It was 40 years ago today...

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No, not Sgt.Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band! 40 years ago today Jane and I got engaged to be married. At the time we were both undergraduates at Oxford University. I was already in the Army, and just about to head off to the Far East to join my regiment. It was a make-or-break moment. Would we part company and never see each other again, or were we already inseparable? We decided that it was definitely the latter, and I’m sure it was the right decision, because here were are 40 years on and still together! By the way, we also made a conscious decision NOT to become engaged on Valentine’s Day because we thought that would be far too cheesy. So, 21st February is our day….

One of the things that keeps us together is a shared love of food and cooking, so it’s hardly a surprise that we chose to celebrate by cooperating on the production of a special meal.

Here’s the menu:-

Starter
Salade aux lardons. Mixed salad of lettuce, endive, watercress and radishes, served with a hot dressing of bacon lardons.
Wine: Jackson’s Estate Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, New Zealand)

Main
Roast Fore-rib of Beef, served with roast potatoes, roast parsnips, Spring Cabbage, and Purple Sprouting Broccoli – and of course Yorkshire Puddings with gravy!
Wine: Hacienda Los Haroldos Malbec Roble (i.e. oaked) (Mendoza, Argentina)

Dessert
Pears in Brandy, with Rodda’s Cornish Clotted Cream

Since it was a special occasion we splashed out a bit and bought some ingredients that were more expensive than we would normally buy. That piece of meat, for instance, cost us about £20! But then it was just over a kilogram in weight. Yes, I know…. We were counting on having some leftovers. And anyway, if a piece of beef is too small it can easily go dry during cooking.

The Malbec was a bit special too. We bought it from a proper wine-merchant, not a supermarket. The chap who served us evidently knew his stuff. We were umming and aahing over which particular one to buy and he came over and advised us to get the Los Haroldos one, despite our initial preference being for a slightly more expensive one. Most salespeople would have tried to flog us the most expensive one, I’m sure.

We have been reckoning up how much we spent on the ingredients for this meal, and it comes to about £50, including the wines. That might sound a lot for one meal, but just think how much you would spend on a meal in a posh restaurant! The other day we had a £200 meal in a so-called Michelin-starred restaurant (which shall remain nameless because it fell well below our expectations) and it was nowhere near as good as the meal we cooked last night. [I hasten to add that the £200 meal was a prize that Jane had won.] You also have to consider the fact that for a couple of Foodies like us, the shopping for, the preparation of, and the cooking of the meal is nearly as much enjoyment as the eating of it!

We don’t claim to produce fancy ”Michelin Star / Masterchef” dishes, but our style is good wholesome not-messed-about-with food, made with love and care, from real raw ingredients not processed gunk.

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