My mother and I went to the cinema last night to see The Swedish Film With A Really Long Name, currently showing in cinemas (the type of cinema where you can take your glass of wine in with you, naturally). Now, I loved Wallander but TSFWARLN was a three hour version but without Kenneth Branagh. And the furniture wasn't nearly as fabulous. I got home: a storm raged outside, my husband was away and I was spooked due to the very dark material just witnessed on screen. Thankfully, I had an episode of Brothers & Sisters on pre-record to shift the mood and a Nancy Mitford chaser sealed the sleep-deal.
This week's white in the fridge:
Long Country Sauvignon Blanc 2009, £4/bottle, current half price case deal , http://www.tesco.com/
One of those evenings tonight when I raised my voice (ok, shouted) a bit more than I would have liked at the children. After school we had swimming lessons followed by fish & chips, usually a real treat. But tonight the boys fought all the way home in the car. My mother popped in to say goodnight to the boys and the baby, helped me get everyone to bed and then poured two glasses of this. Words cannot describe how delicious it was, but I'll give you a clue: lemon peel, gooseberry and a sense of calm. Buy it, an unbelievable bargain.
Current red on the side:
Classic Cotes du Rhone 2008, £4.99 (ish) on offer, http://www.waitrose.com/
Picked this up on an auto-pilot trip earlier this week. I slowed down just once, to browse the wine aisle. It was on offer and the label looked good, but 2008 was a bit of a washout for the Rhone. However, I was in the mood to take a chance. Don't tell me I don't know how to live on the edge. I'm happy to report the risk paid off, the wine is good. Bramble fruit, spice and a touch of pepper, nicely balanced with hold-it-together tannins. It won't win medals, but at under a fiver, I don't mind that.
Sleep tight x
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Joint Effort
Much excitement all round: we're off to Venice for a few days to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. The children seem to sense the highly indulgent grand-parenting that lies ahead. I thought I'd buy something new for the occasion and today I did just that. Underwear that actually matches? A Spring-tastic print scarf? Clogs to make it clear I still read Vogue and know who Alexa Chung is? Don't be ridiculous. Said purchase was in fact a deeply unattractive back support belt for moderate back pain, bought on by a knackered sacroiliac joint bought on by carrying babies. Not the look I was going for on the big anniversary trip. In Venice. Where you have to walk everywhere.
Clogs would have been a really bad idea.
Current white in the fridge:
Maurel Vedeau Sauvignon Blanc/Grenache 2008, currently half price @ £4.49, http://www.tesco.com/
Slightly OD'd on the Chablis last week so moved to a searing NZ Sauvignon Blanc before finding my way back to this simply super blend from the Languedoc. It combines the lovely gooseberry fruit of Sauvignon with a more 'fleshy' apricot note from the Grenache. I am yet to drink this with food this week, rather it has marked moving from the mayhem of children's bedtime to some serious worshiping at the chapel of sofa.
Current red on the side:
Esperanza Malbec 2009, Argentina, £4.69, http://www.majestic.co.uk/
I used to buy wines from Argentina for my big supermarket employer back when not many people drank it (I never said I was a good buyer) and it was a labour of love. Many of the wines were gorgeous, others not so. Obviously, only the gorgeous ones made it to the shelf here but still they didn't sell. A decade on and things are changing, albeit slowly. Argie Malbec is a look-at-me wine, with loud flavours and a bit of an attitude. This is a brilliantly inexpensive way to find out if you want to be friends with it.
Ciao xx
Clogs would have been a really bad idea.
Current white in the fridge:
Maurel Vedeau Sauvignon Blanc/Grenache 2008, currently half price @ £4.49, http://www.tesco.com/
Slightly OD'd on the Chablis last week so moved to a searing NZ Sauvignon Blanc before finding my way back to this simply super blend from the Languedoc. It combines the lovely gooseberry fruit of Sauvignon with a more 'fleshy' apricot note from the Grenache. I am yet to drink this with food this week, rather it has marked moving from the mayhem of children's bedtime to some serious worshiping at the chapel of sofa.
