Formal dinner

Ficus lyrata, with figs

(This photo retains its sharpness viewed large and then you can really see the figs.)

Well, last night was the first formal dinner. And it was not a night for the squeamish. The food was not too bad and quite well presented. But, the end. I have never seen anything like it. The meal had been attractively presented with the vegetables on one dish, the meat on another and these dishes passed around so that we could help ourselves.

When everyone had finished, the girls, most senior in college, insisted that the food scraps be scraped from the plates into these common dishes which had held food for the eating and still did, and the plates be stacked at table with knives and forks on the topmost plate.

Finally at the end the table linen was thrown into two bundles on the floor, kitchen staff supervising.