Catriona

Wedding was last Thursday, and it was absolutely wonderful. The food was all perfectly served (except for some wine issues - they didn't understand that the sauternes was to go with the foie gras, and they stopped serving champagne, whereas the idea was that the whole meal be done on champagne...) But YUM. Nibbles were (obviously with champagne - nicolas feuillatte - not the roederer which is our favourite, but this ine which is much lighter and easier for a long day!) rare roast beef on crispy bread, smoked salmon on brown bread, and prawnson a cucumber cup. Then downstairs, foie gras with a spiced pear compote and sauternes (castelnau de suduiraut), lobster with potato salad and green bean salad (no onion in either, as requested), a delicious cheese plate with a stunning bordeaux - cantenac brown - , and a dessert selection - each plate had a small rhum baba, a poached pear and a martini glass of chocolate "pot". Tea, mint tea, basil infusion and coffee, with coffee dragees. Ladies and gentlemen, we had a ball. I asked the photographer to take some photos of the food, so hopefully I'll have some to show you!

Friend of mine sent in a request for a table for 6 any time during the season, got a no very quickly. She was late in sending itin though, didn't do it on the 14th/15th. I have been away from my email account for a week and was nervously awaiting the negative response on my return, but nothing there, so it's still a possibility!

Happy birthday!

When one of your worries about your upcoming wedding is that you won't have a chance to take pictures of the food... and you realise that your egulleteer sister/bridesmaid would be the perfect photographer for you.

Dry it for use as an infusion/tea. Nice and warming in winter, you can mix it and ginger for a real kick when you have a cold.

I sent in my email, so I'm anxiously waiting to hear... Look forward to celebrating/commiserating with you all when the time comes.

What a gorgeous girl that Dylan is! I'm really excited about this blog. ER food references: Doc Magoos, as far as I can recall, and then lots of donuts as treats every now and then.

Yeah, no, the drive down to connemara is pretty much deserted whenit comes to places to eat. I should own up to our 3 favourite places to eat in connemara: Crab sandwiches in Vaghans in Roundstone, Mitchells in Clifden - nothing wonderful but good value and usually fairly reliable, and then for good good food, the kitchen of the Zetland Hotel is excellent. We stay there fairly regularly, and find it consistently good.

Smoking in the hair salon was the one that has most shocked me...

We've had the ban on smoking here for about a year and a half, I think, and we're one of the places cited by the french in their coverage of this story (on tv, anyway, I haven't read any of the press). The main reason that's being given is the 6,000 people who die of passive smoking related disease each year in France, the majority in the hospitality industry. The reasoning is that bars and restaurants and nightclubs are workplaces, too (I think we have an exemption for prisons, but I'm not 100% sure how that works, it's been a subject of some debate, but forgive me for not being sure as to the status of this, it may have been removed). I'm a huge supporter of it, it makes such a huge difference. Pubs etc have either beer gardens/smoking areas (uncovered), or they provide little cigarette bins outside the front. Everybody just goes out to the street to smoke. I assume it'll be the same in france. They've been talking about allowing for "fumoirs", little cabin-type smoking booths that will be well ventilated, although they don't seem to have quite figured out how these will work - all the talking heads on tv this weekend were fairly hazy about how they'll work in practice. John: Don't know whether you caught De Villepin talking about it, he made some hilariously anti-Sarko remarks about "no matter what happens in the election".

Greedily pinching little bits of it off between your fingers and slurping it up until it's all gone. Or maybe that's just me.

Konditor and Cook do great lemon/almond sicilian type biscuits. My sister used to work nearby and would bring them home to Dublin for me..

I have fond memories of the Festa Dell'Unita in the Fortezza in Florence... Turned out that communists did great food! Who knew! Although my memories would be blurred, because commies also sold good tequila... Ah, Bar Mary. I had a version of Bar Mary that I used to call into every morning. Does the interior look like it's stuck in the 80s? Lots of neon and black? One of my favourite things in italy was the good, reasonably priced lunch places, where you'd be stuck in a sea of officeworkers all trying to get something good to eat before heading back to work. Does that scene exist in Montone, or is it too small?

Hathor, Gorgeous photos... Ispent some time in florence, and you make me miss it. Florence is very grey, though, compared to lovely Montone. Have to sympathise with you on the Italian/French thing. I had good french, then went to Italy. Had some terribly confused trips from Florence up to my great aunt's house in Geneva... in the end, I just couldn't speak at all (though the mistakes in my french would be italian-speaker's mistakes, which was fun)... And now I'm marrying a frenchman, and the italian (language, not man - there was never an italian man) has melted away...

Delighted to see this!

*snort*

Oh Lord, Lord, that's great. I was proposed to via the medium of Father Christmas (on horseback) delivering a ring in Martinique. Followed by lunch of lobster, and rum. Sitting in the shade, waiting for the lobsters, the waitress comes out with a big smile, saying "we forgot to turn on the grill for the lobsters", and burst out laughing. Perfect: it gave us time to have another swim!

The balcony of our apartment. A noisy smoky bench in the Djemaa el Fna in Marrakech Nope, scratch that. Disposable barbeque, good food, on Dog's Bay beach in Connemara, June, Sunset.

Glad it amused you, Anna. I've been banned from telling that story over dinner, and I had to get it out of my system before my (Parisian and very shockable) in-laws arrive this evening for the weekend.

From what I recall, they're not the same thing at all. In fact, I seem to remember reading somewhere that, in England, they peel back the husk and dip the "cherry" into fondant so that it looks like a little winged bon bon. Ah, here is some info, with a reference to the fondant-dipping. ETA: they ARE related, but the ground cherry is sweeter. ← So I didn't actually buy any of these and the farmer was pretty busy so I didn't get to ask. I actually was under the impression they were gooseberrys. Growing up in a scandinavian house, that is what I assumed they were. Here is a picture of the cape gooseberry --or what they call a ground cherry ← They're one of the family of Physalis (lantern fruit, cape gooseberry). My dear great aunt (source of some of the best melted-cheese related eating experiences of my life - she lives in Switzerland - used to call them Syphilis. It started off as a slip of the tongue, and then just became the new name for them. I have to think very hard before pronouncing the name. Kind of pffputting to offer your guests syphilis with fruit after dinner...

Nope, it's the sandwich for me. I wish I could find a sandwich as good as that.

There's a beach restaurant on Guadeloupe called Bonne Maman. it's between St Francois and St Anne, close to St anne, on... a beach whose name I can't recall but that's known for its shallows. Think I'll have to look that one up. Great little unpretentious resto, idyllic view, good planters punch, fresh fresh fish.

Oh my god, that looks so good.

Wow! That's an impressive name! Although I'd like the "nice blue sky" bit in my name... [Explanation for my query, other than general curiosity: We have some fairly unpronounceable names here (to non-irish-speakers, that is), but none as good as that. Sadhbh (Pronounced to rhyme with Five) Siobhan (shuv-AWN), Niamh (either neev or NEE-uhv), even mine, I'd warrant that plenty of people are pronouncing the O, ignoring the "pronounce only the first unnaccented vowel if a row rule".]

Roast the "bulb", sliced or in segments, possibly with some balsamic vinegar if you want. Or fennel and apple salad.