Chanson d’Amour
Now, there may be some readers of Breton Diary who are too young to remember the Manhattan Transfer; there may be but… I think they are probably lying about their age!
Manhattan Transfer were (and still are), an American vocal band who got to number one in the UK charts in 1977 with the lovely Chanson d’Amour.
Which brings me rather nicely to Valentine’s Day celebrations chez Breton Diary.
Now, you may remember that last year I dragged to Girlie to the Hotel Restuarant du Chateau in Josselin (which was handy because we were living in Josselin then.)
For any of you who don’t remember (that premature Alzheimer’s seems to be rampant amongst some of my readers – I wonder if that’s my fault?), you can read all about it at Valentine’s Day.
You may also remember that after a wonderful evening last year, the Girlie managed to walk right past our house on the way home and only realised that she’d gone too far when she was 100 yards further up the hill!
Thus, I felt it was advisable to book somewhere that was at the end of a lane, just in case she tried to do the same again.
It was all a top secret hush-hush operation that I totally managed to forget about until the day before. Luckily our friends, Tim and Linda, at The Cuckoo’s Nest had a vacancy in their little Bed and Breakfast Cottage and would be happy to see us. Likewise, the Hotel du Chateau could fit us in for the meal and so we dropped the Thirteen Year Old (as Josh shall henceforth be called) off with Lorraine and Ray (www.BellBuild.com) with strict instructions to lock him in the cupboard under the stairs with some bread and water until we got back and the Girlie and I buggered off to Josselin.
After dumping our stuff at the cottage, we headed into town to visit old friends Sandra and Fabien at La Taverne. It’s probably just a coincidence, but… La Taverne does have the largest wine glasses of all the bars in Josselin!
After catching up with all the gossip, we then headed off to Le Petit Bar for a tiny Ricard and a quick watch of the rugby (very exciting!)
Eventually, it was time to go and visit the restaurant.
A quick Ricard in the bar was followed (in our best tradition) by another quick Ricard in the bar where we met old friends of ours, Shaun and Donna and their son Conner. We agreed to eat together.
The special Valentine’s day menu was as follows….
Assiette Gourmande des Amoureux (Smoked Salmon, Oyster Cream, Carpaccio of Scallops with fruit and Foie Gras.)
Suprême de Pintade aux Morilles with Purée à L’Ancienne au Kacha et ses Légumes se Saisons.
Nougat Glacé Maison aux Fruits Secs. Gelée Exotique et Brochette de Fruits Frais Rôtis au Miel.
We enjoyed every mouthful of it!
During the meal we were entertained by the band.
In the best French tradition, the band did stop playing every now and again so that they could eat, themselves!
The motto of this is….
Never let a boogie get in the way of a good meal!
And, talking of dancing….
Once again I got dragged onto the dance floor! This seems to be an annual event (or, at least, I only let it happen once a year!)
I don’t normally dance. There’s a good reason for this…
You see, I was born as part of a pair of co-joined twins.
When we were six months old, my brother and I were successfully separated.
The operation was difficult and those were early days for that sort of paediatric surgery.
The doctors made a mistake and, as a result, my brother’s feet and mine were mixed up.
Thus, I have to spend my life with two left feet and, as a result, can’t dance.
My brother, though, got both right feet and he dances like Fred Astaire!
Of course, Shaun and Donna had to have ago themselves (and show me how it should be done!)
Once they’d finished doing all that jiving, spinning around and generally being rather professional about it all, Donna was unanimously acclaimed winner of the Show Us Your Belly Button contest (I was thinking of entering myself but, seeing the others, I’m glad I didn’t!)
All in all a rather wonderful night.
It started gently snowing when we left the restaurant to wander back to the cottage.
It was almost as if it had been arranged, just for the Girlie and me!
All the best
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