rillettes d'oie, coquilles St Jacques aux champignons sauvages, un petit cafe

Another meal with a bunch of wonderful food enthusiasts, this time in a restaurant in London. The company was assembled informally in honour of Sybille Bedford, legendary writer and in the best tradition of eccentric, forthright English women travellers, and consisted of her and her French companion, the actress Aliette Martin, and Jill Norman, formerly in charge of the food list at Penguin, and her husband Paul, along with my parents and me. Old-fashioned French food, old-fashioned French waiters such as I haven't seen for a long time (dinner jackets and bow ties and all), very good wine (ah, a 1990 Margaux, mmmm...) and lots of food talk chez Le Colombier in Chelsea. Sybille has just completed her latest (and possibly last) book, and Jill also has just finished a book on winter food. A sneak preview: apparently snails with spinach are the latest discovery.



My father met Sybille without knowing who she was over dinner a long time ago, and their shared love of travel and food has kept them going ever since. If anyone hasn't read The Legacy or A Visit to Don Otavio, you must. I was hugely flattered when she said that she had read what I had written on this website about eating alone, and that she felt exactly the same way about the joys of solo eating in strange places. My breast swells with undeserved pride.