29 June 2007

Having just waved off our last guests, Lady of Leisure has organised a little soiree, at the earliest opportunity in case there was a danger of the blood alcohol levels dropping. This is a bit of an experimental evening, with the guests a little bit open toed sandals and green lentils than our normal flavour of friends, but we know and like them a bit, and Wee Lad is the same age as their son.

There is a little element of trying to impress as our guests are designer types, with pretty modern tastes which jars slightly with the whole hippy thing. The house has been suitably buffed up and pre-dinner drinks on the Robin Day sofas seem to do the trick.

Modern Hippies, like us, enjoy their food and Lady of Leisure has prepared a mini world tour of flavours as we progress through the courses, from Mediterranean, to North American via Japan. Makes my job of matching the wine more than a little difficult. I decided the best tack was to begin with the good wine long before the food came. I started with a very tasty St Emilion that I had brought over personally and kept lifting bottles from the lower (and more expensive) part of le cave.

The only slight hiccough during the evening was when out of politeness, Lady of Leisure opened the bottle that our guests had brought with them. Luckily by then we had polished off our very tasty but highly spiced main course, so we had a window of opportunity to knock back the Yellowtail Shiraz while our palates were off recuperating.