May 2011

Hello!

I hope you all enjoyed the Easter and Royal Wedding break?  It was great to have some extended weekends and the weather was pretty good too.  I don’t know about you but I could certainly get used to these three and four day working weeks!

April seems to have flown by, but not without me enjoying my first weekend of the summer in Casa Monte Cristo, Portugal.  My guests and I had a wonderful time together enjoying great food, excellent weather and fabulous company. The weekend was thoroughly relaxing although I’m pretty impressed with those who managed a bike ride (with those hills)!

I was also lucky enough to go and see Tottenham Hotspurs v Real Madrid in the quarter finals of the Champions League.  Unfortunately, my beloved Spurs had a huge deficit to overcome from the first leg away but it was a really enjoyable evening, with some delicious food, all the same.

Mid April, Sam (Walker), our executive chef, provided us with a fantastic signature meal as we held our second tasting session for ‘A Taste of Seasoned Events’, from our Spring and Summer collection.  We were fortunate to try organic scotch salmon which had been infused with pomegranate tea and, to follow, we all devoured Somerset Old Spot pork – Sam loves to produce some great British dishes using some truly great British ingredients.  Our guests were truly wowed with the menu on offer and we were very full by the time the evening drew to a close.  Grow your own strawberries, sunflowers and chillies were given to our guests as little table gifts – so I must find out how they’re coming along.

More fun came in the way of a dinner at the annual Historic Royal Palaces showcase at Banqueting House where we enjoyed canapés and Champagne in the Undercroft, before moving to the Banqueting Hall for a delicious three-course dinner including Aylesbury Duck, a trio of beef; slow cooked shin, tenderloin, and oxtail and pecorino cannelloni finished with a choice of desserts. After dinner entertainment included Alaudiae, a classical trio that blew everyone away with some old favourites, and then the after party began, with much dancing, in the Undercroft until late.

My friend’s hen party in Devon was a lot of fun – the theme for her for the weekend was ‘Princesses’, which at silly-o-clock on the Sunday morning was rather amusing to see her still dressed as Princess Leia with two croissants attached to a headband around her ears!  The things we do to celebrate impending marriage!

Anyway, enjoy the end of May bank holiday (the last for a while).

Keep well and I’ll catch up with you soon.

Catherine x