We had a few days of downtime last week between our trip and our next visitor. On Wednesday, we had an apero with Josiane and Cami to deliver some items Laetitia sent with us from Belgium. David arrived on Thursday and Will collected him from Angouleme. We had our usual first night meal of confit de canard served with cheesy potatoes and then stayed up for a bit catching up.
Friday was Will’s birthday and we had a busy day. In the morning, I made three batches of brownies; some for us but most of them for the Milhac Loisir Western dance dinner that evening. This is the club which organises my conversation group and they have a couple of public events throughout the year. The main course was civet de bison (bison stew) and since neither Will nor David eat red meat, we had an excuse not to go. With the theme of the meal being American, the English members were asked to make dessert. A few others made carrot cake and banana bread, and my contribution was the brownies.
This was David’s fourth visit and apart from the first visit, it has always been someone’s birthday. He came for mine a few years ago, for his the next time and this time, for Will’s. So he’s already seen most of the local attractions and we also made a trip down south to Sarlat etc. on his last visit. This time, we decided to go to Perigueux, to do some sightseeing and also, so we could do some shopping. There were storms that day and although it was mostly clear on the drive down, it started pouring and hailing 5 minutes after we started our stroll. So we cut short our tour of the centre and headed out to a second-hand shop called Emmaus that we’d heard about but never went to. We didn’t find anything there, but were a bit more successful at the DIY shop where we found some picture frames and cushions for the upstairs sofa. We returned home via the supermarket and arrived around 5, in time to start dinner prep.
For Will’s birthday dinner that night, we did a Mexican meal, partially so that we could serve Margaritas. We made the usual salsa and guacamole, which David tarted up with a dash of cinnamon. The main course was chicken burritos and I found a new recipe that turned out well. This was served with rice and refried beans. For dessert, we had brownies with vanilla ice cream. The guests were Carol, who was on her own since Bryan had just returned to the UK and Nat, who was Jill-less since she has nursing a sinus infection. We had an enjoyable meal and stayed up late. Will received a ton of Amazon vouchers, plus some cash and overall, had a very nice day.
The next day started slowly since we were all a bit hungover. However, David wanted to treat us to a meal and we decided on the Hostelerie St Jacques in St. Saud. We had gone there the last time he was here and were all very impressed. They do their lunchtime special on Saturdays so despite not being that hungry, decided to go there. They have redone the interior since our last visit and it’s an improvement over the previous, outdated decor. In fact, it’s now a bit over the top, with fuchsia sofas, silver wallpaper and large fruit-shaped sculptures. The maitre’d is definitely one of us, and wore a shirt matching the decor so we surmise he had something to do with the new interior.
The food was still excellent, and there was still loads of it. We started with a kir served with four mini nibbles including the caramelised cherry tomato. This was followed by a small portion of pumpkin soup and from there, we moved onto our starters. These were rabbit terrine for Will, smoked salmon for David and veal ravioli for me. For mains, Will had chicken (rarely seen on menus here), David had magret and fois gras du canard, and I had cod in a curry sauce. We were all very full by this point, but managed to eat dessert which was chocolate ice cream served with a warm chocolate sauce for Will, layered chocolate mousse for David and tarte au pomme for me. We were all very full in a good way when we left and returned home.
We invited Françoise and Philippe over that night. She is still waiting for her visa to come through so has moved her flight to early April, giving us a bit more time to see her before she goes. We decided to do a raclette since it requires almost no cooking. It’s a Swiss dish of melted cheese and meats served over boiled potatoes. As you might imagine, it was a bit heavy after our huge lunch but we managed to put away most of what we bought. We then played poker for a few hours, but everyone was a bit jaded and we only managed to stay up until 1.
Sunday was a lovely, sunny day with temps in the low teens (high 50s). We took advantage by doing some much needed gardening in the front. This included trimming the hydrangeas and other shrubs, and planting the tulip bulbs that we bought in Amsterdam. Will read up on these and discovered that they are meant to be planted before winter, so it’s not likely that anything will grow. Afterwards, we had lunch and David and I had a walk later on. Typically, the Smoo decided to follow us, so we had to turn back near Bryan and Carol’s to return him to the house. That evening, we watched a bit of telly, then moved on to dinner. We made roast chicken, served with roasted veg and bread, another simple meal. We then played poker for awhile before having a relatively early night.
Will took David back to the station on Monday morning while I did some work. I’ve finished up the site for Andrew which is now live and he has received his first online payment. I’m also working on the property site, but must pause now to get started on my big site for the client in the States. Will has a few small projects on at the moment, although still not enough. We’re in for a long run of nice weather, with temps starting out around 12 today and reaching as high as 18 by next week. We’re nearly out of wood for the year, so hopefully, this bodes well for a nice spring.