Thursday 7 to Sunday 10  March 2024

Wednesday is a shopping trip to Leatherhead to get the ingredients for Sunday’s Ogilvy 50th Anniversary (of Lady P’s nannying) lunch. The weather is crisp with blue sky in the morning and around 11c. Thursday was, however foggy for most of the day so it felt a lot colder.

We went to Dorking on Friday, to drop off Flashy’s £10 dinner suit to the alteration lady to have the waist let out and the sleeves let down, as the previous owner obviously was a tall, thin bloke with short arms. She is highly praised on Facebook and a pleasant Swedish woman from South Africa. A bit expensive at £65 for the service, but in the end a very inexpensive suit. Notice I didn’t say ‘cheap suit’ because it isn’t. It was made in Germany by those famous German tailors.

Saturday today and we spent all morning prepping for the lunch and all is pretty well sorted. Lady P has washed the silverware, double washed the crystal and set the table for 14. Just a little cleaning to go before Shamus (eldest of the two boys) and Hugo (his son) arrive this afternoon. Home made lasagna, (Hugo’s favourite) and some garlicy, rosemary pizza flat breads with a simple salad will be served. Lady P has a devious plan to pay Hugo £5 to help her wash our hire car as it is filthy from all the country roads. Not to be. They arrive late due to traffic, so it’s straight into dinner, a couple of drinks then an early night.

So, it’s Sunday. The big day has arrived and all mise en place completed, the oven cranked up and serving platters ready. The four ‘children’ that Lady P nannied 50 years ago, arrive with their partners (2 of the four still married) and their adult children and five dogs. We set the table for 14, as for some reason, you shouldn’t set for 13. Not Flashy’s kingdom, he lives in the kitchen. Suffice to say, it was a great day with lots of laughs and we got to use all the silver and crystal and gold edged crockery. The menu follows:

Arrival

Spanakopitakia

Taittinger Champagne

Platters served seated

Chateau Garonnes St Gemme , Haut-Medoc 2018

  • Home made ciabatta, sea salt and garlic oil glaze
  • Hummous, baba ganoush, parsnip skordalia
  • Slow cooked lamb leg in white wine, soft figs, garlic, lemon juice and zest and sweet onions
  • Mediterranean roasted vegetables – peppers, pumpkin, onion, zucchini, beetroot, truss tomatoes; olive oil and cumin
  • Double cooked lemony Greek potatoes
  • Greek salad
  • Sticky date pudding, butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream
  • Cheese platter – brie, stilton, comte, Ogilvy rare honey and crackers
  • Chocolate thins

Just a little background on our 1970’s kitchen in which all of the above has been created. Many of you will know that my mother has, over the years, collected a vast amount of linen, crockery, cutlery and crockery. Although Jenny has thrown a lot out. Well, Johnny’s mum was like nanna on steroids. Since she passed away last April, her daughter has now taken 70 loads to the opp shops and the tip and there is still more stuff here than you’d find in Buderim.

So, we had plenty of choice for the table setting and cupboards full of bowls, casserole dishes, platters and the like were also used. What we don’t have is a frying pan. That makes the full English breakfast a challenge. 

On the bright side, we have a great stove and oven, a modern fridge and dishwasher and a microwave. Oh yes, the second drawer (now you all know what is in every second drawer in every kitchen in the English speaking world), has things that were once used to truss pheasants and a good old set of hand egg beaters. These were used more than once.


Not too shabby












Shamus, Diarmid, Emma Louise, Nanny P, Laura Jane and some of the dogs
The modern kitchen
Jolly good stove
The old cold room/larder used before they had fridges, now housing a small fraction of the collected dining ware
The second drawer
















Charlotte, LJ's daughter
In the swing of it
The good silver and crystal has been found
Dogs at lunch. How English!


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