The Lady Who Lunches Meets Lady Leoprint

The Outfit

There are some days when we just want to go back to basics.

Like black trousers.

Wimpy me just wants something warm around her legs when THE BEAST FROM THE EAST is a-visitin'  - skirts and dresses stay in the wardrobe.

Instead of my go-to coated biker jeans which my thoughts had first gone to for the evening's attire, I decided to go right back to basics with simple black trousers.  I haven't worn plain old trousers for an age.  Have you?

Add a camisole to create a black column, layer on a pop of cardi colour in wintry red and you have the makings of what I would describe as a Lady Who Lunches outfit.  Safe. Tried and tested, but it works.

I have to say the Lady Who Lunches staring back at me from the mirror did unnerve me slightly.  But The Photographer said she looked nice just as she was, with no knee jerk dressing required.  I should mention that at this point I had threatened to switch my classic black trousers for the Plan A coated biker jeans.  So I heeded TP's advice,  but gave a nod to my Lady Leoprint roots.

Well naturally something as sensible as a LWL outfit must at least have a bit of subdued edge, so I introduced a scarf and little bag in leoprint.  Lady Who Lunches Meets Lady Leoprint.  And only then was I was good to go.

And go I did, to meet up with my Sibs at a nearby hotel restaurant.

The Meet-Up

The hotel's foyer was attractively decorated, I'm guessing for a wedding reception.

I chucked my phone in the direction of The Photograper because I realised I'd left home without showing you my outerlayer.

It's this.  A black leather zipped and hooded coat from way back.  Maybe 20 years way back.

I'd stopped wearing it purely because its side pockets are positioned a bit too far back for my liking.  Simple solution -  I didn't put my hands in them last night.  Why on earth has it taken me two decades to work out that simple fix?!!

Bro missed this photoshoot.  Funny, that. 

Sis and I wore complimentary colours, without even having liaised beforehand!

Me in black, red and leoprint.  Sis in black, a pretty black print top which she topped with her pop of wintry red in the form of a scarf.

This isn't the first time we've turned up in complimentary outfits, like when we were

TWO YELLOW PEAS IN A POD (HERE).

That's sisters for you, eh.

Apropos prints, I really struggle to find any prints I like.  Sis, on the other hand, has a kanny knack of finding prints that I always like. Why do I never see these prints in the shops?

The Food Shots

And because I haven't posted any food shots for ages ...

Classic Prawn Cocktail

Eggs Florentine

Hungarian Goulasch - which our sweet Hungarian server
assured us was made authentically as she'd tested it.

Chicken Jalfrezi

Another classic, Toad in the Hole

And the classics continue with an Apple Crumble



Don't fret, not ALL those dishes were mine!

So in summary, my post today:
It's about the forgotten wardrobe hero, black trousers.

It's about classic column dressing. 

 It's about simple pops of cheering wintry colour.

It's about introducing a little leoprint edge to LWL outfits.

It's about how when looking at these pics I realise that black, red and a little bit of print really work well together.
It's about keeping my hands out of awkwardly place coat pockets.

And mostly it's about having a wonderful evening in the company of lovely family.

Hope your weekend is going well, keeping warm/cool and keeping in touch with those you love.

A la perchoine.

'Tis The Season ...

What's happening with you, my dears?

Here things trundle on.  As does my blog format. So many bloggers have changed their sites in recent weeks.  Am I the only one not to get the memo on this?  I've had this format for nearly two years.  It's probably very granny-like, but I like the format and the colour and I think my overall look is in keeping with who I am, so I think I'll stick with what I have right now.  I do hope you're OK with it

The Photographer and I had a Date Afternoon recently.  We went to our local cinema to see Daddy's Home 2.  Hilarious.  I looked over at TP a few times as I didn't think the film was really "him", but there he was, snugged down in his seat and laughing his little head off ... phew!  It's a great Christmas film and I liked it so much I ordered the first film off Amazon.
So that's a film you might want to catch leading up to Christmas to get you in the spirit of the season.


And what's the season?  Well ... 'Tis the season of boughs of holly and sweater dresses.

Yup, this fawn sweater dress from Monsoon was my outfit of choice for a belated birthday lunch with a dear friend.  BTW, I hope you're not starting to think I'm a one-trick pony with a queue of sweater dresses coming your way.  It's just that, well 'tis the season for sweater dresses.

• Brown boots and opaques, Gabor and M&S respectively.

Tried here with a furry muffler.

The piled on with a brown suede jacket.

Then I tried that dreaded blanket scarf look again.

Did it look any better with a long East cardi, I wondered?

Nah, I'm really going to have to google some blanket scarf tuition, as a helpful reader suggested.

Have you mastered the blanket scarf look?  Is it getting any better for you?

 I think a few of us are struggling, there's so much of it.

Maybe a little muffler is simpler.  Yup, that's the one,

And those were the stages required to dress The Pout for lunch.

I met with my friend in the golf club a 3-4 minute drive away.  I'm not going to give you lots of food shots because some may be being careful with calorie intake to fit into something gorgeous for a Christmas party and I don't want to spoil things.

