The End of Summer?

Our neighbours are packing up to go back to Paris for the winter and, as a 'thank you' for their help in looking after Cleo when we went away, we took then to the catering college in Souillac for a meal last night.

(Click on the photos to see a larger view of the menu)

It was a special meal around fish; a starter of a bisque of langoustines followed by a medallion of lobster in a vanilla vinaigrette.  That makes it sound too simple, the sauce/broth was out of this world. Who would ever think of marrying lobster with vanilla, but it worked. After the initial bisque we were invited to choose our preferred fish for the main course from the fresh display on the 'fisherman's stall'; tuna, sole, bream or sea bass. John and I could not resist the metre long loin of tuna. The meal was finished with a dessert showing an array of pastry skills.  Everything about the evening was extremely good and was a fitting way to say goodbye to summer.

Meanwhile, back home, work on the replacement for the Box hedge is continuing ...

... and Sue is plodding on with cutting back, dividing and moving plants in the Serpentine bed.

The weather will eventually change but the sun and temperatures in the mid twenties continue!