Anticipation ...

Oh, all right - I could just have easily called this blip "desperation', in that I forgot all about it until five minutes before my dinner guests arrived. This is the table set and waiting to be sat down at. The tablecloth is French (bought in Nice as part of a 40th wedding anniversary present) and is one of these marvellous treated cotton jobs that shrug off stains. The place mats have pictures of slightly naughty friezes from Pompeii, the coasters (which you can't see) have punning jokes on them, the pepper mill was an engagement present and it's a miracle it still grinds at all. The observant among you will notice that we still use fish cutlery; this set is one of two I inherited from my parents. Actually we never used this set as my mother preferred the balance of the plainer ones, but I've grown used to this one. The wine glasses are Edinburgh Crystal and were a present.

We had salmon with a spiced yogurt and crumb topping, along with celeriac and potato mash, baby Apache potatoes, french beans anointed with lemon and tarragon olive oil, oven roasted cherry tomatoes; the pudding was a black fruits compote with baby meringues and Greek yogurt. The wine was white, French and totally delicious.

The company was jolly good too ...