Hello and thank you for waiting for me so patiently (or in some cases less patiently…!). The photo is hopefully all the explanation needed as to why I haven’t posted for soooo long. I’ve been here. Okay so I have also been working like a slave, but sitting in our camper van right on the beach was the best part of the last couple of months. And I hereby swear to never again ignore my blog for so long. Sorry and please stay faithful to me even if I haven’t been very faithful to you!

So it’s right back to tales and recipes from our very busy and often exciting lives. Hey, at my age, just getting up in the morning can be quite an exciting event! Yesterday was my birthday – thank you everyone for all the birthday greetings – I am now officially one year closer to retirement (got to keep looking on the bright side of life).

August, September and October are notoriously busy months in the south west of France and this year was no exception. We had loads of wonderful visitors from all over the world, a garden full of produce that needed “putting up” for the winter and a camper van demanding to be taken “en vacance”. Well one can hardly say no to a holiday invitation now can you?! If you can remember as far back as September last year (if not, do as I do and look at my blog…), we went to Sete and Lac de Salagou where we enjoyed ourselves so much that we decided to go back again this year. We also added a few more adventures along the way, but I shall keep that for another blog.

Today, I wanted to tell you about a WONDERFUL meal we had just before we head off on our holiday. It was with our awesome (I am so American) friend Dierdre (you’ve met her in other blog entries) and other great guests, Helen and Scott, and Ingrid and Richard. We had a wonderful lunch that started at 12.30pm and ended at 7.30pm…talk about guests having too much fun and just not leaving!

Deirdre made an exquisite meal and the main course of Ackee and Salt fish was something I had never even heard of never mind eaten and was deeelicious. She has very kindly given me the recipe for this and the starter (easy now, you’ll get that later), so I am unashamedly posting her recipe because it was perfect and I could have done it no better.

What the hell is Ackee I hear you ask. I asked exactly the same question and was informed that it is a perfectly common Jamaican fruit. Jamaica here I come! It can also be used as a poison so this little known fruit has many talents! Deirdre can get it on every street corner in London but you may have to look in one of them foreign shops for it. Here is a Wikipedia link so that you can see exactly what it is and what it can and can’t do! In the photos, it’s the stuff that looks like scrambled eggs…don’t be put off by the appearance, the dish is SUPERB.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akee

I’m posting the recipe as a separate post so that it’s easier for you to print off and make. Take the leap and make it – you won’t regret it. Thank you Deirdre!!!!