As a wee treat postponed from a few weeks ago, Mrs SP and I took mater to the East Neuk for the weekend. Realising it was Mothers Day, there followed the annual dilemma of where to go for Sunday lunch without looking conspicuously like the classic Mothers Day cliche - two people taking "Mum" out for lunch. Mater herself, it must be said, is never comfortable on these occasions, preferring to relax without fuss at home, enjoying the company of any available offspring.
Phone calls to a variety of Fife's eateries revealed the madness, which descends on otherwise sensible establishments on Mothering Sunday. One conversation went like this.
"Can I book a table for three please?" I enquired.
"Yes of course you can. Is it for Mother's Day lunch?". I feared the worst.
"Er well it's just for lunch really. Why?" I grew nervous in anticipation of the answer.
"Well we are doing a special menu for Mother's Day....." the voice proudly announced before adding "and we also have a gift for all the mothers on the day", no doubt thinking that this would clinch the booking.
I cringed audibly. "Er actually, that sounds a bit over the top. We really just wanted lunch without too much of the Mothers Day fuss".
"Oh well, we're doing a special for Mothers Day", she asserted defiantly, having clearly formed the view that my simple needs were those of a deranged matricidal maniac.
"Is your usual menu not available then?". We had eaten at this place before and it was very good, so I wanted to give them another chance at redemption.
"Well we are actually still serving the usual menu. It's just that it says "Mothers Day" along the top", she offered in mitigation.
"Mm..That doesn't really sound like our kind of thing. Sorry. Goodbye".
Reality dawned. The Mother's Day madness would be difficult to avoid on the Sunday itself, so a change of plan was called for. In an effort to gaim maximum insurance against the risk of kitsch and sugary motherly references, we booked an early table for dinner on Saturday evening at the Seafood Restaurant in St Andrews. A splendid choice as it transpired. If you haven't already been, you really must go to this place. And if you have been, you must go again. It's excellent.
Having diverted for a sunset aperitif at the Golf Hotel on the Scores, where we listened to some young American undergrads yak endlessly about something of no consequence, we trundled the short distance towards the sea in the direction of the iconic glass box perched on the rocks. We arrived at 6.30pm prompt to witness a restaurant reassuringly lacking any Mothers Day vibe. In fact it was devoid of any vibe or any other diners, since we were the first booking of the evening. By the time we were seated, however, and hungrily surveying the menu, other discerning customers had pitched up and the place started to buzz a little.
It was genuinely very difficut to choose from the menu options. They all sounded fantastic and, having been fortunate enough to eat there a few times before, I knew that nothing would disappoint. So it was.
When the head waiter came to take our order, Mrs SP decided to do a Jeremy Paxman impersonation and proceeded to grill him light-heartedly, but mercilessly as to the recent wherabouts of some of the key ingredients. The provenance and textural qualities of the Stone Bass in particular seemed to be vexing her. She finally relented as beads of sweat appeared on the poor boy's upper lip. I told her that I thought she had been a little cruel in her pursuit of the fishy truth, but she maintained, correctly, that good quality restaurants have staff who are equipped to handle searching questions about their product. I thought briefly about testing this theory by calling him back and asking him to to give us the low down on the crustacea, but the moment passed.
Dinner was excellent. Terrines, small and delicate crab towers, monkfish wrapped in pancetta, roast cod, halibut and the aforementioned bass were all accompanied by clever combinations of complementary ingredients including truffle, artichoke, mussels and more. No sign of tired side dishes containing new potatoes, carrots and broccoli here. At £45 a head for three courses (five in total when you count the extra chef's appetiser and a pre-dessert) the set dinner menu represented quite decent value. A nice bottle of the house Galician Albarino and coffee brought the total outlay to £167.00, which might sound a tad expensive in these credit crunching times, but the setting, the standard of service, the quality of the ingredients and the imagination shown by talented chefs made it seem very reasonable. And mater enjoyed it immensely despite the lack of violins and a gift from the maitre d.
And still home in plenty of time for Match of the Day!
The upshot of all this meant that Sunday was free for golfing activity and although I didn't actually manage to play any holes, I re-introduced myself to the club professional after a five month winter gap (shocking really) and headed to the practice range with 80 balls.
It was very windy indeed and every shot I hit was 50 yards short. I have to report that my consistency and accuracy after such a long lay- off were pretty good. This augers well for my season debut next Saturday in the Centenary Cup competition. The first medal of the year will bring excitement and trepidation in equal measure, but I'm looking forward to it.