Yesterday was a busy one. At the end of it, my family and I sat slumped in the living room when a minor bombshell was suddenly dropped by my father: we were to welcome a guest to lunch tomorrow; no-one familiar, but one whom we'd never met before and thus called for a special effort ot be made in order for us to create a good first-impression. 'Lunch tomorrow?!' my sister, my mother and I questioned indignantly, 'But we haven't planned anything nice!' At once, like the onset of some culinary mission, we began a quick brainstorm and supermarket-dash to discover all stops that could be pulled out for our surprise visitor. Cookery books lay strewn and open on top of tables, and our thoughts were filled that night with all that needed to be cooked the next day.
The results of this effort, I now tell you with a satisfied stomach, weren't half bad. Our kitchen has been in a flurry of activity since last night until just over an hour ago, when my mother and I presented to our diners a spread of roast chicken, cous cous-stuffed peppers, new potatoes, ratatouille, mixed vegetables, herby-yoghurt dressing -see above- and gravy (yes, I too thought that combination was a little strange). Granted, the mix of flavours and cuisines hadn't been so thoroughly thought out as past meals, but every individual dish was very tasty and our guest, a friend of a friend from Romania, enjoyed them very much, as well as experiencing his first taste of a sweet pepper (I wonder, don't they have such things in his country?).
For dessert, I made a flourless chocolate cake covered (or rather dolloped-on- and-smothered) with rich chocolate ganache- nothing fancy (then was not the time for fiddly confectionary) but jolly nice. A light, sweet flavour it had not, but an accompaniment of fresh blueberries and pouring cream (Mum's ideas) addressed the balance.
There you are, you see- our household has proved that it can cope with catering for unexpected guests (mind you, that's no invitation!).
