How to have people over without causing an international incident, cheese or pudding first, plus a recipe for an easy canapé to take you into the holiday season.
Oh, and can anybody explain to me about rôtisserie chickens and their potatoes? Do you race back home with them and serve them tepid? Do they get reheated, and how? Do they go under a duvet and keep resting until needed? Do you just tear them apart with bare hands in a corner of the carpark - no, that IS just me.
The chickens keep warm in those bags they give you to take them home in for long enough for me to get them home - the market is only at the end of our road. I crisp up the potatoes in a hot oven for a few minutes - long enough to make a salad - and that's lunch.
Hope the memorial is as lovely as they can often be, despite the loss.
As a properly clumsy person myself, I thank you for your considered canapés! I live by self-imposed rules including no pale colours, no red wine (makes my nose bunged up any way so less hardship) and no soup. I’ve regressed to the 70s and become my mother armed with a J-cloth in a bag at all times. I see with awe that you are wearing white for your last London dinner …
It's heartwarming to see how well you have embraced your new life and easy to understand how you have made new friends in your little corner of France...... It's easy to get disillusioned at times especially when we have to go back for something as emotionally fuelled as a memorial service. I am sure you will be both warmly welcomed and missed all over again when you return.......
I hope it goes as well as it possibly can 🙏
PS I have found with a bit of compromise it's perfectly possible to do lunch for 12 with just 1 butler. Especially if you ask people to make their own cocktails from the selection on the sideboard 😉
Yes, certainly. You can use Little Gem leaves, or you could serve it on longish slices of cucumber cut a bit on the diagonal, or on crostini. It's a great canapé for when people are drinking a bit because it is quite substantial. I really hope you enjoy it.
I am sorry for the loss of your friend. This post, and many others, brim with your valuing of friends to enrich a good life. With such an outlook, and your culinary verve, it is easy to imagine your table never wants for guests and good cheer.
Every single person in that picture has been to stay with us at least once! Can't get is of them. We did have a wonderful life there, and we're enjoying creating a new one. But you never go without a backward glance, do you?
That American woman who is moving back to America clearly tried to entertain with only one butler.
Haha, no wonder it was such a disaster.
Oh, and can anybody explain to me about rôtisserie chickens and their potatoes? Do you race back home with them and serve them tepid? Do they get reheated, and how? Do they go under a duvet and keep resting until needed? Do you just tear them apart with bare hands in a corner of the carpark - no, that IS just me.
The chickens keep warm in those bags they give you to take them home in for long enough for me to get them home - the market is only at the end of our road. I crisp up the potatoes in a hot oven for a few minutes - long enough to make a salad - and that's lunch.
Thank you - I will try that when we’re in the Alsace next year.
Hope the memorial is as lovely as they can often be, despite the loss.
As a properly clumsy person myself, I thank you for your considered canapés! I live by self-imposed rules including no pale colours, no red wine (makes my nose bunged up any way so less hardship) and no soup. I’ve regressed to the 70s and become my mother armed with a J-cloth in a bag at all times. I see with awe that you are wearing white for your last London dinner …
I know! The white! It showed a certain recklessness. Maybe I too am entering my J-cloth in a bag years...
It's heartwarming to see how well you have embraced your new life and easy to understand how you have made new friends in your little corner of France...... It's easy to get disillusioned at times especially when we have to go back for something as emotionally fuelled as a memorial service. I am sure you will be both warmly welcomed and missed all over again when you return.......
I hope it goes as well as it possibly can 🙏
PS I have found with a bit of compromise it's perfectly possible to do lunch for 12 with just 1 butler. Especially if you ask people to make their own cocktails from the selection on the sideboard 😉
Thank you so much, Lucy.
So thrifty, with just the one butler... Admirable.
You are the ultimate hostess, Debora. Your friends are very fortunate to be seated around your table.
What a very kind thing to say, Rosy.
I don’t like endive. Is there another leaf I could use. I’m thinking of doing this for Christmas Eve drinks?
Yes, certainly. You can use Little Gem leaves, or you could serve it on longish slices of cucumber cut a bit on the diagonal, or on crostini. It's a great canapé for when people are drinking a bit because it is quite substantial. I really hope you enjoy it.
Thanks. Little gem leaves sound good.
I am sorry for the loss of your friend. This post, and many others, brim with your valuing of friends to enrich a good life. With such an outlook, and your culinary verve, it is easy to imagine your table never wants for guests and good cheer.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Deborah. That means a lot.
Debora, I can see in the last-London-dinner photo how difficult it must have been to move away! I think you were quite brave to do it.
Every single person in that picture has been to stay with us at least once! Can't get is of them. We did have a wonderful life there, and we're enjoying creating a new one. But you never go without a backward glance, do you?
Best wishes Debora. And thank you for your wonderful recipes and stories.
That's very kind, Katja, thank you.
Ah. I remember enjoying this post.!! All the best Debora.
Thank you so much, Kay.