Current red on the side:
Esperanza Malbec 2009, Argentina, £4.69, http://www.majestic.co.uk/
I used to buy wines from Argentina for my big supermarket employer back when not many people drank it (I never said I was a good buyer) and it was a labour of love. Many of the wines were gorgeous, others not so. Obviously, only the gorgeous ones made it to the shelf here but still they didn't sell. A decade on and things are changing, albeit slowly. Argie Malbec is a look-at-me wine, with loud flavours and a bit of an attitude. This is a brilliantly inexpensive way to find out if you want to be friends with it.
Ciao xx
Monday, 15 March 2010
The Incredible Bulk
The five year old has a pair of enormous green Incredible Hulk hands. A Christmas present, rather than his actual hands, obviously. Anyway, you wear the Hulk hands over your real hands and then bash things, whereupon a voice from the glove shouts: "Don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry!" The two year old has taken to copying this cry but with his own brilliant interpretation: "Don't make me hungry....you won't like me when I'm hungry!"
How I wish we'd had these gloves in the house when I was last pregnant. Having said that, breaking into the wrapping on the dark chocolate would have been a bitch.
This week's white in the fridge:
Saveur Veritables Viognier, Maurel Vedeau 2008, £5/bottle, http://www.sourcewines.com/
Viognier. Ah, Viognier. Peachy, round and often misunderstood. It's the Joan Holloway of grapes (and for non-Mad Men watchers, I love Joan). This Southern French take on Viognier is actually more subtle than the often-high-in-alcohol versions from the New World but with gorgeous textured white peach and grapefruit flavours. Drink in abundance. Or in a bun dance. That might liven it up.
Current red on the side:
The Big Kahuna Red, £4.99, Tesco http://www.tesco.com/
We seem to have become a bit bored with Australian wine. It has been around a while. Sometimes they can all taste the same. Blah blah blah. Hang on a minute! They usually taste GOOD. That is not the same as tasting samey. Maybe it is because drinking Australian wine is not the same as the russian roulette experience of drinking - say - French wine (one bottle great, the next an expensive mistake) that has led to the apathy. Whatevah. This is juicy stuff, full of redcuurant fruits and sweetly balanced.
Lovin' it x
How I wish we'd had these gloves in the house when I was last pregnant. Having said that, breaking into the wrapping on the dark chocolate would have been a bitch.
This week's white in the fridge:
Saveur Veritables Viognier, Maurel Vedeau 2008, £5/bottle, http://www.sourcewines.com/
Viognier. Ah, Viognier. Peachy, round and often misunderstood. It's the Joan Holloway of grapes (and for non-Mad Men watchers, I love Joan). This Southern French take on Viognier is actually more subtle than the often-high-in-alcohol versions from the New World but with gorgeous textured white peach and grapefruit flavours. Drink in abundance. Or in a bun dance. That might liven it up.
Current red on the side:
The Big Kahuna Red, £4.99, Tesco http://www.tesco.com/
We seem to have become a bit bored with Australian wine. It has been around a while. Sometimes they can all taste the same. Blah blah blah. Hang on a minute! They usually taste GOOD. That is not the same as tasting samey. Maybe it is because drinking Australian wine is not the same as the russian roulette experience of drinking - say - French wine (one bottle great, the next an expensive mistake) that has led to the apathy. Whatevah. This is juicy stuff, full of redcuurant fruits and sweetly balanced.
Lovin' it x
Monday, 8 March 2010
Winey Happy People
Wine is an excellent thing. Apologies for the inarticulate nature of this opening statement but with two out of three children currently running a temperature + a forgotten-about school closure day for the only one without a temperature + work day that culminated with middle boy wondering into the study half-way through a conference call dressed as a Power Ranger, I don't have the mental capacity for anything other than short sentences. Or really long rambling ones. As I was saying, wine is an excellent thing. A glass of deliciousness once the children are in bed revives me like Berocca never could.
