For the changing season (and for Jimmy and Nell), in pictures.

Tonight’s supper saw the very welcome return of friends, cake ladies and a couple of guests new to home supper clubs.

Usually, we begin our evening with a brief introduction to the real Charlie and Evelyn, but this time, they needed no introduction, as the guests were already familiar with the story. Instead, we introduced Chris’s maternal grandparents, James and Ellen (or Jimmy and Nell as they were affectionately known). 

This picture was taken on their wedding day and, like Charlie and Evelyn’s, sits on the mantelpiece in the dining room and watches over our suppers. The reason for a special introduction tonight was that remarkably, today would have been their 73^rd wedding anniversary. Something worth sharing and celebrating!

Tonight also broke several records.

First, for range of drinks served from G and T, cocktails, and fizz to cider, wine, coke, milk and water finishing off with “Baileys”! A great opportunity to showcase a good proportion of our glassware collection which brings me to the second record, number of glasses used. Total: 42.

And finally, a new record for Miss E. Tonight was the first supper club that she decided, the party really was too good to miss. How on earth she wasn’t sleeping at midnight is a mystery, surely it means a lie in tomorrow. Surely…

Anyway, enough of the history and the record breaking, here is the food:

To start: Duck rillettes, plums, homemade honey and walnut soda bread.

 To follow: Beef stroganoff, buttered pappardelle, chilli green beans.

 To finish: Baked apple crumble, rhubarb compote, coconut custard.

With coffee: Mini meringues

 Honeycomb truffles.

 E's still awake. How?

Almost midnight, post supper club supper. Left over bread, butter, delicious jam (a greatly appreciated gift from this kind lady who knows what it's like not eating until guests are full) and a cup of tea. 

Please share your thought by leaving us a comment, it will make for a happy Sunday.

Menu for the last supper

It's no exaggeration to say Saturday's supper will be momentous. It will also be our last before we welcome a new arrival to our lives and our home. To mark the end of an era suitably, we've chosen to dish up:

To start

Crab, apple, celeriac salad, scallops.

To follow

Mustard crumble rack of lamb, mash, tender stem broccoli, onion strings.

To finish

Rhubarb tarts.

Giant Onions

If you're lucky enough to get your hands on onions this size*...

...then we can recommend reaching for Delia Smith's "The Collection: Soups" and creating a vat of sweet, warming French Onion Soup with toasted baguette and gruyere crutons.

This soup is sure to help you forget the cold outside, or, as was the case for us, provide a culinary hug after our return from The Great Outdoors - skiing at Glenshee. (It proved especially comforting for me as I returned shaken and bruised.)

What's more, there's plenty left for the freezer, so the goodness of this soup, the richness of the flavours, sweetness of the giant onions, sogginess of the crutons and stringy nuttiness of the cheese, can be enjoyed over and over, for as long as this cold weather lasts.**

*ours came courtesy of Uncle Joe and his secert supplier
**maybe