Election? What election?

The big day came and went and what has changed?  From what I can dedcuce from the political commentators and the financial pundits, we're rapidly heading the same way as Greece!  We are told that what we need is decisive leadership - what we get is a bunch of self intersted buffoons telling us that now is the time to put aside party politics and act in the best interests of the British public!  I'm afraid I don't believe any of them - I did have every intention of staying up and watching the results as they came in.  The thought of  Jeremy Vine's swingometer and  his computer generated Houses of Parliament changing various colours as the night wore on,  was an exciting proposition - but I gave in to my better instinct and watched to the PGA Players Tournamnet at Sawgrass instead.

Our dining habits have followed the usual pattern this week, nothing too extravagent, a few pasties and a couple of soups were thrown together on Thursday and I did try my hand at pan frying a couple of duck breasts for supper on Friday to go with the spicy plum sauce that I had made a couple of weeks ago and frozen.  Apparently the experts say that duck should be cooked to medium rare and left to rest to ensure that all the juices remain in the meat.  A bloody piece of duck is not the most appertising thing to look at so I did mine for slightly longer than reccommended and the result was perfect!  The meat was still tender with just a slight pink blush to it when it was sliced - the sauce was sweet but had lost a little of it's spiciness, probably in the freezing process - but all in all, a success.  On Saturday we had  friends round for dinner so "Winterbottoms" restaurant opened its doors - AKA 22 Grange Gardens.  A couple of weeks ago someone had sent me a link to an article in one of the daily papers about a couple who opened their flat as a restaurant for 1 night a month and it had become so popular, they were inundated with bookings so were opening 3 nights a week now.  I had suggested to Sue that perhaps we could adopt the idea and put Llantwit Major on the food map.  The suggestion was met with what could be best described as total indifference, actually, it was  nearer total horror, if I'm honest.  The name of the restaurant would be called "Winterbottoms", named after the austere Victorian gentleman who stares down from his portrait in Branwen's dining room. Anyway, it was not to be so on Saturday we had canopes of paremsan crisps and duck kebabs (waste not, want not!), followed by leek and potato soup with spicy griddled flat breads, teriyaki roasted salmon, muscavado and hazelnut tart, all tried and tested recipes and all timed to perfection - so maybe the reatuarant in the living room may not be such a bad idea after all - as long as we don't have to cater for more than 8 people in one evening all at the same time!

I'm supposed to be flying to France tommorrow but the volcanic ash cloud may have something to say about that - fingers crossed - lets hope by Monday night I'll be tucking into fois gras and a glass of sweet white wine!

Bon appetit!