The Cunning Little Vixen

We went on what has become our annual family visit to our local opera, The Grange, to see The Cunning Little Vixen, directed by David Alden. My aunt brings the wine, my cousins, the strawberries and I, the main course which was this year a jambon persille which involved much cursing under my breath as the aspic jelly had to be strained three times through double-folded muslin. It was worth it in the end and Ottolenghi's recipe for squash and butter bean salad was also well received.

The opera was surreal with a huge mayfly swirling around the roof of the stage, characters wearing heads of badgers and dogs and a great leaping frog. There was a hilarious chorus of clucking hens which were eventually killed by the vixen. The Vixen herself, Ailish Tynan, stole the show with her flirtatiousness and sex appeal.