Comments: Maybe the writer is a little fussy. Maybe many of the recipes are not practical because of an unavailability of ingredients. And it's quite possible the author – a former magazine writer – is using this book as a huge advertisement for his guesthouse in the south of France.

On the other hand, maybe we're intensely jealous of his chucking the daily grind, renovating a fabulous place in southern France, and, with his partner, making a go of housing and feeding a small number of guests each day at fairly high rates. Whichever the case, this guy can cook!

The book is the story of how Orlando Murrin and his partner Peter Steggall found and renovated, and now run Le Manoir de Raynaudes, an upscale B&B in the French départment (or state or province) of Tarn (hence the seemingly curious name of the book), and the characters who sold them the property, helped they fix it up, and now help them run it. Mostly, however, it is the story of 80 recipes that Murrin regularly cycles in and out of his small kitchen for guests.

Somewhat time consuming, sometimes a little involved, these recipes are classic examples of wonderful ingredients cooked simply and well – and the results are fancy, stylish dishes that nearly everyone would eat all the time if they could!