EXAM!

So I did my first Exam since university yesterday, which was a bit odd. It was for the wine course I've been doing. It's been great fun, I've learnt loads and think I did ok on the exam. Didn't do amazingly (probably would have needed to work a bit harder!) and I think some of the exam questions were a bit against the spirit of what we'd learnt. 3 questions on Fino Sherry, really? Of course if I'd got them all right I'd have thought that was fine.

Don't get the results for ages, but if I pass (if I don't you won't hear about it that's for sure) I'll have an NVQ level 2 in wine. Oooooh. That's the vocational equivalent of a GCSE! I definitely didn't get a distinction (boo) but I hopefully got a merit.

What have I learnt? Loads about what wine is made where, especially in France. That trip to the French supermarket wine aisle might be a bit less daunting now. It also turns out I do actually like quite a lot of white wines. Sweet wines, which I definitely thought I would hate, can be absolutely amazing. I had previously enjoyed Tokaji in Hungary but turns out there are loads of sweet wines I like, and not just with desserts. Sweet wine and cheese works well. Like the classic Port and Stilton. Sweet German Auslese Riesling with cream cheese, was really good or even PX Sherry with Roquefort!

For Christmas dinner I can recommend an Australian fortified Muscat. eg. this Rutherglen from Oddbins, or this De Bortolli from Majestic. We've got the De Bortolli.

How to open a bottle of wine with your shoe

This is absolute genius. How to open a bottle of wine using only your shoe.

It's my wife's birthday today.

WTF? I've got a wife?!

I hate the term "foodies"

In many ways I guess I could be accused of having a lot of the attributes of a foody.

1. I have been to a farmers market and bought food there.
2. I have grown my own (pitifully small) amount of food.
3. I watch lots of cooking shows, and shout at the screen at the ineptness and retardedness of the contestants when they try and open a tin with a massive kitchen knife or serve cheap Asda smoked salmon to Raymond Blanc.
   
4. I read the Guardian.
5. I do a lot of cooking, and eating, and generally like food a lot.
6. And wine. And beer. And scrumpy. And recently whisky. And Gin. I'm becoming a drinky.
   

No wait, back to foodies. Yeah, I hate the term. Really, really hate it. Generally I hate the idea of people defining themselves with a single term as if your generalised assumptions based on that word are enough to define them.

I like people who are share a lot of the aspects of being a foody with foodies, but who don't describe themselves that way. People who can come round for food, drinks, cook for me, have a great time, share recipes, talk cooking tips. Slag off stupid reality cooking show contestants who serve Raymond Blanc a packet of cheap Asda smoked salmon. That's all fantastic.

But if someone comes up and says "oh yes, we're both huge foodies!" (and it's always a couple!) I just think, "oh fuck off." It's the smug bragging thing that you know is coming next. Not some friendly chat about food or eating, it's one of those competitive conversations where whatever you've done they've done it more or better or gone to a better restaurant or BEEN MORE TEDIOUS.

Having a dinner party tonight. They aren't dead Guardian, although hopefully the formal monstrosities you describe are.

Hoodies on the other hand, are legends. And I fancy a drinky.

And gutted "Blancety Blanc" couple went out of The Restaurant. :-(

Wine Wine Wine Wine

A few weeks ago the wife and I (wife?! WTF?!) went back into education. Yeah. We got a flyer through the door for a wine course run by the local council adult education place. I've heard really good things about the place, my cousin teaches jewellery making there, and we love wine so we thought sod it we'll sign up.

School would have been so much better if it involved sitting around in small groups drinking wine and chatting about it (rather than sitting around in small groups in parks in the evenings after school drinking terrible cheap cider and chatting about how horrible it was).

It's been really great actually learning stuff, just for the fun of learning it. I'm quite surprised how much more I am getting out of the course already. Much more than I thought I would.

I have a top tip for you, a total bargain garnacha from Tesco. £3.54 and tastes like it should cost at least twice that. Most of us on the course scored it higher than the £8 Rioja we tasted it against. http://tinyurl.com/yh2sfz7

Christmas comes early

HA! I have fallen victim to a cunning marketing ploy. I have been considering getting a PS3 for ages and ages and this morning I got an e-mail from Amazon about their new PS3 250Gb bundles. Console + 3 games (inc. FIFA 10) + HDMI cable for £284... sounded like a bargain and having looked around at other offerings it is indeed a very bargainous bargain.

SO I have bought one and it's coming tomorrow before 1pm. HA! IN YOUR FACE CREDIT CRUNCH.

Do I need a PS3? No of course not. I just want one, it's coming tomorrow. Woo!

I hate being ill

I've been off sick for the last two days with a cold. Being ill is rubbish. Days off work are fantastic if you can do something good with your time, go away somewhere, do something fun or whatever but when you are basically stuck in bed feeling too shit to do anything other than watch daytime TV they suck. I'd rather be at work.

Daytime TV is particularly terrible. On sky we've got approximately 600 million channels to choose from, most of which have nothing good on at any time of the day. During the daytime even the decent channels have nothing good on. I blame the stupid watershed, surely all the kids are at school during the day so they could put good TV on then?

Probably the main problem with daytime TV is the adverts. I've got so used to watching everything via Sky+, so I've recorded it and can fast forward any adverts or boring bits. Actually having to watch a program live with 15 mins of adverts an hour is hell. And they literally time every one of the 600 million channels to have their ads at the same time. It's horrendous.

My wife (Wife?! WTF?) said yesterday that when she rules the world she'll ban adverts, I dunno how the TV companies will fund themselves (in her world, that's up to them) but possibly through product placement. Last night's Chuck (Chuck vs The Broken Heart) featured another of their amazingly blatent segments of Subway product placement. Maybe that's the future. Ah... quite fancy a subway now.