Today I turned 6 (again. For the third time.)
Bon Anniversaire Lorette.
One of my best birthday was a few years back when my family and my now hubby put together a SURPRISE short break in Brittany for me. We had a wonderful time. The house was awesome, a proper family mansion in the middle of nowhere, yards from the beach. A massive dinning table, a cosy living room, a sunny garden for lazy aperetifs and a large courtyard perfect for playing PETANQUE until late at night early in the morning...mmm.
I love holiday food.
Because when you are on holiday, you want to spend your time doing stuff, or vegging or chatting with friends. Whatever. but not slaving in the kitchen (well, not me). So it's all about easy dishes, quick to prepare and using few ingredients too (although we now tend to take a box of "cooking essentials" when we go on holiday we never have as much kitchen ingredients handy as when at home). Here's my idea of a perfect summer menu:
Melon au porto
(melon with Port)
just either chop a melon in 1/2, remove the seeds and present on a plate with a few tablespoons of Port poured into the middle
Or for a more 2008 presentation, dice the melon in small cubes, drop in a pretty glass over crushed ice, pour over some Port and top with a little chopped fresh mint
My grand mother used to serve this as a starter a lot.
Tomato salad with a shallot vinaigrette
slice a few tomatoes and tip in a large salad bowl.
Very finely slice a shallot and mix in with the tomatoes.
in a small bowl, mix 1 teasppon of French mustard, 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.
Add vegetable oil to taste.
Drizzle the dressing on the tomatoes and top with plenty of chopped parsley
Potato salad with boiled eggs, cervelas sausage and mayo dressing
peel and boiled 1 medium potato per person (or boiled them first. You get "pommes de terre en robe de chambre" - potatoes in dressing gown- and peel them later when they are cold)
Cut the into cubes and place in a large salad bowl.
Skin and slice some cervelas sausage- you can buy this in any supermarket in France
Cook a few eggs in boiling water for 10 minutes. Leave to cool, peel and chop.
Mix all the ingredients together and mix in homemade or ready made mayonnaise.
Serve along with a selection of simple barbecued meats: merguez and chipolatas, pork chops sprinkled with Herbes de Provence or, for a real treat, a whole rib of beef!!!
Pudding? a massive bowl of fresh raspberries tossed in caster sugar (makes the juice come out so you end up with a bit of a respberry soup, lush) served with Carte d'Or vanilla ice cream.
Keep the best for the end: Leg it to your local patisserie and buy an assortment of petits fours or migniardises (tiny canapé size desserts like herisson, opera, figue, eclairs.....) to hand around with coffee 
