Lunch with friends

Quite a full on day as we were ten for lunch.  I kept it simple with a chicken tagine, cous cous with herbs, asparagus, almond cake and caramelised oranges.  I’d finished all the cooking I could do in advance by 10am. Walked to get the papers, picked handfuls of lily of the valley from our LotV patch under the viburnum.  From a distance it is a sea of squeaky green leaves but there were so many hidden flowers.  Absolutely lovely.  

The eight arrived bearing gifts, glorious camp London flowers from Moyses Stevens (godmother Fizz always talked about MS), a tree peony, cheese from Chiswick and great wine.  

One couple brought boisterous dogs who were fairly disruptive and the farm puppy came over and joined in, another couple had a tiny chihuahua that I worried would get squished or eaten but it mainly quivered on the sofa.  

All went well and it was great fun - the sun shone and we wandered around the garden.  They had all left by 7 and we cleared up before slumping in a heap and eating cheese from Chiswick.   Early night.