Children in Need dinner

Last week it was the annual BBC Childre in Need so my beloved Pudsey was released from the attic for one night only ... he's looking ok for nearly 30!

Our friends were here for dinner so I had a bit of fun with our menu starting with a 'face' plate each to accompany our dips.

Children always love chicken nuggets and mash potato. My grown up version was made using crushed BBQ crisps for the chicken coating and the pots of mash had bacon bits and cheese included.

Our dessert was chocolate cornflake cake with green peppermint custard. It's the perfect combo and one often served at my school when I was young. We all loved the cornflake cake and wondered why we don't make it now our children are grown up.

I have a very special condiment set that was my parents and I remember it at Christmas when I was very young before my parents divorced. I don't use it very often but as a nod to my childhood it had pride of place on our table. 

It was a super night, great fun to prepare, I do love a themed dinner. I didn't take photos of our wines but the following evening I did enjoy a sparkling Cava with a dash of Chambord ... cheers!

KWV Wines

It was certainly a week of wine for me last week, as well as being chosen to be a judge at People's Choice Wine Awards I was also chosen to be a taster for UK Wine Hour. 

Sorcha Holloway is the founder of #ukwinehour which as you can see from having a hashtag is a Twitter event - every Thursday at 7pm UK time. 

It is such fun each week, although I confess I don't always manage to be there or be there on time but as it's a hash tag it is so easy to read back through everyone's comments. 

Each week there is a focus and last Thursday Sorcha had arranged Marco Ventrella to answer tweeted questions with KWV wines generously sending bottles of their wines to selected tasters, me being one. KWV wines are South African and this year celebrate their 100th anniversary #KWV100

The wines arrived the week before, as I was only expecting a bottle I was very surprised when a large box arrived, even more surprised when inside was a bottle of Laborie Blanc de Blancs, KWH The Mentors Petit Verdot and a bottle of Cruxland Gin with its very stylish leather strap cap cover. 

Wines received for UK Wine Hour 

If someone is kind enough to send me a bottle of wine to taste and review I feel it is only right that I do it justice and so on Thursday I had great fun photographing the three bottles, preparing food pairings and cocktail ingredients. 

Making the most of the sunshine to display the
ingredients ready for my gin cocktails

Just being Hubby and myself for the tasting we decided to make it last all day ..... in other words pacing ourselves! 

It's always interesting to pair food so I put together a cheese and charcuterie platter to enjoy with Laborie Blanc de Blancs - the platter consisted of:

Brie   Stilton   Salami   Chorizo   Dried Ham   Walnuts   

The Blue cheese was good but we both agreed the salami was superb, the fatiness in the meat being cut through by the bubbles..... 

... ah yes the bubbles, great golden colour with a fascinating edge of green. The brioche aroma with hints of butter lead to a mouth of toastiness and a nutty finish. Having recently holidayed in the Champagne region enjoying a variety of fizz I have to say this bottle of Blanc de Blancs from South Africa was superb.

Our selection from Hotel Chocolat and Green & Black's chocolates that we brought home from our Manchester trip made a perfect dessert with the Laborie especially the truffles dusted in cocoa.

Next task was to decant the KWH The Mentors Petit Verdot; this is a grape I really like but have, as far as I know, only had French wine before. Quite a heavy red at over 14% this Stellenbosch Petit Verdot looked so inviting in the decanter.

Breathing nicely

With a couple of hours before UK Wine Time we decided to have some fun experimenting with Cruxland Gin - what a surprise to discover this was made from grapes and 9 great ingredients. It was hard to decide which mixers to use to enhance what looked like being a great gin. 

The magical nine!

I tried a hibiscus mixer from Merchant's Heart and Hubby tried apple, elderflower and a touch of soda. Both drinks were good but did nothing for the gin, certainly didn't add to any flavour from the ingredients. After much thought and discussion we both decided it was best neat with ice so all the nine could be savoured. 

7 o'clock ..... time to tweet!

Oh my goodness what fun, I have no idea how many people were asking Marco questions or tweeting about their tastings but the hour just flew by. Hubby ended up reading the tweets on his iPad whilst I posted the tweets on my laptop, it certainly made for a very jolly evening .... of course we were tasting the Petit Verdot too.

It was so deep in colour, aroma and taste. Plenty of rich fruits, a touch of violets on the nose and a rich, juicy cherry flavour giving a great finish.... we both loved this one. It was similar to the French wines I have had but this had more depth and is a wine I will certainly buy again as would many other Tweeters.

Thank you Sorcha for the opportunity to taste and review these three superb bottles from KWH Wines. Thank you Marco for all your interesting tweets and videos.

