discover that we have good nitrogen rich soil which is very encouraging - I don't think I'm quite ready to go searching for manure so we're learning about composting so that we can leave the hunt for manure for another time!