Marion, Pierre’s sister, also gave me a recipe for a traditional Quiche Lorraine, so I thought I might just spoil you and give you both. Make them both and then please write and tell me which you prefer. A photo would be great too – am I cheeky or what!?

Pierre was one of the lovely French students that stayed with us this summer (he gets a mention the curry extravaganza post too) – that’s him in the photo, cycling the hills around our farm. We met his equally lovely Mother and sisters and they very kindly gave me their secret family recipe for Quiche Lorraine with a twist. Unlike the original, this one contains mushrooms and is also no longer a secret! I have promised my ultra special pizza dough recipe in exchange, so watch this space Pierre as it will soon be posted…

I forgot the starter! I was so excited about the Herbed Crown Roast of Lamb that I forgot to tell you about the starter. We are now into Day 4 of Laura Praise. My other friends are going to start getting annoyed at all the attention she’s getting. My mate Em is also a great cook and I have tons of dishes of hers yet to post – we’re having dinner at theirs on Saturday so I’ll be sure to get more material to post sooooon. But back to LLL Starter.

Does one actually need to say more? Cheesecake. Baileys. Chocolate. I could end any comment right now as these three words are enough to cause one to melt into dessert heaven, but you are not so lucky and I shall continue to comment. This Cheesecake was amazing. I am not a dessert person and most often say No to puds – to be perfectly honest, I stuff myself so full on the starter and main courses, there is just no space left for even a Mint Wafer.

Laura’s luscious lamb also came with some other delightful dishes and these too I must share with you. The Dauphinoise Potatoes were fantastic – I often try to cut down on the fat content of said dish, but alas, it is never quite as good as the original. I have decided to make the real McCoy but then have less and I have been successful in one point and it’s unfortunately not the latter.

Today’s recipe: Herbed Crown Roast of Lamb served with redcurrant and mint sauce and mustard mayonnaise
As we drove up the 1km of beautiful field and tree lined driveway, I wondered what awaited us. We crossed the little bridge over their ponds and entered into the world of perfection. “Well”, I said to my hubby and to the hostess later on, “we can't have them back to our hovel now. It's a chateau!”

We have a guest writer today, Lara Simmons. I thought it might be nice to have more content and other people's interesting recipes. Here's a bit about Lara: Lara is obsessed with healthy eating, and leads a very healthy lifestyle. She goes to the gym 4 times a week and always makes sure she eats her five portions of fruit and veggies a day. Lara loves to write blog posts to share her healthy eating tips, but just like everyone else, she also loves to indulge in naughty treats like this one!

Last year we were invited to Catherine's Curry Night of Note. It was also the only occasion in probably the last 20 years that I forgot my camera at home so this spectacular event went undocumented. So? I hear you mumble belligerently (thank goodness for spell check on that one). YOU didn’t see the magnificent spread of food at this mega-dinner. However, the camera-forgetting-trick did work well, as they were forced to invite me back this year to take photos. The worrying thing is, am I now going to be invited back next year??

I sent this recipe to my mate Em, and she seemed to think it was too much work, but it isn’t really. You could buy the Sponge Cake if you wanted to save time – I always have loads of eggs from our chucks, so I make them and freeze them for later use (sponge cakes freeze incredibly well).

The Marciac Jazz Festival 2012 started 3 days ago and I haven’t even gotten round to posting about last years event… What can I say, I have on occasion been overtaken by snails. So without further snail-poo, let me tell you about a wonderful event that takes place in the middle of nowhere, but which attracts large crowds and big name artists.