It's sherry week this Thursday - log on and follow #ukwinehour for an hour of chatting with fellow wine enthusiasts, it certainly makes a great night!

There was an Englishman, a Frenchman and an Irishman ...

..... who's skill made our weekend just perfect!

The Englishman, or Englishwoman, works at The Bolney Estate, an English vineyard we visited earlier this year on our way to France. So why am I writing about them again?

One word .... Rosso !

This year The Bolney Estate launched an English vermouth, richer and herbier than other vermouths this is superb. Our much traveled bottle (French holiday and home) was finally opened one night last week when I was cooking steak - I fancied something refreshing, new and slightly different as my chef's perk. Rosso was, as I knew it would be, spot on; mixed with Fever Tree Mediterranean tonic served over ice (it didn't last long due to the extra hot weather and being by the stove) it was delicious.

Saturday night our friends came round for a summer's evening in our new garden - rain nearly stopped play however our new gazebo provided the perfect shelter. Rain or no rain Rosso was being served with plenty of debating over what it was from where. They were amazed when I revealed it to be an English vermouth. It was loved by everyone, we're all eagerly awaiting it to be available here in the Midlands.

The Frenchman, or to be exact Frenchmen, were responsible for the delicious red wine we enjoyed. Other reds were opened but these two were my choices for the evening. Usually a white wine drinker I think it was the change in weather that swayed me towards French red, not that I need much encouragement.

The first was Sainbury's Taste the Difference Pic Saint Loup - a small appellation around 20 kms inland from Montpellier. At 12.5% this was a lighter wine in volume but certainly not in flavour.

A deep red in the the glass with scarlet highlights it gave an invitingly fruity nose with high notes of herbs, perfect follow on from our Rosso. This French red was so fruity, plenty of redcurrants and blackcurrants, all those deep summer fruits finishing with a slight liquorice sweetness. I happily sat back in my rattan chair under the gazebo enjoying every drop; certainly a not to miss wine at just £8!

Staying in the Languedoc area of France my second red was darker, heavier and had me sinking even further into the rattan. Laurent Miquel Faugéres is from Majestic Wine at £8.99, a good price for such a weighty wine. It's full of all the summer fruits but with a very slight oaking giving it rounded soft tannins, accompanied by a edge of chocolate on its finish, just perfect!

I really do enjoy red wine from the South of France, both of these wines reminded me of many holidays, some of which were also under grey skies. Widely available here in the UK means I can enjoy them again, although of course I would never decline the opportunity to buy en France!

And so to Ireland, a place I have never visited but could easily be tempted as I love Guinness and everything Bailey's. I have recently discovered Bailey's Iced Coffee Mocha which comes in a handy size can, very nice with plenty of ice on a 'too hot' day.

But it wasn't coffee or chocolate .... it was Strawberries and Cream, Bailey's new Liqueur. Everything Bailey's say about this is so true, I couldn't put it any better ....

This sumptuous seasonal flavour has been blended perfectly for those indulgent days in the sun. Perfectly blending the fresh, sumptuous taste of strawberries with light and creamy vanilla, together with the luxurious taste of Baileys Original Irish Cream.

To accompany this I made a new version of one of my favourite desserts, a favourite with friends too. Instead of ginger biscuits I used chocolate chip cookies dipped in Coffee Liqueur, as good as the ginger/sherry version and so easy to prepare.

After weeks and weeks of scorchio weather it of course rained the one night we planned to be outside, it did not however dampen our evening, with help from our English, French and Irish producers. A superb evening with superb food, wine and liqueurs enjoyed by all.

Everyday drinkers?

Everyday drinkers? Is that the wine or the drinkers? It's a phrase becoming more popular but is a wine ever an everyday drinker?

Certainly there are wines for special occasions and there are wines for any occasion but I'm not sure 'everyday' gives enough credit to the hard work of the wine maker.

Synonyms of everyday

average, common, commonplace, cut-and-dried (also cut-and-dry), 

garden-variety, normal, ordinary, prosaic, routine, 

run-of-the-mill, standard, unexceptional, unremarkable, usual, workaday

Words Related to everyday

regular, typical, unextraordinary, familiar, homely, plain, popular, vulgar

natural, customary, wonted, insignificant, trivial, unimportant

frequent, habitual, expected, predictable

So what phrase should we use for wines opened in the week for no specific reason other than to enjoy - I'm not sure any of the thesaurus suggestions above sound any more creditable.

Over the last week or so I have enjoyed a few wines that could be called everyday drinkers ......

