This content is protected against AI scraping.
Any sharp-eyed reader would realise that this photo, an image of the flower that Avery and Ella gave us in gratitude for providing them with a bed for the night(s), is a geranium. I feel I have to apologise for calling it a hydrangea a few days ago. My only defence is rank floral stupidity and the fact that it’s my wife who knows her horticulture.
The red is exquisite, particularly in the morning when the sun lights it up through the dining room window. Clearly the Canadians knew what they were doing a lot better than I did.
Today, however, had nothing to do with the garden and almost everything to do with kitchen.
Given I’m off to my Cooking Retreat in Toulouse next week, I wanted one more practice session with Géraldine’s cookbook. And, of course, I invited our guinea pig over to come and taste the results along with Mirinda and me.
Nicoline arrived a bit earlier than her dinner reservation time as Mirinda wanted her opinion on an app she’s building. They were sequestered away in Mirinda’s study while I put the finishing touches to a meal that had taken me most of the day to make.
Finally, though, I was ready to serve and herded them in to dine.
And they both enjoyed it very much. I thought the feuilletes needed a sauce but Nicoline vehemently denied this saying they were perfect…if a little hot. I was very happy with the beef but felt the dessert needed a bigger blow torch. Mirinda said I could get a bigger one after passing the cooking retreat final day test*.
But the night wasn’t just about my French cooking, there was a lot of chat about Mirinda’s app and Nicoline’s much lauded advice. Or ‘advices’ given there were quite a few. We all welcome the advices. And, naturally, there was talk about the clown in the White House and how he is helping the evil bastard in the Kremlin.
Speaking of advice, there was also a bit of chat around her physiotherapist advice for me and questions regarding the date upon which my book would be ready for her to read. The latter so she could provide some advice.
All up, a most successful night of food and advices. And, once again, there was a lot of praise for the tiny, leftover puff pastry nibbles I made.
* There is no cooking retreat final day test. This was merely added for the sake of flippancy.
