Monday 20th April

My plane touched down at 2.30 French time on Saturday.  Half an hour ride into Eymet and a bit of unpacking.  Then over to the café and moving tables for tonight’s soiree.  One of our Eymet friends, Dennis, was having a book launch.  He actually wrote the book a few years ago.  It is a tale of a road trip he and a friend made to Libya in the early sixties and is quite a good read.  He had invited a few people and in all there were about twenty-five gathered for our second event in the café.  Wine and nibbles and good conversation, then Den talked a bit about his book.  We then had a mini-concert; Hedley playing acoustic guitar and Den singing four or five well-known songs.  We all joined in on the choruses to “Streets of London”, “Hallelujah” and “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.”

People stayed for a couple of hours or so, and talked about the paintings and Den’s book and of course Eymet gossip; our favourite topic.

Five of us then went off to the just-opened new restaurant in town, Andine, a small but smart place specializing in Peruvian cuisine.  None of us really knew what to expect but it was great.  A small menu which is usually a good sign as it means that everything is freshly cooked.  Three starters; mussels, guacamole and patatas in a spicy sauce.  I chose the mussels which were gorgeous but very different from the usual cooked-in-white-wine French variety.  These were cold and covered in finely chopped onions and tomato and lime juice.  My main course was bavette steak strips cooked in a thick onion, red pepper and ginger sauce, and absolutely delicious.  With wine the bill came to about 25 euros each, so very reasonable too.

As we left the restaurant we ran into a sudden downpour, and shared two small umbrellas, though the amount of wine we had consumed certainly insulated us well.  Another quiet but very enjoyable evening in Eymet.