Vinhas do Silvado Tinto 2016 - this was a wine we saw in Majestic in Cardiff Bay: my knowledge of Portuguese wine is limited so I have lots to learn.

Much like the French vin de pays this wine is made from a blend of grapes which can be any from a very long list. From the Saco river region near Lisbon it's classified as a Vino Regional.

I found it full of plums, dark cherries and bramble with a lovely smooth finish. I'm sure the winemaker took time to decide which grapes were included in this blend. some might call it an 'everyday' wine!

Wandering Bird - this superb Sauvignon Blanc from Lidl was at the incredible price of £2.99. I wish I had purchased more, not because of the price but because it was an excellent New Zealand white.

Made by Mudhouse Wines this had all the expected characteristics of a New World Sauvignon Blanc - crisp nose of gooseberries & melons with citrus continuing in its full palate of  flavour with a sharp, clean finish.

L'escargot 2014 - another wine bought from Lidl at the same amazing price,  I'd say yes to more of this wine too. Although a French Sauvignon Blanc it is not from the Loire Valley but further south; Cotes de Gascogne.

It was full of citrus but not as sharp or acidic as the Sauvignon Blanc grown further north. Full of a clean crispness its finish was medium bodied and quite long, served chilled it really was a refreshing wine that was very easy to pour and enjoy!

Friday night at our house was Indian night with friends, not a takeaway although a couple of dishes were from the supermarket. Hubby cooked tandoori lamb and chicken, and dill salmon. I made Tarka Dhall for the first time; lentils are not to everyone's liking but it must have been good as the dish was emptied!

Another first when it came to dessert, pistachio kulfi (ice cream) made with condensed milk..... it was delicious, very creamy.

To accompany the spicy food I opened a bottle of German wine. It was a bottle given to us a few years ago as a gift and one I thought would pair well with our dinner .... and it did!

Brennfleck Silvaner 2013 - pouring from it's bulbous bottle the yellow/green wine had a similar look to a good olive oil, in viscosity as well as colour.

In the glass it had a very inviting glow as the light shone through it. Gooseberries were my initial though from it's aroma, followed by white stone fruits.

This followed through in it's flavour, although the gooseberries soften into the background and peachiness came to the fore with its hint of slate adding to the wine's clean, smooth, elegant finish.

.......................................................................

I had to stop writing this and pop out for a few minutes .... a rare sight was about to happen. The Flying Scotsman passed through our station on it's way to London -

My photos were taken very quickly on my phone and our station has so many stanchions it was hard to get a clear photo - I was focusing on actually looking at the train to, not taking the photo - but you can see just what a superb piece of engineering she is. It was so good to see her in full steam.

A little bit of warmth

Like many this week we've had the white stuff cover our world - slowly adding a little each day to make quite a covering.

At times like this our resilience and human goodness is shown at its best, so many have helped so many with transport, errands and cups of tea - what a Great Britain we are!

Thursday was St David's Day and although I have no Welsh blood as far as I know I have always had connections to Wales -

- holidaying in the north when young 

- enjoying a mobile home on the west coast for over 10 years

- our daughter going to Uni in the south and now living in Cardiff

- and of course supporting Welsh rugby. 

Every year I make the house Welsh for the day and cook a Welsh themed dinner; lamb steak this year followed by home made Bara Brith and a glass of Merlyn.

Wales is a land of mystery, legend, nature and belonging, exactly my feelings towards this fabulous cream liqueur from Penderyn Distillery.

Merlyn is a blend of Welsh spirit and rich cream giving a beautiful smoothness full of vanilla and toffee. This liqueur holds your attention, encourages another sip and wraps you in comfort, perfect on a snowy St David's Day.

This kind of weather certainly sways me towards red wine: we did take a stroll to our local pub earlier in the week as the first flurries began to arrive. A pub lunch with a bottle of house Merlot whilst on snow watch is highly recommended.

And safely back home it's been a couple of favourites that have kept me cosy.

Majestic's Puglia is one of my favourite Italian wines. Natale Verga Primivito has a light nose, it's quite dry in the mouth with a touch of sourness and a burst of berry fruits.

Cellier de Dauphins' Prestige Cotes du Rhone is a favourite from holiday. With the weather so cold this wine is not only a favourite to drink but also brings memories of sunnier times in the South of France.

This coming week leads up to Mother's Day and this year I'm doing Afternoon Tea at home for both our Mum's so my next post with be full of bubbles and cake!!

Just a few more bottles

Our wine rack in the house is always full (it holds about 50 bottles) and we have a 'few' bottles the garage too. I'm beginning to think we collect wine rather than drink wine !!

