Lunch and Magic

 Hi there!  Hope you are well.  I am loving this autumn.  Strange, that, as I am a spring person.  But with these warm, sunny days, what is there not to like?

A friend was driving down for a catchup and we decided that for lunch it would be nice to re-visit the Italian seafood restaurant where we recently celebrated our wedding anniversary, as it really we really did have such-a-perfect-day.  So, what to wear from the travel capsule today?

Well, I started with these dinky black suede bootees from my visiting wardrobe.  M&S. Cute, eh?

Bargain!  Bought in the spring but not yet worn - so that would be BNWT in EBay-speke!  V. comfy.

Next print top, M&S black jeans.

And a grey cashmere/merino Woolovers edge to edge cardi.

And with that, I was ready to meet my visitor who presented me with some gorgeous flowers - well, actually he presented The Photographer with flowers and me with a bottle of whisky.  A fun bloke!

Over coffee we chatted about geo thermal heating and transparent solar roof tiles (new to me too!) - our friend is house hunting - then it was time to move our chat to the restaurant. 

It really is a lovely place and the waiter is so professional and charming.  Must find a link to it sometime but I'm guessing not a lot of you come down to this sleepy little town.

I nibbled walnut bread with anchovy butter and a black olive or two as I perused the lunch menu.  Well, I was spoilt for choice.  I love it when I struggle to choose!

And here we go into the dieters' no-go area ... it's all about the food pics with The Pout, eh?!

When I finally made my mind up, I had this tasty cod and potato croquette.  It much smoother than a fish cake.

Followed by the Chicken Ballotine.   This was superbly cooked and the little gravy and veg mix surrounding it was, well, Wow!

So filling that I gave one third of it to The Photographer.

My hunky male companionss chose the salmon served on a bed of leeks with a yummy white sauce, I was informed.

I'm going to have a bash at making one or two of these dishes soon.  Simple and inspiring, they were.  I'll share the recipes with you ... if they're successful!

A bottle of pretty perfect Pinot Grigio (when in Rome ...) between us and we were good to go.   Good to go for more of hours chat, chat, chat.  It's great to catch up, eh?

A lovely day.  Well, apart from a few calls from cat sitter and vet.  My cat has a reoccurring condition and it was one of his blip days.  But the lovely cat sitter handled it all so well.  And by teatime I was getting reassuring calls (not from him!) that all was now well and that he was snuggled up on the sofa, perhaps in his fluffy-top head enjoying the cat-equivalent of convalescing comfort.  My favoured poorly perk-up is the sofa, a blanket and Escape to the Country.

Maybe his sofa cat-ch up was Cat's Casualty?

 I am always amazed that the shots they give Bertie seem to magically cure him by the time he completes the five minute drive home (in his cat box, not driving!).  Couldn't we humans share a bit of that magic?!

A la perchoine.