Chef Laurette

Yay! The weekend! It has been a busy week at work and even the cinema last night was taxing!

Today's start was early, with Liz picking me up to go to the Parkrun in Marple for a 9am start. The legs were feeling ok, despite me struggling to recover from my first track run in 10 years on Wednesday night.

Just as the gun was about to go, my friend James' finer half, Laurette appeared. As she's French, a hello involved a double cheeked embrace. Fortunately, it was the polite faire la bise, as just as I planted the 2nd light kiss...the starter shouted "Go"! Feck...... a more peasant 3 kiss would have resulted in me being left standing. I started too quickly yet again!

The course was more of a cross-country nature, with a few people reporting almost losing a shoe in the sticky mud! 5km is always hard, with limited opportunity to enjoy the scenery. That said, I really enjoyed it and the surface was really comfy to run on. Despite me feeling good, my time was 23:09, the slowest in recent weeks. However, that's attributable to a very slow course and I was pleased to finish in 26th place.

Drat, on arriving home I noticed that I left my camera and wallet in Liz's car, so I had to pedal up to her house to retrieve it. Double drat.....she was out! I pedalled home and texted her. "I'm in" came the reply. Triple draft! I had knocked on number 25 instead of 27! Back up the hill again, carrying a bottle of soy sauce this time, as Liz had ran out.

Then, I headed off to Glossop on the bike to do Saturday shopping. Quadruple drat! Praze had run out of their rather brilliant artisan baked bread! I would have got some if it hadn't been for earlier mishaps! Oatcakes for lunch instead!!

In the evening, I headed off to Marple again to James and Laure's for dinner. I don't drive, and it would mean a 90 min journey by train.... so I took the much quicker by bike option. Only sub-zero temperatures and a few steep hills stood in the way!

Dinner was awesome. Starter was roasted fennel, puy lentils, orange and vinaigrette. Chapeau Chef Laurette! The best lentil dish I've ever had....in fact one of the best starters I've had. Then, we had gnocchi in cheese sauce a lovely rich chocolate mousse with Grand Marnier for dessert. I had brought cheese, a fine Isle of Mull (as I'm Scottish) and much as it pains me to say it, a finer French Reblochon. Laure had some fruity comte from home and another one that I didn't have room for! It didn't end there... pâtissière to end the gargantuan meal!

5* dinner, better than I would expect at my fav veggie restaurant Banns in Edinburgh! The down side was that it was nearly 11pm and I had to venture out into the sub-zero temperatures again and ride up the muckle Marple Bridge hill! By the time I reached the top....it started to snow!

Brill day!