You will need sunglasses and a scarf.

Days requiring sunglasses and a scarf always remind me of this far away lady. They epitomise all that is great about Autumn - low light, crisp air, blue skies, twirling leaves, harvest bounties. And, in my opinion, if the weather lottery plays kind and dishes you this happy combination then go and explore, breathe deeply and enjoy. There will be plenty of days like today with rain (or worse still flooding), chill wind and dark, grey skies.

Just over a week ago, we made the most of such a day and headed to the charming Logierait Country Market, just as the weather offered all that is good about Autumn, this market offered all that is good about a Perthshire country market. Excellent produce, happy, friendly people, contented dogs of all sizes, live music, wild flowers on tables, a spinning wheel, free parking (for cars and bikes) and even a narrow gauge railway!

The next and last of the season is October 20th. Go.

With a touch of Provencal inspiration, in pictures.

As I type, tonight's guests are merrily next door, some with whiskeys in hand and I'm at the computer having a cheese and crisp midnight feast to celebrate another successful supper club! Tonight's table was booked by one group of friends, none of them had been to a supper club before and were all unsure what to expect, but, given the clean plates, happy chatter, empty bottles and positive feedback, I think they're converted and really hope to see them back again.

Tonight there was also a first at Charlie and Evelyn's Table - the guests started their evening with their own cocktail hour - sipping seville orange gin cocktails with our canapes. Inspired.

And then, here's what they ate:

To amuse: Rocket, sauvignon blanc and potato soup.

 Armstrong's fine gambas.

To start: Gambas with mango and chicory salad.

To follow: Bowers' fillet of beef, truffled green beans and yellow peppers, crispy potatoes.

To finish: Strawberry soup with petite meringues.

Gently does it.

To ease us back into hosting, we held a private supper for one lovely lady and some friends to gather and celebrate her special birthday. 

We set the table with pretty pink flowers and candles and selected delicious ingredients that showcased the best that Spring has to offer including delicate tulips, baby gem lettuce, locally foraged wild garlic, new season lamb and rhubarb.

Here's how it looked:

Work in progress.

Hazelnuts toasted and used instead of pine nuts in the pesto.

Wild garlic pesto.

More wild garlic becoming soup.

 To welcome Tulip petals with goat's cheese.

To welcome Hot smoked salmon mousse, homemade buttery oat biscuits.

To amuse Wild garlic pesto toasts...

 

...and a taste of wild garlic soup.

 The Table.

To start Crab, apple and celeriac with scallops.

 

To follow Braised little gem lettuce with

 lamb noisettes, broad beans, peas, potato rosti.

 To finish Rhubarb tarts, orange Mascarpone.

Foodies Festival

On Saturday, we headed, with empty stomachs, to Foodies. The beautiful Arthur's Seat backdrop and sunshine really made the day, not to mention the many, many eating and tasting options. We chose fabulous, freshly shucked, Ballimore Oysters, to start, followed by amazing Arbroath Smokies, washed down with ginger beer or Festival beer (which later sold out). And then spent a couple of hours wandering, basking in the sun and stopping off at the bar. Delicious.

Guest Post: Erin’s Indulge Me Goddammit Weekend Breakfast

I still have one meal left to go today but I'm already onto thinking about Saturday's breakfast. Sometimes simplicity is all and, I am so frying my crumpets. The only other thing is to have enough wine tonight for a teensy hangover as Erin suggests: "So this is barely a recipe really but it’s so bloody good for Saturday late-morning breakfast, when you’ve got a teensy hangover and want something substantial, but you’ve got enough zip to get into the kitchen and faff about for ten minutes."

Thanks Erin, I just wish you were the right side of The Atlantic to share this with me.

Serves two (or one if the person is as greedy as a bear in a salmon filled river):

4 crumpets
4 large free range eggs (courtesy of Uncle Joe)
Big chunk of salted, good quality butter
Fresh flat leaf parsley
Black caviar
Crème fraiche

Either toast the crumpets or do what I do and fry them slowly in butter in a frying pan. This is disgracefully fatty but so delicious. In the meantime, fork your eggs about and oh I don’t need to tell you how to make scrambled eggs do I. So, in the meantime, make scrambled eggs to your liking (I like them just-cooked). When the eggs are done, put two crumpets on each plate, divide the eggs between them, then add a dollop of crème fraiche on top of each. Top with a teaspoonful of caviar, then sprinkle with torn-up parsley. Might want a squeeze of lemon. Yuuuuummmmm.

Happy weekend x

Supper Two

Has been and gone, rather smoothly, it seemed. The mountain of washing up was conquered and our guests left us in the early hours, full of food, wine and chatter.

We took the second supper as a great excuse for an outing for some of our underused, special crokery (thanks Nat, if you're reading) and beautifully crafted vintage cutlery to make Charlie and Evelyn's table look extra pretty. And, to hint at Spring, a few early daffodils, arranged in a collection of three bottles, a tip courtesy of the lovely Carol Walker.

As for the food, the seafood and fish didn't linger long on plates (more on our supplier soon) and the souffles rose like clouds over puddles of orangey, sugary goo.

Extremely free range

I'm the kind of person who, if at all possible, likes to know where things come from, the story behind them, the reasons, the quirks, the history. This little post will hopefully become the start of more regular posts of this nature providing a chance to introduce and share our gratitude for lovely suppliers and their delicious ingredients.

First up, and very close to our hearts is Uncle Joe (first mentioned here and pictured below). A man so dear that everyone will want him as their Uncle. He supplies our eggs with great pride.

He has a beautiful, wild farm in Weardale and an elusive brood of freqently laying hens. His eggs are not for sale but given (by the dozen) with thanks and love to a carefully selected and lucky few*. This is definitely part of the appeal and I'm sure adds to their taste, not to mention that these eggs are extremely free range. I mean, they make it across The Border unscathed and taste all the more delicious having been carefully transported and savoured.

We will be using our latest dozen for our Marmalade Souffles at Supper Two.

Thank you Uncle Joe.

*If you would like to sample Uncle Joe's eggs for yourself, an empty egg box or two is a safe swap.

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