French hors d'oeuvres

It's been a really busy day:

We met Katie and (Texas) Tim for breakfast at Dishoom at 08:00 before putting them on a train south (to Newcastle and then on to Corbridge where they were meeting my middle sister for lunch). We were very lucky that the four of us had time to see one another at all on this rare visit of theirs to Edinburgh.

Then we threw the first load of the holiday washing into the machine and ran round to LIDL/Tesco in the rain (hurrah!) to stock up on supplies.

Next I caught up with some urgent work, including some planning for a PhD viva on Thursday.

After a very quick lunch I embarked on a food prep marathon which kept me busy right up until the moment that the first three of my book group pals arrived for dinner just before 7pm. In keeping with my recent trip to France, my goal was to serve French food and drink. However, I was somewhat scuppered yesterday when most of the food that I bought in France for this meal was confiscated by security at Marseille airport :-( In the end I served:

1. Hors d'oeuvres of creamed mushrooms and Gruyère, and anchovy butter on rice crackers (blipped), with sparkling rosé wine from the south of France (blipped by Winsford)
2. Roast red pepper, tomato and basil soup
3. Buffet of salmon pâté, chicken liver pâté, Ardennes pâté, guacamole, bresaola, spiced sausage, and cheeses, served with salad and haricot beans in vingairette (blipped by Ridgeback13)
4. Homemade meringue ice cream with cherries and (optional) fudge sauce

Our general opinion on the book - Ghachar Chochar by Vivek Shanbhag - was 'Good, but too short with a rather sudden ending'.

Exercise today: walking - mostly in my kitchen (14, 275 steps)