Hubby had some lovely gifts for his retirement including quite a few vouchers for Majestic Wine - as if we need and excuse to pop by !!

So pop by we did and picked up a few absolute bargains along with a few we've had our eyes on for a while. 

I don't always include prices in my blog as they can change especially with offers and promotions but this time I will as some were certainly not to be missed.

Bricchetto Trebbiano £2.99    -    Carro Santa Maria Blanco £3.74    -    Tu Meke Chardonnay £3.74

Tu Meke Pinot Grigio £3.99    -    Pieter's Keep Cinsault  £4.49    -    La Baume Malbec  £6.49

La Baume Chenin Blanc  £6.49    -    Primitivo Natale Verga  £6.99    -    Fina Carelio  £7.99

Tarmina Monastrell  £7.99     -    Jim Barry Cover Drive  £10.99

The Tarmina Monastrell is a wine Hubby has been wanting to try for a while. The opportunity came to open this last Friday when friends joined us for dinner. 

A Spanish wine from Alicante had plenty of ripe blackcurrants and cherries, this unoaked red was enjoyed by everyone. 

Jim Barry Cover Drive is a wine we've been meaning to add to our order but always forget as Australian Cabernet Sauvignon is not a regular purchase for us. The history behind a wine is always good to know, this particular wine has a cricketing theme because prior to being a vineyard it was a cricket ground.  

A wine of blackcurrants, liquorice and cherries with tannins, it was a good wine but I think would have developed more with time. 

I have enjoyed La Baume Chenin Blanc many times so it was a must to include that in our order and to my delight there was a La Baume Malbec on the shelf too - perfect as our dinner with friends was to be steak. 

Both wines were perfect; the white crisp, lemony and clean; just right with our antipasti starter and soft cheeses at the end of the meal. The Malbec was really smooth, not as heavy as an Argentinian wine but weighty enough for our succulent steak - I would just add that these two wines were mainly enjoyed by myself and my female friends. 

After 10 months of an upturned life it was a real pleasure to prepare, cook and serve a meal again. I love entertaining - here's to more occasions in 2018 !

Scotland, Australia, China ...

.... all without leaving home ! Last week was Burns' Night, Australia Day and Chinese New Year so a busy week in my kitchen.

I love to cook themed meals, for us, for family events or when friends come round for dinner. This week was all for us starting with Burn's Night. Neither Hubby nor I have any known Scottish blood but we do appreciate other's celebrations and in Robert Burns case we certainly have enjoyed his work evey year as he's the author of the meaningful song Auld Lang Syne.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 

And never brought to mind? 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 

And auld lang syne! 

For auld lang syne, my dear, 

For auld lang syne. 

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, 

For auld lang syne.

It's definitely a Scottish theme for our Burns' Night supper starting with Scottish mussels. I have to hold my hands up and say I didn't prepare them myself but bought a pack complete with sauce from Aldi. They were so meaty, a good quantity with a creamy sauce and from Scotland!

Mussels for our Burns' Night starter

Of course if we're having mussels we have to have Picpoul de Pinet - for me there is no better wine to accompany these gems from the sea. Later this year we are actually visiting Pinet in the South of France and hopefully trying this wine with fresh seafood.

Picpoul de Pinet used to be a french secret but over the last couple of years has become widely available in supermarkets and wine stores. This bottle was from Asda, full of green crisp apples it was perfect.

My favourite wine with seafood

It has to be haggis, there is no other main possible and to me if you don't do haggis it's not Burns' Night. However we have a variation of neeps and tatties and I made a creamy peppercorn sauce.

Burns' Night supper 

Great flavour in our Macsween Haggis 

And so to pud - raspberries in cream served in a bandy snap basket. I cannot vouch for the raspberries coming from Scotland and I certainly didn't make the brandy snap baskets but we did enjoy the pud !

Our special treat on Burns' Night is a Bobby Burns cocktail - I only make it on Burns' Night, it's quite strong but perfect over ice (we have whisky stones so the cocktail doesn't get diluted) when settled on the sofa after our super supper. It's so easy to make:

1 shot of whisky

I shot dry vermouth

1 tablespoon Jagermeister

Our trip to Scotland over the following evening we popped Down Under as it was Australia Day. No kangeroo steaks or bbq thanks to our winter rain but we did have lamb steaks. My way of celebrating Australia Day is with a very good bottle of Australian red, there's lots to chose from but my favourite wine producer is Yalumba. One day I hope we'll do a trip to the other side of the world and when we do Yalumba will be my priority visit.

