Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This

Foie gras mousse on toasted poilane bread

I dream a lot. Awake or asleep but especially when I'm asleep. I have had some seriously bizarre dreams which cause me to wonder if there is some deep, dark, twisted individual hidden underneath. Oh well, maybe not so hidden really. Sometimes I have epic dreams that seem to go on and on. Even after I wake up and fall back asleep the dream continues. And then there are some which are plain obvious. Last night I dreamt that Sabs and I went to the Frangipani Lazy Sunday lunch and I was too full to eat! I felt so full and bloated, what a nightmare! And they served us a whole roast chicken each. Needless to say, when I woke up this morning, I headed straight to the gym to make sure I worked up an appetite. Its the final Lazy Sunday lunch for the year and it was a Christmas-themed one. Mmmm my favourite! There isn't anything fancy, just really good, simple and gorgeous food.

For the amuse bouche we had foie gras mousse on poilane bread. Followed by a deliciously moreish jerusalem artichoke soup with noisette poached scallops and sage butter. Our starter consisted of sauteed girolle mushrooms with a wobbly, perfectly poached egg. The beauty is in the simplicity of the dish. I loved the chewy texture of the aromatic girolles against the soft, liquidy egg. It just really hit the spot! The mains consisted of roast chicken, prime rib and roast lamb shoulder. On the sides were all my favourite Christmassy things like pea and "ham" in cream, sauteed brussel sprouts, roast potatoes, parsnips and butternut squash and pan-fried stuffing (from the chicken). The roast chicken was just perfect. And the stuffing! My god, I could eat buckets of it. It was a chestnut, morel mushroom and foie gras stuffing. Y-U-M! The prime rib was deeevine! So flavourful and juicy. And the black truffle gravy that went along with it just brought tears to my eyes. It was almost sticky and with that unmistakable hint of truffle perfume. The roast lamb was pretty good too but the prime rib won hands down.

We were bursting at the seams by the end of the meal. Still we managed to fit in dessert. After all, how can one eat at Frangipani without eating their sickeningly decadent and brilliant desserts. I helped myself to the yule log which was like a lovely Victoria sponge cake in a roll. And I also had the egg nog ice cream with egg liquer. Heavenly! The fruit cake was way too alcoholic for me! It was like a shot of alcohol with texture. Whoah! I only wished that more of our friends could've joined us. Nothing like sharing a fantastic meal with friends. Oh well, their loss! Sigh. This is what Sundays should be like. Lazy and scrumptious!

Prime rib with black truffle gravy, roast potatoes, pasnips and brussel sprouts

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