Family gathering in Antibes

My parents were kind enough to invite me for dinner tonight at their place, together with my nieces who were still on the Cote d’Azur. Mathilde was in Angers, so I went on my own this time. After a nice apero, we sat down at the as always well-decorated table to devour some delicious lamb steaks, with oven-cooked potatoes, with a bottle (or 2 ? or 3?) of Piedmont red wine to go with it.

This was followed by the usual impressive selection of more and less smelly cheeses (let's just say that my parents are, er, more open-minded when it comes to cheese than me), with a strawberry cake to fill up any empty space there might have been in my stomach – kind of my premature birthday celebration (only a month in advance – but hey that was OK with me ;-). By now I had decided it would probably be a good idea to stay the night on the sofa rather than drive back.

We continued the fun by playing some card games – my dad, the old’ card shark, came out on top as always – whereas my performance left rather a lot to be desired (I was barely beaten to the loser’s spot...). I blame all the red wine... In true Turtiainen fashion we then continued drinking wine and discussing until a respectable 2 o’clock in the morning – my nieces having long since gone to bed (the youth of today, eh...?). All in all, a very pleasant family evening, then!