Last night was bonfire night here in the UK - and since our dog is terrified of fireworks, we planned a nice evening inside with the TV on and lots of noise to distract her from what was happening outside. As part of that, I made a nice, satisfying meal of turkey meatloaf and roasted veg, including some Jerusalem artichokes that I dug out of my garden earlier in the day. The house smelled amazing, which did more to distract the dog than the TV noise!!
We debated on what to drink with it - red or bubbles - and for some reason, I was leaning toward bubbles. So we opened the Philizot et Fils numero 2 with some trepidation. It was OK, definitely less peppery than the first bottle we drank. It smelled of a combination of pencil eraser and sourdough bread - a raw, yeasty sort of smell. It still tastes very herbal, but this bottle had a sweeter finish than the first, which made it more drinkable. It's a go-with-food champagne, it's still much too harsh-tasting to sip on its own.
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Celebrating Milestones
This month is supposed to be 'austerity November' - we had a pretty decadent October and really need to get re-focused on our healthy eating and exercise habits. Last night I had planned a tasty-but-healthy dinner of homemade chicken and vegetable soup with rice. But then my husband came home and reminded me that yesterday was his 5-year anniversary at the company where he works. In this economic climate, that really is something to celebrate. To top it off, we had a cold bottle of Billecart-Salmon rose in the fridge - the perfect celebration champagne - so how could we let the milestone pass without bubbles? The richness of the champagne was perfect for the evening, and actually went pretty well with the soup!!
Not a great start to 'austerity November', but we got my husband's sixth year at this company kicked off properly!
He's too funny, too. So we won't be tempted to celebrate too many more things in November, my husband filled the champagne shelf with a bottle of Philizot & Fils brut numero 2. Neither of us will be rushing to drink that anytime soon...
Not a great start to 'austerity November', but we got my husband's sixth year at this company kicked off properly!
He's too funny, too. So we won't be tempted to celebrate too many more things in November, my husband filled the champagne shelf with a bottle of Philizot & Fils brut numero 2. Neither of us will be rushing to drink that anytime soon...
Sunday, 31 October 2010
What Every Friday Night Needs
Cold, creamy, crisp, bubbly. On Friday we had a bottle of Billecart-Salmon Brut Blanc de Blancs with our Thai-food dinner. It was heavenly, the perfect wind-down to the week. What more can I say??
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
The Bubbles Lasted
I'm happy to report that we finished the Cremant d'Alsace by Dirler last night (with the rest of the apple pie) and the bubbles held up overnight in the fridge. As I mentioned in my last post, they're definitely small, fizzy bubbles rather than great big, popping bubbles, but they were there through the end of the bottle. I'll have to start trying some more cremants now that I know they won't all let me down on the fizz factor.
Monday, 18 October 2010
Still Celebrating
On Sunday, to continue our anniversary celebration, we went to lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, Ransome's Dock. You'll be surprised to hear that we didn't have any bubbles there, instead ordering a wonderful gruner veltliner from Austria and an unusal Spanish red wine made with mencia grapes. As always, we had a fantastic meal and walked away from the restaurant feeling stuffed and completely spoiled.
But we had fresh apple pie at home, and having skipped dinner, we ate pieces of that before bedtime with a glass of bubbles. To challenge me, my husband had bought Cremant d'Alsace by Dirler while he was at Green & Blue. I never, ever buy cremant wines because I am positive that they're not going to have enough bubbles. And to be honest, it's not really fair to the French sparkling wine makers, because I will buy cavas and proseccos knowing that they're not likely to have enough bubbles, either. My husband knows I tend to like Alsatian wines, so he decided to make me try this, a blend of pinot gris, pinot noir, and auxerrois grapes. The cremant was perfect with the pie having lots of soft apple and pear flavours. It had plenty of fizz, too, not big bubbles, but enough effervescence through the glass to keep it interesting. I'm curious to see how the capped bottle holds up overnight...
But we had fresh apple pie at home, and having skipped dinner, we ate pieces of that before bedtime with a glass of bubbles. To challenge me, my husband had bought Cremant d'Alsace by Dirler while he was at Green & Blue. I never, ever buy cremant wines because I am positive that they're not going to have enough bubbles. And to be honest, it's not really fair to the French sparkling wine makers, because I will buy cavas and proseccos knowing that they're not likely to have enough bubbles, either. My husband knows I tend to like Alsatian wines, so he decided to make me try this, a blend of pinot gris, pinot noir, and auxerrois grapes. The cremant was perfect with the pie having lots of soft apple and pear flavours. It had plenty of fizz, too, not big bubbles, but enough effervescence through the glass to keep it interesting. I'm curious to see how the capped bottle holds up overnight...
