Pears in Red Wine

We had one of The Spouse's new colleagues round for dinner last weekend with his wife and two children. Nothing unusual about that except that the sprogs were aged 6 and sub-2.

The first reminder we had that it's a long time since we had small kids of our own, was that the mother did a quick sweep of our living room and relocated everything above the 1-metre mark. Now, that gave me no problem whatsoever - they were all the treasures The Sons have given me over the years. and there was quite a bit of discussion as the items were moved - specially the precious three wise monkeys. I have at least three variations thereof -one in the dining room, one in the lounge, one on my charm bracelet. Years ago, after my father's sudden death when I was 16, we moved into a new house and sitting on a bookshelf were the three wise monkeys. Later, when my husband became a newspaper editor, I decided that it would be appropriate for them to reside in his office - hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

He moved on to greater things but the monkeys stayed behind. I don't know if they inspired his successors, but I missed my little buddies. And one of the sons remembered that and bought me another set. And so did the next son, with the charm for my bracelet. Our little guests were intrigued by the trio last weekend.

I am quite at home with the dinner party, but when it includes little persons, I am a bit bereft these days. So I decided a big casserole, a potato dish and some fresh vegetables would possibly suit all tastes. The weenies dug into the food with alacrity. The parents - and the chef, moi - were delighted. The parents were in fact overcome with the way their kids attacked the sliced potato and cheese dish, the lovely "spring" (in the middle of winter??) carrots and the just-cooked broccoli, along with the boeuf bourguignonne.

Anyway, mains aside, we got to the dessert. I was in a simplistic mood so opted for pears in red wine. But not for the kiddies. They got some of our splendid Kiwi ice cream. Jelly tip. That is a glorious melange of ice cream, raspberry jelly and teeny bits of flaked chocolate - like a crushed version of our famous jelly tip ice cream on a stick.

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