Nothing like good neighbours :-)

About a year ago, a young Belgian couple opened up a home made ice cream concession stand on the road to Rocamadour. A little while later, a long abandoned farmhouse on the intersection was bought by another young English couple and turned into a chambres d'hote, La Noyeraie. They also offer cream teas with fresh scones if requested in advance. At the same corner, Le Mas de Douze restaurant has recently been taken over by a delightful new French couple who have made their pool available to diners and even my house guests who want to spend an afternoon there cooling off.

I bicycled over the other day to introduce myself and invited everyone to dinner. I forgot that friends from New York who are restoring a house nearby were arriving the same day, and then suddenly my friend Lyle invited another couple, annual clients at his boutique who spend a week every summer visiting the local monkey park.

It was a gorgeous balmy summer evening and the garden filled quickly with not only the guests but their small children and dogs. Everyone brought sparkling white and red Cahors wine, vin de pêche, cabecou goat cheeses, tubs of artisanal ice cream and sorbet, and Belgian chocolates and even a New York cheesecake. Somehow I managed to serve everyone small grilled quiches and salads, magret with raspberry/cream/shallot sauce, sautéed new potatoes, and vegetables, and fresh minty chocolate mousse and strawberries. What with all the contributions from guests, it was quite a feast.

I unfortunately didn't take any photographs of the candle lit garden dinner, so can only post a photograph of my laundered table linens as evidence of our lovely evening.