17 Years
Saturday was our actual anniversary, and despite a few showers in the afternoon, it was a lovely autumn day. We drove the dog out 'to the country' (in reality, 20 miles away from home, with most of the drive being through South London and Croydon) to go to a farm shop and garden centre that my husband found on-line. We bought apples and pumpkins and British cheese and meat, a lovely way to while away the afternoon.
When we got home I made pie with the apples. While I was baking, we nibbled on the cheese that we had bought and finished the bottle of Maison Lenique 2005 that we had opened the night before, a very good combination, and cosy with the scent of apples and cinnamon in the kitchen.
From there, we took the dog for her walk and then settled in for the evening with some movies and pizza and more chocolate cake - and a bottle of Larmandier-Bernier Terre de Vertus that my husband had picked up from Green & Blue. We've had this champagne before and really liked it. It's a zero dosage blanc de blancs that has lots of lime and mineral flavours - completely different from the Maison Lenique that we had been drinking earlier, but every bit as good. This is one of those champagnes that we call a 'wine with bubbles', as it would be just as drinkable if it were a still wine. It was a lovely treat, something a bit different for our special day.
When we got home I made pie with the apples. While I was baking, we nibbled on the cheese that we had bought and finished the bottle of Maison Lenique 2005 that we had opened the night before, a very good combination, and cosy with the scent of apples and cinnamon in the kitchen.
From there, we took the dog for her walk and then settled in for the evening with some movies and pizza and more chocolate cake - and a bottle of Larmandier-Bernier Terre de Vertus that my husband had picked up from Green & Blue. We've had this champagne before and really liked it. It's a zero dosage blanc de blancs that has lots of lime and mineral flavours - completely different from the Maison Lenique that we had been drinking earlier, but every bit as good. This is one of those champagnes that we call a 'wine with bubbles', as it would be just as drinkable if it were a still wine. It was a lovely treat, something a bit different for our special day.
16 Years, 364.5 Days
It was our wedding anniversary this weekend - needless to say we drank a bit of bubbly : )
We had originally thought that we would go away for the weekend, but that didn't work out. First off, the start of half-term coincided with the date, so airfares were outrageous and there was nowhere we wanted to go THAT badly. Secondly, many of the hotel-restaurants in the UK that we would have gone to required two nights stay on the weekend, which gets difficult for us with animal care. We really only wanted to go away for one night, and just couldn't be bothered with their greediness. So we stayed home.
I cleaned the house all day on Friday until it was 'hotel clean' so that it would feel even better than having gone away. My reward for that was that my husband cooked a huge pan of chicken nachos with homemade guacamole, and served it with our last bottle of prosecco from the Champagne Warehouse - La Farra Rose Brut which is a mix of prosecco, chardonnay and raboso grapes. This prosecco was a wonderful surprise, mixing the crisp tang of pink grapefruit at the start with the smoothness of pears and orchard fruit on the finish. It had lots of fizz, as well, and really didn't last long because it was so good! For around £11, this is another little gem and real bargain from the Champagne Warehouse.
Since the prosecco disappeared well before we were ready to eat the chocolate cake I had made, my husband popped open one of the other bottles that was in the fridge so we could have a glass of bubbly with cake. He made me guess what it was...no problem there as it had that distinct yeasty-apple aroma of Maison Lenique 2005. We were good and kept it to a glass each so that there would be more for the actual anniversary...
We had originally thought that we would go away for the weekend, but that didn't work out. First off, the start of half-term coincided with the date, so airfares were outrageous and there was nowhere we wanted to go THAT badly. Secondly, many of the hotel-restaurants in the UK that we would have gone to required two nights stay on the weekend, which gets difficult for us with animal care. We really only wanted to go away for one night, and just couldn't be bothered with their greediness. So we stayed home.
I cleaned the house all day on Friday until it was 'hotel clean' so that it would feel even better than having gone away. My reward for that was that my husband cooked a huge pan of chicken nachos with homemade guacamole, and served it with our last bottle of prosecco from the Champagne Warehouse - La Farra Rose Brut which is a mix of prosecco, chardonnay and raboso grapes. This prosecco was a wonderful surprise, mixing the crisp tang of pink grapefruit at the start with the smoothness of pears and orchard fruit on the finish. It had lots of fizz, as well, and really didn't last long because it was so good! For around £11, this is another little gem and real bargain from the Champagne Warehouse.
Since the prosecco disappeared well before we were ready to eat the chocolate cake I had made, my husband popped open one of the other bottles that was in the fridge so we could have a glass of bubbly with cake. He made me guess what it was...no problem there as it had that distinct yeasty-apple aroma of Maison Lenique 2005. We were good and kept it to a glass each so that there would be more for the actual anniversary...
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