RSS FeedToday is the 10th anniversary of my first meeting with my wife – at a Halloween party in Dollis Hill. I’d lost my Lone Ranger mask at a party the night before, after which I’d ended up sleeping rough on a railway embankment, and only dragged myself feebly out again out of loyalty to the Brazilian hostess, Nelly. Phew! Things have only got better, for me at least. Tonight we are having dinner √† deux at home to relive some of our ups and downs.
Have just come back from shopping. Cigalas (crayfish, I think) to start, with a Rias Baixas Albari√±o (Se√±or√≠o de Sobral 2008) rather than a Valencian white, I’m afraid. This to be followed by a duck ‚Äì surprise preparation from Olga. I think this is a suitable occasion for bottle number 3,341 of the 5,001 made by Joan C. Mart√≠n of his historic Cordial Gran Reserva Millennium 1994 (DO Valencia, Tempranillo and Garnacha Tintorera), the wine from Joan’s late-lamented Companyia Valenciana de Vins i Espirituosos that blazed a trail for fine winemaking in the Comunitat Valenciana.
Pudding is going to be Portuguese custard tarts, courtesy of Not Quite Nigella, which we’ll try with the light Cristal·l√≠ Moscatel vino dulce natural from Vins del Comtat, and maybe contrast with the quite different sweet red (Garnacha) El Dulce from Chozas Carrascal.
Somewhere along the way we’ll enjoy a bottle of Artemayor Brut Nature cava from Dominio de la Vega.
But really it’ll be all about looking back together over a beautiful voyage, with a wondering eye on the horizon ahead.
Sleeping on a railway embankment!? Tell us more. Did you have a bottle?
Well it was a long time ago. I may have overindulged, but I maintain it had more to do with being stuck in one of those South London wildernesses only served by the occasional train. Gave up on taxis and the world and just took forty winks in the long grass by the railway line till the morning trains kicked into action. I was sorry to lose my Lone Ranger mask and not get a second go with it at the second Halloween party – Olga would have had no chance.