Bleu blanc rouge

A patriotically themed bouquet presented by the mayor, whom we invited to lunch today. Very appropriate for 8 May (VE Day, a bank holiday in France). It was a long and convivial meal ... cojondongo (a Spanish salad which is basically the ingredients of gazpacho in solid form), roast pork with all the trimmings including some rather disastrous Yorkshire puddings, cheese, and prune and Armagnac tart. I got up early to bake this, and was distraught to find that despite all my care the filling copiously leaked, to the extent that I whipped up some more egg yolks and cream, poured them on top, and baked it a bit longer. Happily, this disaster was not detectable in the final result. And the home-made bread went down well too. It's so long since we've entertained that the preparations felt very stressful, but all was well once people arrived.

The guests left around 5:30, clearing up ensued, and now we are zonked out on the sofas. Early night I should think!