John has begun to venture into the kitchen from time to time. This morning he asked me how to make my garlic toasts and preceeded to make a batch to take on our picnic. He parcelled up the cheese we got a few days ago with a bread-board, knives, serviettes, apple, pear, wine and glasses and off we went. We rode bikes along the Rhone for quite a while and crossed over into the Presquille area between the two rivers. For the first time we found ourselves in the lovely Croix-Rousse area which is very old. We will spend a day up in Croix-Rousse this week discovering its little secrets like this picture below of one of the famous painted walls.
Tonight we were invited to Theodore's (Alex friend) house by his parents Fred and Agnes, Ludovics family was there too and we had such a lovely night. John had bought Agnes a lovely gift of chocolates from her favourite chocolate shop which she loved. Fred is quite a wine enthusiast so we were spoiled with a different wine to match every course, from light, dry whites to reds softened with age. The laughter hardly stopped around the dinner table all night, they are all wonderful people, so interesting and full of the joy of life.
Agne is quite the cook. We ate saucisson and olives with an aperitif, a lardon salad, rare roast beef served with gratin potatoes which is Agnes's specialty - I can see why as they were delicious. Ludovics family made a chocolate and raspberry tarte for dessert, these two ingredients are a great match and the tarte was exceptional. One thing is for sure, I know we would not be experiencing this kind of hospitality if we were staying in a hotel room!
We rode back to the banks of the Rhone and lay in the sun together with our wine and cheese, it was bliss. The sky was powder blue and we even peeled off our jackets as we lay basking in the pleasure of the simple life.
Tonight we were invited to Theodore's (Alex friend) house by his parents Fred and Agnes, Ludovics family was there too and we had such a lovely night. John had bought Agnes a lovely gift of chocolates from her favourite chocolate shop which she loved. Fred is quite a wine enthusiast so we were spoiled with a different wine to match every course, from light, dry whites to reds softened with age. The laughter hardly stopped around the dinner table all night, they are all wonderful people, so interesting and full of the joy of life.
Agne is quite the cook. We ate saucisson and olives with an aperitif, a lardon salad, rare roast beef served with gratin potatoes which is Agnes's specialty - I can see why as they were delicious. Ludovics family made a chocolate and raspberry tarte for dessert, these two ingredients are a great match and the tarte was exceptional. One thing is for sure, I know we would not be experiencing this kind of hospitality if we were staying in a hotel room!
