last night's chestnut soup was quite a success - for much of today i have been thinking of holding a dinner party incorporating small amounts of same along with hare a la royale. the funny thing is that at each dinner thought experiment the reason for the party, the guests and the location are all different. tonight i made a small daube of beef and thyme and had it for dinner with horseradish cream. it was, perhaps a little large and so i feel a bit full. the meat feast continues tomorrow when i am scheduled to be going to tayyabs with edmond. this is the time of the year when i had my first tayyabs induced vision and tomorrow i shall try and call forth further prophecy.

i have spent a very convivial christmas indeed at the family h. rather unusually this yuletide saw me visit a church for some late night carol action. on wednesday afternoon i happened upon this spectacular you tube via mouthfuls:



in it's honour i am attempting to construct a pure flavoured chestnut veloute.

the sevenoaks sojurn is cause for some valuable time spent in the kitchen. last week i made some oxatil and spaetzale in a sort of austrian/swiss/val d'aosta way. today i intend to pot roast a chicken inspired by these amazing behind the scenes at arpege pictures. not quite sure what i should use to shield the bird (i guess hay would be indicated but i have none) so necessity will be the mother of invention once more.