Our 50th Wedding Anniversary

 For a year we had planned our celebratory lunch with our friends to take place in the courtyard.

Our celebrations started last Wednesday with the arrival of "The Staff", ie Pat and Mel and Paul and Jennifer. We broke them in gently with lunch at a local restaurant and a little bit of shopping. Friday was supposed to be a "hectic cooking day" but some how it didn't work out that way. The team worked so well together that everyone just got on and did their allocated cooking job with no fuss and everything ran incredibly smoothly. 

The odd glass of wine probably eased progress!!

 However we all became a little anxious as the furniture and crockery which we had hired had not arrived by 7 o'clock - it was just that the delivery man couldn't tell the time!!! 

By Friday evening we all decided that we had laughed so much and had such a good time together that it didn't matter what happened the next day.

As you know in recent weeks we have been complaining about the heat but the weather decided it was going to change completely and the forecast was for pouring rain all day on the 9th. So we hastily moved to plan B with everything indoors.

However the smooth running continued into the next day, you would think "The Staff" had been catering and serving a lifetime. They created and served the seven courses without a hitch.

The "Staff" have insisted that we show you the menu.

Cold Pea and mint soup            

Monkfish and Prawn terrine                  

Spicy Cod with avocado                            

                  and citrus sorbet                         

Coronation Chicken                             

with pickled vegetables              

Cheese plate                      

Desserts in ’Café gourmand’ style         

Coffee or Tea    
                       
Wines/Vins
White/Blanc :- Chêne Peyraille  Begerac                                                  
Red/Rouge :- Sàtirs Negre  D:O. Emporda (Catalunya)

 So the event started off without a problem ...

... and continued brilliantly.

But then everyone had to endure the speeches ...

... including a speech from Paul who had been our 'Best Man' 50 years ago.

From the feedback the guests enjoyed themselves as much as we did.