Supper # 33 - Eype, Dorset

It pissed with rain all the way down through Somerset to Dorset. Past Sherbourne and Taunton, through the woods and the dark, windy roads and then, as I climbed the crest of a huge hill there was the sea and the sun triumphing; holding its own over the magical, precipitous Dorset coast.

THE SET UP: Nandi and Kestrel have just returned from a spell living in India with their three boys, Louis, Jesse and Inigo. They're staying at Kes' mum's house just outside of Bridport while they wait for the tenants to move out of their home in town. There are various people milling about - a tree surgeon who'd just lost the tips off a couple of fingers, an American friend who's starting a yoga retreat near Glastonbury, Kestrel's brothers, Storm and Heron and other folk who drop by.

I arrive and the kids go nuts. They jump in the van, try on the pinnies, open every door and rattle every shelf. Inside Kes and Nandi cook side by side and within moments there are plates of food waiting for us all on the table.

WHAT WE ATE: A yellow risotto with bacon and asparagus and a very delicious salad full of red onion.

WHO CAME: Nandi, Kestrel, Louis, Jesse, Inigo, Storm, John, Tim and me.

DINNER TABLE TOPICS: Whether N & K should open a hotel in Bridport or an old people's home. We talk about the wild family down the road who I really want to meet - and all the stories that circulate about them. (Pykies always get a bad rep...is it always justified?). I hear about what went on in India and how Nandi could just let the kids run free out there and about their wedding last year and all the badly behaved rellies. Apparently there are parties all the time down here and neither of them misses London at all...apart from a decent curry and on tap cinema.

THE PUD: I whip out the kids' favourite, Brownie Fudge Sundaes. Everyone gets very excited and spends ages trying to decide which flavour of ice cream to have with the brownie. I pour warm choc fudge sauce and butterscotch sauce on and we chow down, knocking back warm white wine as we go.

MY BED FOR THE NIGHT: The guys stay up late but I'm in bed by 10.30, having found a book about the favela street girls in the room I'm staying in. I fall asleep with it in my hand...