Tonight's white in the fridge:
Tesco Finest Chablis 2007, £8.49, http://www.tesco.com/
Not the most fashionable of wines, but I've always loved the searing wake-up call of a good Chablis. This is the grapefruit and citrus take on Chardonnay, with mouth-watering acidity (that's a good thing for Chablis). One glass of this and I'm unwound. Someone asked me the difference between Petit Chablis and Chablis last week, here's the explanation for anyone who's interested: on the official quality scale of Chablis wines, Grand Cru is the daddy, Premier Cru next, then AOC Chablis and finally Petit Chablis. Hope that helps, winos.
Current red on the side:
Still on the Gran Conti from last week. It was so good, I went back and stocked up for the weekend. We'll finish off the leftovers this week.
As you were x
Tonight's white in the fridge:
Tesco Finest Chablis 2007, £8.49, http://www.tesco.com/
Not the most fashionable of wines, but I've always loved the searing wake-up call of a good Chablis. This is the grapefruit and citrus take on Chardonnay, with mouth-watering acidity (that's a good thing for Chablis). One glass of this and I'm unwound. Someone asked me the difference between Petit Chablis and Chablis last week, here's the explanation for anyone who's interested: on the official quality scale of Chablis wines, Grand Cru is the daddy, Premier Cru next, then AOC Chablis and finally Petit Chablis. Hope that helps, winos.
Current red on the side:
Still on the Gran Conti from last week. It was so good, I went back and stocked up for the weekend. We'll finish off the leftovers this week.
As you were x
Monday, 1 March 2010
Bag Lady
Earlier this evening, I filled two enormous bags with maternity and baby clothes for yet another nursery fundraiser. What struck me - apart from my dependency on New Look size XL tops when pregnant - is how easy it was to part with these clothes. Not just because I have worn them again and again, rather I know that I'm done. Even here in the sticks where four is the new three in terms of normal child count for a family, I know I'm done. Though perhaps I'll keep one or two of those tops for slouching purposes. Or a change of mind.
This week's rose in the fridge:
Long Country Cabernet Sauvignon Rose, £4/bottle, http://www.tesco.com/
The images of Chile shown on TV tonight are horribly different to the ones I know: twisted metal, piles of concrete and devastation following Saturday's earthquake. The wine trade in this country is good at looking out for their own and extended family and will no doubt find ways to channel funds back to families in need. Continuing to buy Chilean wine must help in some small way too.
Current red on the side:
Biferno Rosso DOC Riserva Gran Conti, 2005, £4.99, currently half price, http://www.tesco.com/
This is a little-known but at least pronouncable Italian red from the Molise region in central Italy, made from a blend of Montepulciano and Aglianico grapes. Brooding bramble fruit with added spice, this tastes warm, generous and supple. It went brilliantly with beef stew on Friday but has gone down just as well with a simple bowl of tomato-sauce-smothered pasta tonight.
xx
This week's rose in the fridge:
Long Country Cabernet Sauvignon Rose, £4/bottle, http://www.tesco.com/
The images of Chile shown on TV tonight are horribly different to the ones I know: twisted metal, piles of concrete and devastation following Saturday's earthquake. The wine trade in this country is good at looking out for their own and extended family and will no doubt find ways to channel funds back to families in need. Continuing to buy Chilean wine must help in some small way too.
Current red on the side:
Biferno Rosso DOC Riserva Gran Conti, 2005, £4.99, currently half price, http://www.tesco.com/
This is a little-known but at least pronouncable Italian red from the Molise region in central Italy, made from a blend of Montepulciano and Aglianico grapes. Brooding bramble fruit with added spice, this tastes warm, generous and supple. It went brilliantly with beef stew on Friday but has gone down just as well with a simple bowl of tomato-sauce-smothered pasta tonight.
xx
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