What an amazing dinner party I had the very good fortune to be invited to last night!  Knowing I was going to be eating very well in the evening I tried to eat ultra lightly all day.  I made a small portion of the blueberry, banana and cashew nut smoothie I made the other day with the addition of some fresh mint.  The cashew nuts were soaked overnight which not only makes them easier to digest but also makes them easier to blend.

The mint made something wonderful even more delicious.  This has the consistency of soft serve ice cream and as the banana and blueberries were frozen, it was just like a bowl of ice cream.

But a really healthy one.

I managed to spend all morning gardening and then headed off to my favourite local nursery to buy some new plants to put in the freshly weeded and dug over beds.  The Walled Nursery is in Hawkhurst and if you have never been, you are missing a real gem.  Go along and take a look and support this friendly family run business.  They have 13 Victorian glass houses and grow most of their plants on site.

Unfortunately the help yourself cafe sells amazing cup cakes.  And so I did, help myself!

Can you see the cat?

Next to the Cat Nip 🙂

Lunch was some tuna and salad.

Tomatoes, lamb’ s lettuce, sweetcorn and raw cauliflower.

The afternoon was spent watching Harvey play cricket and unfortunately sampling too much of the tea provided.  Oops.

And so to dinner.  A short stroll up the road brought us to Annette and David’s lovely home and stunning garden.

Our host had done nearly all the cooking and I was touched they made a spinach and apple juice as an appetiser, knowing how fond I am of my green juices.  It was delicious and a great way to start the evening as it provided us with a boost of nutrition to aid our digestion for the wonders to come. Brie and cranberry parcels.  Yummmmmm. Fire to warm us while we enjoyed a lovely sunset. In the middle of the table is the goat’s cheese and red onion bread – spectacular. Which was eaten with relish alongside this original starter of bunny burgers.  Not only does David cook but he goes to the trouble of shooting and preparing his own rabbit.  How amazing is that?  Ticks all my ‘eat local’ boxes 🙂

The mini burgers were indeed made with rabbit plus chicken and smoked bacon, served on a bed of a pea shoots (which I completely love), with edamame, a dijon dressing and home made rhubarb chutney.  This was so good, if I am not invited back to have it again, I may camp out in their garden until I am served some.  It was original and totally delicious. By this stage of the proceedings I had imbibed far more wine than was probably necessary and so I can not remember the charming description our main course was introduced with.  There were little sautteed potatoes, a green vegetable which I think was pak choi, haddock and a very flavoursome caper and coriander dressing.  It was wonderful.Pudding time !! We had a trio of desserts.  There was a frozen raspberry mousse, a lemon tart and meringue.  It was all good but the lemon tart was off the scale of lemony yumminess.  Nothing about this exquisite slice of lemony heaven could have been improved.  Except I could have had a much bigger slice or one of my so called friends could have traded their slice with me for one of my other desserts!

The meringue and cream were accompanied by a selection of berries served in this spectacular bowl, made of ice with flowers in it.  It was just brilliant.

I did ask if I could move in and live there.  Apparently not.  Probably just as well – how on earth is a girl supposed to diet when surrounded by so much irresistible food?

Our wonderful evening finished with music, more wine and many more conversations with very lovely people.  What a shame such evenings have to finish but how lucky were we to have been invited at all.

Thank you David and Annette for such a splendid evening.