Raspberry Coulis

Saturday was busy with getting my first package off to my secret pal, then shopping and a trip to the hairdresser. I'm really enjoying all the mystique of getting to know someone from their blog and trying to work out tastes, preferences and the best ways to surprise!

Then, today, we drove over to Tunbridge Wells for a hotel meal as it was a family celebration. MIL had decided to wear the clapotis I made for her in the custom-dyed Hip Knits Silk and we took with us the shawl pin which had arrived from Rosemary of Designs by Romi. The shawl pin came in a lovely little box (above) and was accompanied by a handwritten card from Rosemary. I can't recommend Designs by Romi enough for the customer service I received and will definitely be ordering more shawl pins as they are truly beautiful!

Below is a close up of the shawl pin which is comprised of natural amber stones on a gold plated pin.


Before we went to lunch I got the promised shot of MIL in the garden wearing her clapotis.


She insisted on the above pose which I was puzzled by. When I asked DH about it later, he thought that perhaps it was because people used to pose like this for old knitting patterns so she probably thought this was the best way of modelling her clapotis. The shawl pin was a bit too close to the colours of the clapotis but she is, nevertheless, very happy with it as she says it will go perfectly with her camel coloured pashmina.

MIL is 81 years old and is one of the nicest, kindest people I know. She is also very talented. She doesn't do a lot these days but all through her life she has made the most beautiful curtains and her own clothes as well as being very proficient in all sorts of other crafts such as woodwork, marquetry, and so on. Nowadays she mostly knits tiny sets for the Preemie Unit of the local hospital.

I gave the lavender coloured loopy boa in the previous post its first outing and it attracted lots of compliments. Lunch though was a bit of a disaster. It started off ominously with the waitress writing cherry wine down on her chit when we asked for sherry. Then, even though they had a very limited wine list, they didn't have the one we first chose and several other little episodes occurred in which it was plain that the waitress was either being inattentive or nervous or just wasn't with it at all. This culminated in the waitress accidentally emptying the raspberry coulis (which accompanied my melon starter) in mine and MIL's laps. MIL was wearing a brown skirt and it didn't seem to have stained but my lavender coloured silky skirt looked most obviously spattered with bright red splurges of coulis! How did I react in this situation? Well, I did a few slow breaths under which were muffled several choice swear words and managed to look at it philosophically. The waitress was only in her early 20s, and I tend to be a bit maternal in these sorts of situations. My thinking usually goes along the lines of that's someone's daughter and it could be her first day in the job. I would hate for her to get the sack because I complained about something that was purely an accident. I do think that hotels should train their staff better though before they release them on the unsuspecting public.

We decided to forgo dessert at the hotel and, instead, shared a delicious chocolate torte back home. Here it is being dished up by MIL.


And look what I got to take back home with me!


Two more bears (one male, one female) which MIL picked up in the January sales. Here they are cosily ensconsed in my loopy boa which, thankfully, didn't get spattered with raspberry coulis as I took it off as soon as we sat down at the table.