Knighthood Bestowed and Diamonds Recovered



King Henry VIII was known as a great lover of food, wine and women, and he once had a particularly fine meal. He was so pleased with it that he sent for the chef who prepared it. He asked the chef "What meat was it that I have just eaten?", to which the chef replied "It was loin your majesty." The King responded "that is not good enough, just bring me a raw piece of that meat for me to see," and the chef returned with a silver platter with a big chunk of loin on it. Henry VIII called for his sword, and exclaimed "henceforth it will not be known as 'loin,' I am knighting it and it will be called 'sirloin'!"

 

Now, I will be serving "sirloin" at our Soirée Culinaire on the 31st August, and what better wine to accompany this dish than Graham Beck Game Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon? I like the pairing of the meat with this wine, and of course Cabernet Sauvignon is known as the "king of wines, and the wine of kings." What better pairing could you have of meat and wine than that?

 

*****

We had a very interesting end to last week. Friday night we hosted a Chinese group whose eating tastes were quite different, and who were expecting food "a la minute." I had to explain very carefully that Le Canard is not actually a "Fast Food" restaurant. So, unusually for us, we settled them down with a cheese platter, and, having satisfied their initial hunger with cheese, proceeded with the normal hors d'oeuvres, main course and desert.

 

On Saturday night we had a very interesting group of people. They have been friends for the past thirty odd years, and they do not only plan holidays away together, but once every four to six weeks dine together. This time they had dinner at Le Canard, and had an absolutely wonderful time. However, at the close of the evening, just as I was about to fall asleep at around ten past midnight, the phone went and it was one of this group of diners who said that his wife lost a bracelet covered with diamonds.

 

Obviously he was very upset, but it was much too late to search for the item since there was nobody at the venue, and I responded that we will see to this matter in the morning. Because of other appointments, I could not undertake a thorough search of the restaurant that morning, and a cursory search revealed nothing. However, the matter was of great concern to me, since it was obviously a valuable bracelet, and, Le Canard being my restaurant, I did not like the possibility of an aspersion against the restaurant or any of my staff, which would have been a first for Le Canard.

 

Returning to the venue at around 5 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, I undertook a more thorough investigation, looked everywhere and still found nothing. However, I decided to check the ladies restroom, since women often remove their jewellery when they wash their hands or refresh their makeup. The bracelet wasn't around the wash basin, but I checked the toilet booths thinking that it was perhaps dropped behind a door. It was then that my little eye spied black spots at the bottom of a lavatory bowl, which I thought was most peculiar. I took the toilet brush and gently tried to check what these were, heard some tinkling, which made me realise that this was definitely some kind of metal. Hence I even more gently moved the item forward, retrieved it, and what was it other than the diamond bracelet!

 

After a good wash of both my hands and the bracelet, I phoned the husband of the lady in question who was highly delighted at the discovery, but I did point out to him that he must explain to his wife, a very dear woman, that she should be most careful when she goes to a toilet to ensure that the clasp of her bracelet is tightly fastened, because I found it with the clasp open!!

 

Freda