Gastranomique...

Our last day...started off grey and overcast, but you guessed it....cleared again for another day of fun and sun. We had decided that we had better experience an authentic French restaurant and that lunch would be a good option so after enjoying the morning pottering around, lying in the sun and all the usual good things we set off at 12h45 for La Marmite in Mansle.

We got French menus but when the proprietor heard that we were English he whipped out some English menus for us and we were all relieved not to have to go through the menu with the French/English dictionary in hand...especially as we had cleverly left it lying on the dining room table at home.

We decided to splash out and go for one of the 3 course options and Malcolm and I both opted for the prawns on a bed of fennel accompanied by a cream sauce to start, I had rack of lamb with thyme for mains (with carrots, green bean bundle, cauliflower and chips/frittes) and Malcolm opted for a fillet with peppercorn sauce (with same accompaniments as me). After lunch we were given a side plate of dressed mixed leaves and a cheese board with a selection of cheeses which was utterly divine, we did not have a lot of cheese and I have never eaten it that way before but I certainly plan on eating it that way again! The cheese board is passed around from table to table which I thought was great and took delight in handing it over to the owner when I saw that one of the other tables had just been served their salad! Then we still got to choose dessert, cremé caramel for Malcolm and mine was....well I know it as floating islands, a soft meringue floating on a kind of cremé anglaise. We drank a bottle of rosé wine with our meal and I pleasant buzz settled on me as I sat day dreaming and marvelling at the blue of the sky and the fabulous surroundings.

The pictures are in sort of black and white because the natural colour on the photograph is not great - all the reflection of the umbrella did not take to well in the pictures...I had to add one of the red umbrellas, blue sky and green trees, unfortunately the picture does not actually do it justice but anyway...

In case you are all wondering...the kids went for the children's menu option...tomato salad to start, hamburger and frittes/chips followed by ice cream - for €7 each!!!

After lunch we headed home and once our food had settled went for a walk and spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and sipping wine.

Dinner was easy - left overs or anything that takes your fancy as we still had a fair bit in the fridge - people arriving after us should be well fed!