In 2015 Hubby and I were priviledged to attend Yalumba's evening in Chester where we met Louisa Rose their winemaker, a great evening which you can read about on my previous blog post Butcher, Baker and Winemaker.

In our wine rack we have a bottle of Yalumba Y Series Shiraz Voignier 2013 with it's striking horse artwork label depicting life when horses were used for transport.I really like this wine with it's dark cherries, fine tannins and hint of white pepper.

However it is still on our rack waiting to be enjoyed as we decided to open another Yalumba - The Scribbler 2012. At Chester we had The Signature with our main, and wow what a wine. The Scribbler is it's younger sibling being of the same Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz pedigree.  Matured 12 months in oak The Scribbler is full of dark juicy fruits with the merest hint of soft spice and smooth tannins. For me a perfect way to raise a glass to Australia.

Yalumba - The Scribbler

Our final overseas trip was to China - Chinese New Year ringing in the year of the Rooster. I enjoy cooking chinese food although it can be a mad panic at the end to get all the dishes out together as most chinese food is cooked quick in the wok.

I made sticky bbq pork which is becoming one of my all time favourites, so easy to do and reasonably priced as it uses belly pork. I cut the pork into cubes and boil in stock for two hours, drain and dry thoroughly before frying in oil adding the sauce last minute so all the pork is coated. Prawns with water chestnuts and noodles in sweet chilli sauce was our other dish along with seasame oil stir fry vegetables - quite a feast.

Homemade Chinese feast for New Year celebrations

Extra Special Pinot Grigio (Asda)

To go with our meal we chose a bottle of Extra Special Pinot Grigio 2015, not my usual choice of white wine but it does pair well with Asian food. This bottle was from Asda, a light colour with an equally light nose. It's flavour was full of apples and pears with a touch of minerality. A light wine that did match very well with our meal.

We didn't have pud with our chinese meal but I made up for it Sunday with a real pudding/beer lovers treat - Wells Sticky Toffee Pudding Ale. Wells have been brewing since 1876 and this ale for me is just heaven. The aroma is like the kitchen on baking day, its flavour full of dark sugar, toffee, and caramel. Wells are quite right when they say 'this beer offers full contentment in a glass'.

Liquid pudding - so yummy 

All in all quite a journey around the world, all without the hassle of packing, airports and hotels, although as I said one day we'll hoepfully take a real trip Down Under.

Wine - taking stock

It's soon time for our annual holiday to France which will of course include a visit to Calais Wine, Majestic Wine, Pidou and Auchan to replenish our wine cellar.

Our favourites and must buys are:

Cheverney --- Touraine Sauvignon Blanc --- Cellier de Dauphin --- Gamay

We do like the Ca'Lunghetta range at Calais Wine and Robertsons from Majestic but we're always open to new finds.

But we do enjoy other wines from elsewhere - earlier this week we had a chilli con carne dinner with a lovely bottle of Domaine de la Contrie - Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil which we bought from S H Jones. It's a lovely Loire Valley red.

 A light Cabernet Franc red with a deep purple colour
- raspberry and blackcurrant fruit bouquet and palette.

Our good friends joined us for dinner again last night and as it has been so warm lately I decided on light courses. Our menu was:

goats cheese and beetroot salad with rustic bread and olives

chicken, pork and chorizo meat wrapped in iceberg lettuce,

served with chutneys and air fryer chips

summer fruit pavlova

To start our meal off we opened a bottle of the very very good Freixenet Cava - although I generally prefer french bubbles I do enjoy this Spanish fizz. I was very lucky in winning a case with Tesco Wine  Community earlier in the month so our cellar is well stocked.

Freixenet - thanks to Tesco

Freixenet is full of light bubbles - all racing to the top of the glass with great speed. 

In the glass - a golden yellow with glistening highlights with an array of small and light bubbles which ascended with speed.

On the nose - light fruit, apples and pears, Hubby thought of Pear Drops.

On the palette - bubbles dissolved away rather like sherbet, a light fruity taste with a crisp dryness hitting the roof of your mouth.

To accompany our meal we had a lovely white Viognier our friends brought with them from their holiday in Spain and a bottle of Willunga 100 -Cabenet Shiraz 2010 - another from SH Jones when we went to the Matthew Jukes Tasting Evening.

The Willunga was a beautiful red with a deep nose of dark plums, cherries and a hint of spice. The flavour is very rich with more berries bursting through. There is just a hint of tannin with an subtle oaked finish.

All in all it was a lovely evening of excellent wine, good food and it was such a change to sit outside until quite late with a Nespresso coffee and Amaretto.