lathany

bateleur and I decided to treat ourselves this holiday to a meal at a restaurant we had really liked when we went there for our anniversary some years ago. The restaurant in question was La Trompette and the meal was utterly excellent. I had:

Pithiviers of quail, ham and cèpe and globe artichoke purée and maderia sauce - this turned up looking like a quail pastie, but tasted absolutely wonderful.
Herb crusted saddle of lamb with shallot purée, baby artichokes and cocottee potatoes - Very nice, although I guess also my least favourite course, it was the most traditional-looking of the three.
Vairhona chocolate marquise, vanilla ice cream, macadamia praline, carmel, chicory crème - the chocolate part was the main thing, a decent size and utterly yummy.
2005 Vacqueyras, Domaine du Grapillon d’ Or, Bernard Chauvet - Red wine from France, in other words and very good.
20 years old Tawny Port, Graham’s, Bottled 2004 - needless to say, 20 years made it an excellent port.
and coffee - served with four large caramel-chocolate truffles.

We also managed to fill my remaining holiday with a few other bits and pieces:

Hughenden Manor - Following a call from mrlloyd, we arranged to meet him and his family (which, for some reason, included TheHattedOne) on Friday at the country home of the Victorian statesman Benjamin Disraeli. We wandered around the grounds admiring well-kept gardens and then discovering that the rest of the grounds are somewhat less accessible (and include plenty of cow pats). However both Maria and mrlloyd proved expert at manoeuvring their pushchair (which seemed to convert into everything but a helicopter). We had lunch at the little restaurant and then wandered around the house itself. The place was beautifully preserved and had a wide range of things from the little hook which TheHattedOne asked about the use of (and was consequently pursued by every historian on the site with a different theory to what it was - the one I remember is that it was for cleaning pipes) to the monument on the hill (seen from upstairs windows) built as a surprise for him (from his wife), to the World War II set up in the basement after it was seized by the Air Force to use as a base. Lisa was extremely well-behaved all day and didn't object (much) to me carrying her. Afterwards, we returned TheHattedOne to London, whilst the others drove back to Whitney to pack for the journey home.
Magnolia - We watched this the night before last, for the first time. It's good, but not really my sort of thing due to the lack of plot (although it certainly managed surreal, particularly at the end). The performances were all great - Tom Cruise is excellent in a sleazy role - but, as bateleur said, it so wanted to be Pulp Fiction.
Giving blood - I think this was my eighth or ninth visit and this time Beatrice came along too (plus Ryan again). The whole process went smoothly, although she looked worried when I turned away from them putting the needle in, and she wants to go again. I think that the nurse doing the drinks was amused when Bea asked about stickers - and got the "My mum gave blood today" ones out on request.

And tomorrow, it's all over. I think I have a video conference meeting to minute late in the afternoon. Ah well, it's been a very good holiday.