A Visit

Yesterday I paid a visit to S. We had a light soup for lunch and then later she cooked a fabulous meal. We started with Farmers' Market chicken livers made into pate, served on oatcakes, then went on to halibut fillets served with a creamy mushroom and onion sauce and baby brussels sprouts fresh picked from the garden and potatoes. We were just about "sunk without trace" with this delicious meal. Served with the meal was a nice Rioja (Muriel).

The halibut was cooked in a very hot oven on a buttered dish and dotted all over with butter. 2 Tablespoons of wine were added to stop the butter "catching", and cooked this way it only took 6 minutes. This would not work with a lighter fish like lemon sole, as that would cook to a "frazzle". It is good to get different fish like that as we get a very limited selection from the fish van that calls to the door.

Breakfast this morning was freshly squeezed orange juice and bacon sandwiches in freshly baked brown bread. Yummy.

The weather yesterday was cold but beautiful with the sun rising from a red arc peeping over the horizon and setting in the same way in the opposite direction.

Sadly this morning was a thick mist, so the journey home involved headlights. There is a nasty road junction where it is difficult to see back over your shoulder whether a vehicle is approaching from the left; it is a bit more fraught when you just know that there will be some idiot out there with no lights on. Unfortunately I drew the short straw, as I was the lead car. At a roundabout, the car behind undertook, and then he found out why I was driving slowly, so I followed his tail lights very happily.

The whole block of flats is being redecorated this week, and just as I was reaching for the door knob to leave yesterday there was a ring at the bell and there was the painter to do my front door; so I asked him if tomorrow (today) would be all right and he said that was fine. As I type this, he is back to do the undercoat.

The weather has changed completely, the mist has dispersed and the sun is shining. The leaves of the trees opposite are starting to change to their autumn colours, but are still mostly green.