We are trying to downsize in preparation for our return to the UK. How to celebrate when we don’t want more stuff? A nice meal out? We certainly had that.

I have had an English Conversation group for several years. Maximum attendance is 3-4 people, as I don’t ask people to enrol for a term, they are free to go on holiday or be sick and they are not out of pocket.

Alain Number One, (we have an Alain Number Two) spent his pre-marriage years in the UK, working in hospital kitchens and learning English. He was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease which meant he had to give up driving. He has a very dynamic wife who takes moving houses, redecorating and creating gardens out of badly neglected parcels in her stride.

Alan has the most amazing imagination and once I challenged him to tell a story from some prompt cards and he spoke for an hour!

We visited him in hospital taking with us our pink picnic basket, plastic cups, a thermos, and slices of cake and couple of balloons for us to bat back and forth to give him some fun exercise while having to be bed bound. He hoped to be out by his 80th birthday and he was.

Today, we were invited to celebrate his birthday with him, 25 friends, neighbours and family.

The party started in their newly reclaimed and replanted garden that had had hedges so thick and tall that the neighbours couldn’t see the house. The obligatory glass of champagne accompanied little glasses of avocado and cream cheese, apericubes and lozenges of flavoured cheeses, smoked salmon rolled into tiny sausages, crisps, cashew nuts (my favourite) and refilled glasses of champagne.

The neighbour in the house behind them turned our to be very happy to help with the reclamation of the garden and all there is between them now is a waist height chain-link fence with a newly opened gap to allow physical communication between the families.

The neighbour was manning the barbecue that he had built. Coals were glowing and brochettes of chicken cubes, beef cubes were roasting. Plump duck breasts were on a higher level waiting for a space closer to the heat.

We were called to take our places at the tables as it was assumed that our stomachs were feeling empty! Not when there are cashew nuts and crisps looking so tempting.

The brochettes were served along with a cold pasta dish containing mini grilled tomatoes and chopped cucumber.

When eating French meals it is necessary to pace oneself. Even if the dish is the most delicious that you have ever tasted don’t, I repeat, don’t eat until you feel satisfied. We have learned this from experience. All will become clear.

When those dishes had been circulated a few times, the sliced duck breasts appeared, served along with tinned green beans to which the chef had added, fresh young celery leaves and a beetroot with apple salad. A pureed onion sauce was also passed around and I mustn’t forget the diced fried potatoes.

On the table were baskets of cut baguettes and red wine for those who wished for more alcohol. Conversations about the possibility of the police checking drivers limited some from second glasses, even though they knew that even one glass could lead to difficulties if stopped.

No meal in France is complete with out a cheese board. A blue-veined cheese, a goats cheese and a Brie are the starting points. Pace yourself – don’t forget those words.

It was a birthday and I wondered what the cake might be like. The day before we had been to afternoon tea with a couple from our church and a 12 inch disk of pink meringue, filled with fresh raspberries and cream was enjoyed by us all.

The friendly barbecuing neighbour was not only a keen gardener and outdoor cook, he also made cakes! He presented a ‘pièce montée’. Weddings, baptisms, births can be celebrated with one. First make an oven-full of choux pastry buns. Our man made 80 for this 80th birthday. Fill them with a ‘crème’ like a thick custard. Make caramel and mix in some chopped hazelnuts to make nougatine (caramel and nuts) and use that as the solid base. The little choux buns are dipped in the hot caramel and stuck together circle above circle until a tall cone takes shape. Our man proved his skill by taking hold of the whole creation and holding it horizontally, to prove it was well made!

More champagne was needed to accompany the distribution of the mini choux buns, and their copious caramel glue which was now very hard. I had fears for my recently crowned tooth and tried to eat and crunch with care.

We had arrived at 11.30 and were the first to leave at nearly 6pm when guests started reminiscing about things that had happened among them during the past 80 years.

So, to celebrate our 40th anniversary we had been treated to a multi-course meal thanks to Alan and family.