An unexpected weekend away with 7 other women from the Gasworks Choir to Brittany... near Morlais. A lovely old house in the countryside with log burning stove, well equipped kitchen, garden, sauna, owl box, barns and attics. We talked... ah how we talked... laughed....shopped... and ATE! We went to escape the Royal Wedding, but the sitting room was arrayed with bunting, we toasted the happy couple with champagne to strains of the Wedding March and we translated from French newspapers to see what Posh was wearing. We shared stories funny and sad, life experiences, worries and heartaches. We cooked mussels, artichokes and ate salads, fruits and cheeses.
The market at Morlais offered the finest of French produce! Chestnut honey, fish, vegetables, cheeses, street food, baskets, plants, clothes. As we were so squashed into the car that we had to have our bags on our laps and our hats on our heads, we were not able to bring loads of stuff back to England.
The highlight of the weekend was dinner at the 2 Michelin Starred, 3 Bottin Gourmand Patrick Jeffroy's L'Hotel de Carantec. Our 8-seater round table looked out onto the sea dotted with islands, and it was friendly and not too formal. The amuse bouche was a little preserving jar of rhubarb puree with turnip and a ceramic spoon with octapus. My starter was a little hill of delicious langoustine, asparagus, morelles, foam and parmesan crisps. The main course that most of us had, was local duck sliced with tiny potatoes on an asparagus puree, with buttered vegetables, a separate salad and chicken jus in a tiny shiny copper saucepan. One person had fillets of John Dory with white asparagus and a tiny quails egg in a nest of fried bread that looked gorgeous too. The cheese plate was tiny pieces of tasty local cheeses with a fantastic sliver of sweet and savoury toffee brittle! The other cheese dish was fresh new white cottage cheese mousse served with sugar, salt or herbs! My desert was a strip of chocolate ganache on sponge, with myrtle, black and raspberries, a brittle and a surprisingly good strawberry and basil sorbet. I wish I'd chosen the other dessert which was the local Kouign Amann - sort of butter yeast-risen lardy cake, with strawberries, lemon ice cream and rhubarb puree. The chef sent out champagne for us all as he heard we were English, to celebrate the Wedding!
We sang Peace in the Valley as we paid the bill, and then Heh Me Lo, and Ide Were whilst the guests who were going to leave, came back to listen and Patrick himself came out of the kitchen and shook hands with us. On the way home, the most intense thunder and lightening storm raged around us, providing us God's Fireworks to finish the day off with a bit of terror and excitement. An evening I will never forget as long as I live! And.... I lost half a pound!!!
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