It's not been a great start to the year chez qatsi. The smashed pot that I replaced has been smashed again by this week's storm; the Canadian paintings exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery had a 2+ hour queue yesterday that we didn't feel like enduring; Borough Market was far too busy to do any useful browsing. I decided to try Sainsbury's instead of ( Read more... )

rosamicula's Birthday Dinner took place at Shampers last night. Food and wine flowed freely; I opted for Orkney Gravadlax, followed by Roast Grouse with sauté potatoes and petits pois purée - an option perilously close to mushy peas, but in fact in a rather different and tasty dressing. I don't think I've ever seen grouse on a menu before, so it would have ( Read more... )

Finally, last week Waitrose had some British asparagus (still £2.99 versus £1.99 for similar from Peru - peak oil theorists go figure), and on Saturday we had Asparagus with Red Wine Butter as a tasty starter.

I'll also add a brief tasting note on Antares Carmenère. My initial thoughts were that this was rather disappointing, but it had perked up ( Read more... )

As an accompaniment to a hot and spicy sausage dish, initial impressions of Era Costana Rioja Reserva 2002 were very positive and also that it was light and refreshing. Away from food, it exhibited a more expected medium-to-full-bodied style, with a strong and pleasing flavour.

uitlander spotted McManis 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon flying off the special offer shelves. Since we sampled it, she has been back to relieve Tesco's of the remaining bottles. I'm not inclined to agree with their own notes about "substantial" levels of tannins, I thought that, whilst noticeable, they were on the light side. But it certainly was fruity and full- ( Read more... )

Best of the year:

• Fiction - Verdigris Deep, by Frances Hardinge
• Non-Fiction - The Coffee-House, by Markman Ellis
• Film - The Queen
• Music - Glière's Third Symphony at Prom 8
• Exhibition - Canaletto in England at Dulwich Picture Gallery

While light of mind, I have been enjoying Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure. Oz Clarke plays the grumpy old man about as well as James May does the buffoon - i.e. not very well. I can't claim to have learnt a great deal about wine, but it's been fun.

uitlander had expressed curiosity at Colleys Supper Rooms, and last night we had booked to investigate. The very name is an intriguing anachronism, and conjures up images of Holmes and Watson entertaining themselves on Mrs Hudson's night off (no doubt the chance would be a fine thing!), though I have no idea whether it's at all authentic or a purely ( Read more... )

kharin and I caught up with purple_pen yesterday evening. We embarked on the stopping train to Oxford as we got to Reading station just as there was a dearth of Oxford-bound services. Nevertheless, we had fine food and a good evening at Al Salam, a Lebanese restaurant on Park End Street. As well as food (in my case, Armenian sausages with pine kernels as a starter ( Read more... )

Over the weekend, there were two wines worthy of comment. The first was River Route 2004 Merlot, from Romania, interestingly intense. Notes on Teh Interweb suggest that this brand can be quite variable, so maybe I was lucky. All a label really has to say on it is "old vines" to get me excited. I recall many years ago uitlander sourced a bottle of wine from ( Read more... )