In keeping with last week’s post by Gareth, which highlighted the genius blog that is Chateau Petrogasm – describing wines with images, amazing, I love it! – I thought I would bring you this week’s wine of the week in the Chateau’s fantastic style. A little homage to the Petrogasm team…
Food & Wine
Sep
01
Recipe: Willie’s Heroic Lamb Curry
By Willie Lebus
I’ve been on a non stop cookathon this weekend. It finished with a sensational lamb curry produced from scratch in a couple of hours. The trick is to roast and crush your own spices.
Serves 4
Garam Marsala -
A sprinkle of the following into a large saucepan.
Coriander Seeds
Cardamom Pods
Cloves
Black Peppercorns
Blade Mace
Toss these in the pan until hints of smoke appear, then crush in a machine until …
Aug
27
Cooking over Vines – A Vine BBQ
by Rob Pickard
BBQ opportunities on our beloved rain soaked island are few and far between, so if you’re going to do it, make every effort to do it properly! Doing it properly can of course be affected by many factors, from meat, fish and veg selection, salads and accompaniments, pre BBQ beers, and importantly, wine selection. However, what I discovered on a recent trip to Bordeaux …
Aug
26
d’Arenberg The Money Spider Roussanne 2008 (McLaren Vale, Australia)
Woop! It’s a Bank Holiday weekend. Boo! It’s the last one until Christmas – and that is officially a long time away. Nevermind, after last week’s meteorological pessimism, today I have decided the glass is half full…
Aug
25
News from Wither Hills & St Hallett – 30 Days Down Under Vol.1
By Dan Coward
They say that a day is a long time in politics. Well imagine thirty long days of politics and you’ll get an idea of how ready Australia has been to vote in the general election. Not just because people want to do their democratic duty, but also so that we are spared any more negative political advertising. Both of the major parties have been …
Aug
24
Wine without words: Chateau Petrogasm
by Gareth Groves
Chateau Petrogasm featured on the old Bibendum blog a long time ago but I had forgotten how good it was until recently when someone sent me a link. It reminded me that it really is one of my favourite wine blogs. I thought it would be worth plugging it again.
The concept is brilliantly simple: rather than using words to describe a wine, it uses pictures. It makes me wonder if language …
Aug
23
Restaurant Review: Odettes, Primrose Hill
by Gareth Groves
I’d make a rubbish restaurant review blogger. For a start, I’m useless with a camera and always feel embarrased when I do take photos in restaurants. I just feel bad stopping my friends from diving in to their scallops starter while I snap away merrily. All of which is my excuse for illustrating this post with a photo nicked for Odette’s website rather than …
Aug
20
Vivace: Wines with a little bit of sparkle
by Gareth Groves
It was melanzane parmigiana that started it. A simple tweet telling the world what I was having for dinner (the world was clearly on tenterhooks waiting to find out) led to a conversation with Chiara Martinotti from Cascina Gilli in Piedmont. Chiara was also about to eat the world’s finest aubergine, tomato and mozzarella based dish and recommended a vivace red …
Aug
19
Chateauneuf du Pape Domaine Grand Veneur 2008 (Rhone, France)
Once again Shakespeare is spot on. I’m off to God’s Own Country next week for a spot of fishing, walking, swimming, eating and quite probably rain watching: the weather forecast is awful. Instead of one last hurrah for a glorious summer, it may be time to dig out the woolies.
Aug
18
On tour in Armagnac Part 2: Samalens
by Will Lowe, http://www.bibendum-spirits.co.uk/
Our second distillery of the day, Samalens, was an absolute delight. We were greeted by Pierre, the great-grandson of John Samalens who founded the distillery in 1882. Located in the heart of Bas Armagnac, the landscape was notably different from Tenareze – not least by the surprising abundance of sunflower …