I got thinking about seafood today. That’s my problem … I see food and I eat it! And I reminded myself of an outstanding starter I did a while back. You can read all about it at Prawn Perfection. The problem is that I wanted to do it for my brother and my sister-in-law when we go back to the Isle of Man (they’re great at looking after the house for us, and a meal together to say ‘thank you’ is the least we can do).

Sadly, I remembered that Jeanette is allergic to prawns (last time she ate them, apparently she glowed like a traffic light for days after) so I have to come up with something a bit different. And then I remembered Salade des Gourmets which is seriously one of the best starters of all time. In fact, we’re going to our favourite restaurant tomorrow evening (La Petite Rôtisserie – 65, chemin de Halage, 95610 Eragny, France) and without doubt I’ll be tempted…

Life in France ticks along as usual. It’s no more exotic than anywhere else, but I do confess to enjoying the food culture. Mind you, it doesn’t always work that way. Last weekend, M-D and I went into Paris to meet up with a couple of her cousins and their partners. We arranged to meet at a restaurant called “Le Dalou” in Place de la Nation and have lunch there. This turned out to be less than average. Those of us who had steaks found them overcooked (not normally a fault in France) and my French Onion Soup was luke warm and tasteless. Probably we could have lived with that if the bill hadn’t arrived totalling 350 euros – that’s 50 euros each ($70 or £45). We left declaring “never again” for that particular establishment.

Hopefully tomorrow night will be different. I’ll keep you informed!