No dancing on the Tables!

Our neighbours kindly took us out to a dinner concert in a nearby restaurant.

Nadine was a little worried once she'd booked a table as she wasn't sure quite what the band were like. Upon arrival, some small doubts did arise as there was a notice to say that, due to the demand, the event was now to be held in the Salle de Fête (village hall) of this tiny rural village.

We were fortunate to be sat at a table, as some people were tucked against the walls on benching with cushions.  The band tuned up and the evening began … slowly.  There must have been about 100 customers but the food had been devised to cope with the numbers. All of the courses except the main were presented on a slate so we all could dive in.

So, cocktails and amuse bouche, (we had Grande Bleue … curaçao and gin) followed by the starters which were small portions of gazpacho and a brochette of tomato, cheese and ham,

a little tartlet of red mullet and onion, and a cretian salad of cucumber, pepper and feta.

The main course was pork, polenta and ratatouille ...

… till finally a selection of desserts.

Meanwhile the band were playing music which was a fusion of Eastern European tzigane and klezmer music, swing and jazz and they were extremely good musicians.

On investigating afterwards we found out that all of them had, at one time or another, studied jazz in conservatories in the Provence region.  We were amazed to see that the band is from around Marseilles, which is a long way from this tiny village in the Lot.

We really enjoyed the whole evening experience!

PS  We had a superb bottle of red wine from the Languedoc region called 'the Elegant Frog' produced by 'the Humble Winemaker'.  Today we managed to track down the wine and, to our astonishment, found we could get it delivered to a nearby supermarket.  We will pick some up on Monday!  Our next problem is that we need proper storage facilities for our wine … or we're going to have to drink more speedily!!!