Lunch at Petit Gourmand

Mr S and I went out to celebrate the birth of our first grand daughter, and tried the Petit Gourmand. This was the first time there for us, and Sunday Lunch was first class. We both opted for the roast beef, which was the best I had had in a long time. Desert for me consisted of a perfect pannacotta with rhubarb and Mr S had crumble.


Bread, butter, wine, and salt and pepper were all excellent. Why mention such things, the reason was that the salt tasted so good, that I just had to ask what type it was. I love good salt and sadly my stash of sun evaporated salt from the basalt salines of Riviere Noire in Mauritius is coming to an end. I have other salts too in the cupboard.....

The waiter brought the tub of salt, and it was the new Cornish salt which we had seen recently mentioned in one of the many food programmes. I managed to source some at Waitrose, but then I found that our salt grinder, as I had previously found with the Mauritian salt was not working on this slightly damp crystalline substance.



Today my new salt and pepper mill from Salt and Pepper Mills Plus arrived. The ceramic Crushgrind mechanism is very efficient and easy to fill as there is no central metal bit. The salt grinder will grind any salt...and it is very easy to alter the grinding size. I've had quite a few grinders till now, and this is way ahead of the bunch. It works, it really works...so now I have to find a home for my existing set, which is fine for the big hard crystal salt sold specially for salt grinders. I'm not too worried about salt intake as my blood pressure is towards the low side, and if my age is guaged by my blood pressure, I'm still in my teens. I've come to the time of life that I really want things 'to see me out', even that is many years off! And now we have a grand daughter to pass it on to.

Pretty Buttons

Izabelle's coat of many colours is now complete with five pretty buttons.

1st Prize for Show Auricula

What with all the waiting for the arrival of my grand-daughter, and other things, I had overlooked my success again at the Kenilworth Gardeners Club.

It was worth the effort I had taken looking after my auriculas this year, winning first prize with the show auricula: Clouded Yellow, at this month's members show: damage the 'farina' which starts to appear as the plant starts its growth spurt in February needs to be avoided. The farina is the flour like substance with grows on the leaves as well as parts of the flowers. The plants can well survive the cold, but they hate the wet and heat, and any drop of water will mark the leaves and flowers. I got this and another type of show auricula at a talk given by Pop's Plants about five years ago, and since then have managed to propagate them. Last year I sent some to Hill Close Gardens to sell at their auricula exhibition.

As the conservatory can get warm even in deepest winter in the sun, I have had to take the plants in and out, in and out ad infinitum. As well as this plant, I got a third prize for a scented geranium, and second prizes for 10 stems of Hellebore, and a nice pot of grape Hyacinth. With the very cold season this year, I realised that none of my pot grown flowering bulbs would be ready, if I did not bring them into the conservatory, and as the grape hyacinths were the most advanced, I choose these to 'force'.

Welcome to Izabelle Mary

Just one day old, here is Izabelle Mary, sleeping peacefully. This is the first picture I have of our first grand daughter. A huge welling up of love has overwhelmed me, I think that is what most grand mothers must feel. I wish my mother were alive to ask her how she felt when her saw her first grand child: Izabelle's father, and then her three other grand children.

We went into Stratford today, ostensibly to get Mr S fitted out with some new clothes, but we seemed to veer towards the baby sections, where Mr S played with new toys!

New Grandma

I have just received a call from my son. Veronica and Matthew have a little girl, born by emergency section this afternoon. They are all well but tired considering the long labour.
I'm not certain of the spelling of the little girl's name, so more details to come later.

Mr S and I are delighted to have a grand-daughter.Today for the first time I am a Grandma. There is a huge smile on our faces.