1   Birthday breakfast for the lovely Mr S with our croissants kept warm in the beautiful Tree of Life bread-warmer.

Birthday breakfast

2   Thence to Truro for some bookshop browsing and dinner at ‘Gravy’  where we had the most delicious pre-theatre dinner. We hadn’t been there before but we’ll certainly go again. It is a very welcoming place with imaginative and well cooked food, ‘deliciously uncomplicated’ as they say themselves.

Mr S started with crab cakes with a watercress salad and I had meltingly soft gnocchi tossed with spinach, and chili oil, topped with tomato concasse and parmesan shavings – both starters beautifully presented and truly scrumptious.

Mr S then had Sea Bass served on oven roasted vegetables and new potatoes with a romesco sauce which he found very tasty.    I had the Supreme of Cornish chicken which was stuffed with wild mushrooms, onion and thyme,  oven baked and served with dauphinoise potato, chantenay carrots and a red wine and shallot sauce. That, too, looked a picture and was delicious with every flavour discernible, truly a treat, which, since it was for a birthday, was most appropriate!  We had a very good bottle of Merlot with all this, were served beautifully in lovely surroundings and would highly recommend a vist to any of my readers who live in Cornwall!

Truro Cathedral

3   We followed dinner with an amazing concert – Courtney Pine on the saxophone and playing a new instrument he called a Ewi – and Electronic Wind Instrument which he had just been given by the makers on his tour of Japan and  with which he was experimenting. Its range was unbelievable and the sound amazing!  I have to confess that some of the wackier pieces didn’t appeal but overall it was a very enjoyable evening. Courtney Pine is such a genuine and warm individual who really appreciates his audience.

Courtney Pine amongst the audience