Tea with Xanthe Clay

Xanthe Clay is a food writer for the Telegraph Newspaper.  In August last year mum found out that she was doing a food demonstration nearby and asked her if she could supply the vegetables.

In the afternoon, before the demo Xanthe came to get some vegetables and have a cup of tea.

Alright, Xanthe is a bit of a dude, when I first met her I thought she looked like a wartime housewife but a little bit 'rock and roll'.  She was wearing a flowery dress, black net tights and black shoes with her hair up in a twist.

We went to the patch and on the way back we picked blackberries, she asked me if I would demonstrate how to joint a rabbit at the demo. I said yes!

When I first went up on that stage I was so nervous, but who wouldn't be, there were 100 people waiting to hear about, my gun, shooting and preparing rabbits. I showed everyone how to cut up the rabbit step by step and then helped her make the rabbit rillettes and the green sauce, which I didn't really like because it was too zingy.
Then we made a pudding with Mum's raspberries and the blackberries that we picked at the garden.

I had a great time doing the demo with Xanthe, I'd love to do it again.

Xanthe was very warm and cheerful and it made me laugh that the dog went and curled up at her feet under the table while we were having tea. (He hardly ever does that with anyone but Dad and Mum.)

Lately she's sent me a couple of postcards from interesting places across the globe. It's very nice to have a friend like her.