Easter Sunday

Here's the cute little green robot painted by Margot.

Spent the day both lazing around and cooking. Dorothy and Julian arrived - they gave me a cute little egg from Fortnum's and I gave them my Sainsbury's offering.

We then drank some champagne while starting to eat: strips of pepper with a hummous dip, strips of chicken and ham with a spicy banana chutney and pistachio nuts. The melanzane eventually cooked, but looked a bit watery. It tasted OK but the general consensus was that the tomato sauce should be very thick indeed before cooking, that much more Parmesan in the layers was required and maybe only one mozarella layer at the top, plus a very long cook in a very hot oven, next time. The ribs were a bit of a disaster - first time I had cooked them and they were a bit nondescript and rather overcooked. However, a potato salad and a tomato salad with finely sliced onion and dill made by Julian went down well. We could hardly manage much of the orange cake and cherry tart with cream, washed down with gallons of tea.

I was horrified to hear that after all this conspicuous consumption they had to go off to a party in Stoke Newington which was due to start at midnight.