Happy birthday!

He's the same age as me now :)

After looking at the weather forecast for today, I decided that the birthday treat would be lunch at the Cave à Manger in Narbonne, rather than in the garden of La Bonbonne. It was sunny but blowing a gale as we drove down the autoroute.

The Cave is the bistro offshoot of the 2-Michelin star restaurant of Lionel Giraud. We've been once before and enjoyed the set menu, but we decided to try à la carte this time. We shared light starters of a carpaccio of sea bream and an upmarket version of a cheese and ham toastie made with pan cristal. Then S had a roast pigeon served in a dinky cast iron casserole with divine gravy, and a separate casserole of aligot. Trying desperately to more or less stick to the diet, I chose goujons of turbot with béarnaise sauce and new potatoes. This was so light and delicious that I was tempted by dessert. Probably a mistake. The cheesecake aérien was very good and suitably airy, but enormous (extra), as was S's giant baba à l'armagnac.

We left sated and drove home against a stiff and gusting headwind, to sink into food comas. We have more or less recovered now, but not feeling very lively! No more calories will be consumed today. And needless to say I am skipping yoga class.