Chef's dinner at home

We were up early and I decided to join Gavin on a short run through the woods with Xena. I usually run on a treadmill so I had to be aware of roots and other trip hazards when running through the woods.

As soon as I had showered, dressed and eaten breakfast I started making the food for tomorrow’s picnic supper at Glyndebourne. To get me in the mood I was playing an opera play list on the music system, nothing better than a bit of rousing Italian opera while cooking! My German grandmother was a professional opera singer and as a child I hated opera – I wish I had paid more attention to it and the shows she sang in. In later years I grew to love opera and through their music education my boys also all love opera, so Glyndebourne is a much appreciated treat for us.

It seemed to take me all morning until past lunch time and all I made was two dishes, one being a coronation chicken salad and the other my usual quinoa salad. I will make the other things tomorrow morning before we leave as they need to be made fresh and on the day.

While I was cooking Luke phoned to say that unfortunately Meriel has been called in to work and so is most likely going to miss our chef’s dinner tonight. We are hoping she will be able to make Glyndebourne tomorrow. It is all rather annoying when she has her social plans ruined by work at the last minute.

Adam and Anna arrived after lunch, they had been working in their respective labs in the morning. Luke arrived in the afternoon and he and Gavin went to the driving range– Tommy was tutoring a student so everyone was occupied this afternoon.

The chef and his assistant arrived at 5pm, he is Hungarian so was delighted to meet Xena, a fellow Hungarian! He cooked everything from scratch and by 7pm he was ready to serve canapes and drinks which was followed by dinner at 7.30pm. This is a selection of some of the courses – we had a few amuse bouche and palette cleansers in between courses. Top left is the starter, a risotto with artichoke, then the fish course followed by the main dish of lamb rump and a miniature lamb hotpot, and pudding was a crème brulee but I was given a gluten free chocolate brownie as seen here (there is lactose in the crème brulee)

It was a most delicious supper and lovely to eat such good food in the comfort of your own home. Afterwards they cleaned up and tidied the kitchen leaving it spotless. It was a most enjoyable evening. I forgot to add that the purpose of having the dinner now was we were expecting this to be Adam’s farewell dinner as he is moving to the USA, but now he is only going towards the end of the year. We may have to have another dinner!