First dinner party and a ferocious argument among the guests about Nouvelle Cuisine. Men firmly ranged on one side. One of the guests, Angela, has learned how to do a wing design on a sauce. 'Bird passing island,' her husband calls it. Luckily the meal is almost over when this occurs.

Menu*
cheesy pear (p. 19)
hot curried vegetables (p. 69)
   served with rice
         tossed green salad
         bowl of apple slices
         bowl of cucumber yoghurt
         cubes of banana in coconut
watermelon sorbet (p. 22)

I advance the argument, trying to reconcile both sides, that Nouvelle Cuisine suffers more from demolition than a meal in a railway station cafeteria. Angela bursts into tears. Robert recounts how he has been practising dry martinis and throwing most of them down the sink.

Jasper complains the coffee is awful. Hurt, I go back to making it in a saucepan (open pot method). Bring water to boil, then let it cool for a minute or two. Toss in the coffee (2 tbsps Blue Mountain moderately fine ground), stir gently and allow to steep, covered, for two to four minutes. Pour into heated mugs through a fine strainer. In the same week he mentions the dearth of flowers in the house. Add a few nasturtium leaves to a salad. Should I go further and become a fruit bottler, stripping entire trees, carefully gathering the windfalls for tarts and jellies? Decide this is in the category of Pavlova. Buy a pizza dish instead and practise making the base: 12 oz white bread flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp castor sugar, 2 tsp dry yeast, 1 egg, 6 fl oz warm water (approx).