But just gotta say that I've been eating Mrs Fisken's chicken liver pate for about 15 years and it still does not fail to excite my taste buds when I take my first forkful.  Served here on a toasted brioche slice and with a beetroot relish.  So, so yummy.  It's locally made so Guernsey readers may want to dash round to Forest Stores for a slice or two of this lovely yumgrub for a pre-Christmas treat.  You're welcome.

My friend treated to my lunch and she gave me pressies.

Some fab Clarins products.  It must be obvious to those who know me that I love Clarins products and I was so thankful to family and friends' generosity and thoughfulness, as ever.  I have some more products to share with you soon.  Such a consistently good brand

Well, that was a lovely lunch with a lovely person.

That's me done, I'm off to chose an outfit to tonight's meal with friends.  I hope it's good enough to share photos with you!

A la perchoine.

p.s. I apologise for the abundance of selfies right now.  Normal service will be resumed shortly.



Dad's Day - Dirty Linen, Fried Salad

Today I washing my "dirty" linen in public.  I've mentioned previously that I'm not a huge fan of outdoor OOTD shots.  And here's why.

1.  Pasty face.  My face is not pale and interesting.  It is ruddy.

2.   "Marks" which do not exist in reality appear on dark clothing. E.g. Pic on left, two pale splodges on left of dress.  Pic on left, same two pale splodges, now shifted to the right.

3.  Points 1 & 2 indicate that we are not camera-savvy. 

Perhaps it's time to sit down together with a cup of coffee and read our camera manual ...

This little outfit looked nice IRL.  Trust me.  Yet here's Pale Pout again and with even bigger splodges! 

The dress is old, from Next, black linen, easy shape, worn with black Ecco sandals and turquoise jewellery.

And I wore my "dirty" linen to take The Photographer out for a Father's Day dinner down at the golf club along the coast. 

We shared a starter of four prawns (seen here already split) served with the most delicious little pot of fine slivers of ginger, done pink.  Oh how my taste buds exploded.

And that half-starter should have been where we put our forks down and headed for home.  Because ...

Simple fish and chips, left, as I started tucking in and right, when I was "finished".  Same on TP's plate.  And all we'd eaten during the day was our beach brunch cheese sarnie, so we hadn't exactly been pigging!  I think it was because the starter was so good, that we really wanted for little else after such exquisiteness.  So two huge pieces of fish came home with us in a doggie bag ... or sac du chien   as The Photographer eloquently put it!

Recipes

Fried Salad

This time of year we are eating a lot of new potatoes, home-grown by a neighbour, super flavour.  We are also eating a lot of salad, especially during our heatwave.  We always end up with left overs of both.  The potatoes can be put to many uses but what do you do with left over salad, especially if it's got a bit soggy from vinaigrette?  

Well I just heat a little olive oil in a pan, cut the potatoes into chunks, fry till browned, then chuck in the salad leftovers.  It makes a tasty vegetable dish as the potatoes absorb the vinaigrette.  You're welcome!

Sac du Chien (left over battered fish)

Serves 2

Ingredients

Two left over battered fish fillets

Olive oil to cook

2 slices of bread for toasting

Handful of cooked prawns

Mayonnaise and lemon

Garnish, e.g. mixed salad, pickled beetroot and pickled cucumber

1. Gently warm the fish through in a pan with a little olive oil.
2. Place two slices of bread in toaster.
3. After flipping over (the fish, not yourself!), start plating up whilst the fish warms through.
4. Place toast on plates.   Spread the toast with mayonnaise.  Place fish on top, add a dollop of mayo, decorate with prawns, top with a lemon twist.  Serve the salad mix on the side of the fish toast.  Add garnish, if desired.

Enjoy!

So, The Photographer enjoyed a beach brunch and a swim in the cooling sea (previous post) and here dinner at the golf club.  Plus his Sac du Chien on his Boxing Father's Day.  He was a Happy Daddy. 

I also put together a little pressie for him ... but I'm going to save that for another post!

A la perchoine.

Walkin', Munchin', Not Much Filmin'

Such a gorgeous day.  Cold but sooo sunny.

I decided to plonk my hat on, rather than try out the jaunty tilt.

Yes, today I was a right plonker!

Can you spot me?  Walking along the ruettes?  Little roads, or lanes, in patois. To my French readers, can you tell me what "lane" is in real French?

Look at that blue sky.

I love the light playing on bared trees at this time of year.

Such a beautiful mix.

A pensioner's gotta take a breather now and again.

 And a little pre-prandial walking justifies a lot of prandial!

My camembert.

The Photographer's absolutely yummy carrot and coriander soup.  Must make this.

Beef bourguignon, garlic ciabatta.

The Photographer's Shepherd's Pie.  Must stock up the freezer with some of this comfort food.

The portion sizes may look big on screen but they are nicely small, perfect for a pensioner's appetite.

And the yummiest pear poached in red wine!

We met up with a golf mate/friend/very nice man for lunch at the club.

I think this stainless steel artwork possibly references the sea in front of the club,  maybe leaping over the sea wall in a storm!

A superb lunch is always guaranteed at the LGM.

And you wanna laugh?  I tried to film the 3-4 minute drive home from lunch, which takes in beautiful coastline, beaches and sea. It was supposed to be my little treat for you.  

I filmed 3 seconds of the shawl on my lap.  And I attempted to load it on to this post. 

I think I failed in every respect ...

A la perchoine.