This week I had to preside as Comissioner General for the first time on our Annual General Meeting.
It was held in the Wine Port Hotel in Glasson County Westmeath.
The Chef, Fergal O Donnell is a comissioner of Euro-Toques and the owners, Jane and Ray Byrne are old friends.

As Sile wasn’t able to join us until Monday evening, Myrtle Allen, driven by her daughter- in- law Hazel, offered to give me a lift up to the hotel.

This meant I had the pleasure of having one of Myrtle’s delicious Ballymaloe picnics on the top of the Vee Gap on the way up

On the Vee I saw this rag decorated Hawthorn bush near a holy well, this must be a fairly universal supplication to the gods and, although claimed by the church, is certainly pre christian survival.

We also called in to see Keith and Helen Lamb who Euro-Toques gave one of our Food Awards to a few years ago for his work in propogating Cranberries.

He showed us his Nepalese Daphne, beautifully scented,

And some of his hundreds of different types of Snowdrop.

The Wine Port itself was a relevation.
It sits on top of the water, beautifully designed , all wood and glass, with even the toys for the children, all in wood of course, looking like they had been designed for the place.
The food was excellent.

The following morning the lake outside my window was covered in thick fog.

But as it cleared the wonderful peacful lapping of lakewater was Yeatsian
in its calmness.

We were even resolved to try the hot tub on Tuesday morning but fluncked it.

The AGM itself went fine, which was a great relief.

We went through all the usual manoeuvres and lived.
I had decided on a mission statement last year of trying to persuade our children to return to eating with the family at table, which we had done a lot of work on during the year.
This year I varied it a little.

My Mission Statement

As I said last year it was the sharing of the hunted meal that is reckoned to be the beginning of civilization.
King James 1 warned his son never to eat alone, lest people think it was for”Private satisfying of your gluttony,which you are ashamed would be publicly seen”
The social act of eating with other people puts moral limits on our consumption.
It creates a beginning and an end of the time to eat.
Social meals define the
When
What
How
How Long
And
The How Much.

You adjusted your comsumption to those who were eating with you.
You didn’t have exactly what YOU wanted
When you wanted it and as much as you wanted.
This marking, ordering and above all limiting of eating has remained intact until recently.
Let us try to insure that as restaurateurs and therefore champions of social dining that it doesn’t die out with this generation.

And there endeth the lesson.